and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to
him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to "the
little ones," and signing himself "your loving brother." Visits between
the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and in
one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution,
Washington said, "God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in this
world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you." John died in
1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of the death
of "my beloved brother."

The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and
Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted to
study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking genuine
pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He made this
nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of 1784, and at
other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him letters of advice,
dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though confessing that he
was himself "not such a Stoic" as to expect too much of youthful blood. To
Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters, adding, "You may think me an
unprofitable applicant in asking opinions and requiring services of you
without dousing my money, but pay day may come," and in this he was as
good as his word, for in his will Washington left Bushrod, "partly in
consideration of an intimation to his deceased father, while we were
bachelors and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my Estates, during
my military services in the former war between Great Britain and France,
that if I should fall therein, Mt. Vernon ... should become his property,"
the home and "mansion-house farm," one share of the residuary estate, his
private papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the
instrument.