eat woods a
hunting lodge which he called Greenway Court. It was a large, square
house, with broad gables and a long roof sloping almost to the ground.

When he moved into this lodge he expected soon to build a splendid
mansion and make a grand home there, like the homes he had known in
England. But time passed, and as the lodge was roomy and comfortable, he
still lived in it and put off beginning another house.

Washington was now seventeen years old. Through the influence of Sir
Thomas Fairfax he was appointed public surveyor; and nothing would do
but that he must spend the most of his time at Greenway Court and keep
on with the work that he had begun.

For the greater part of three years he worked in the woods and among the
mountains, surveying Sir Thomas's lands. And Sir Thomas paid him well--a
doubloon ($8.24) for each day, and more than that if the work was very
hard.

But there were times when the young surveyor did not go out to work, but
stayed at Greenway Court with his good friend, Sir Thomas. The old
gentleman had something of a library, and on days when they could
neither work nor hunt, George spent the time in reading. He read the
_Spectator_ and a history of England, and possibly some other works.

And so it came about that the three years which young Washington spent
in surveying were of much profit to him.

The work in the open air gave him health and strength. He gained courage
and self-reliance. He became acquainted with the ways of the
backwoodsmen and of the savage Indians. And from Sir Thomas Fairfax he
learned a great deal about the history, the laws, and the military
affairs of old England.

And in whatever he undertook to do or to learn, he was careful and
systematic and thorough. He did nothing by guess; he never left anything
half done. And therein, let me say to you, lie the secrets of success in
any calling.

* * * * *

VI.--THE OHIO COUNTRY.

You have already learned how the English people had control of all that
part of our country which borders upon the Atlantic Ocean. You have
learned, also, that they had made thirteen great settlements along the
coast, while all the vast region west of the mountains remained a wild
and unknown land.

Now, because Englishmen had been the first white men to see the line of
shore that stretches from Maine to Georgia, they set up a claim to all
the land west of that line.

They had no idea how far the land ex