eaded question came: "Well, young
gentlemen," said she, "have you seen any thing of my sorrel horse in
your walks this morning?"

The boys looked at one another for some moments in silence, scarce
knowing what answer to make. At last, George, to put an end to the
painful suspense, said in a subdued voice, "Mother, the sorrel horse
is dead." He then, in a few brief words, told her how it had all
happened, and ended by entreating her forgiveness if he had offended;
at the same time assuring her, that, in so doing, he had only thought
of giving her a pleasant surprise.

When he first began his account of the mishap, a flush of anger rose
to his mother's cheek; of which, however, there was not a trace to be
seen by the time he had finished; and she answered, with something
like an approving smile, "My son, as you have had the courage to come
and tell me the truth at once, I freely forgive you: had you skulked
away, I would have despised you, and been ashamed to own you as my
son."

III.

PLAYING SOLDIER.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Washington left the care and
education of her son George, in no small measure, to the judgment and
discretion of her step-son Lawrence, a young man of twenty-five, and
lately married to Miss Fairfax. The love that had always existed
between these two brothers was something beautiful indeed to
behold,--the more so when we take into consideration the difference of
fourteen years in their ages; and, now that their dear father was no
more, this love grew all the more tender and strong, and George soon
learned to look up to his eldest brother as to a second father.

Mr. Lawrence Washington, besides being a fine scholar and one of the
most polished gentlemen of his day, was also a brave and able soldier;
having served during the late Spanish war as a lieutenant under the
great Admiral Vernon, in honor of whom he had named his fine estate on
the Potomac, Mount Vernon.

At Mount Vernon, then, we find George spending by far the greater
portion of his holidays; and here he often fell in with young
officers, fellow-soldiers of his brother, to whom with eager ears he
was wont to listen as they recounted their adventures, and told of
hard-fought battles by land and sea with the roving pirates, or
sea-robbers, and proud and vengeful Spaniards. These stories so fired
his ardent young spirit, that he longed of all things to become a
great soldier, that he might go forth to fight the e