and make money by establishing trading posts and settlements there. And
of this company, Lawrence Washington was one of the chief managers.

Lawrence Washington and his brother George had often talked about this
enterprise.

"We shall have trouble with the French," said Lawrence. "They have
already sent men into the Ohio Country; and they are trying in every way
to prove that the land belongs to them."

"It looks as if we should have to drive them out by force," said George.

"Yes, and there will probably be some hard fighting," said Lawrence;
"and you, as a young man, must get yourself ready to have a hand in it."

And Lawrence followed this up by persuading the governor of the colony
to appoint George as one of the adjutants-general of Virginia.

George was only nineteen years old, but he was now Major Washington, and
one of the most promising soldiers in America.

* * * * *

VII.--A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES.


Although George Washington spent so much of his time at Greenway Court,
he still called Mount Vernon his home.

Going down home in the autumn, just before he was twenty years old, he