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 extended. They knew almost nothing
about its great rivers, its vasts forests, its lofty mountains, its rich
prairies. They cared nothing for the claims of the Indians whose homes