Little George played out of doors all the time and grew very strong.
He went fishing and swimming in the great river, he ran races and
jumped fences with his brothers and the dogs, he threw stones across
the brooks, and when he grew a larger boy he even learned to shoot.

He had a pretty pony, too, named "Hero," that he loved very much, and
that he used to ride all about the plantation.

Some of the letters have been kept that he wrote when he was a little
boy, and he talks in them about his pony, and his books with pictures
of elephants, and the new top he is going to have soon.

Think of that great General Washington on a white horse once playing
with a little humming top like yours!

Many things are told about Washington when he was little; but he lived
so long ago that we cannot tell very well whether they ever happened
or not. One story is that his father took him out into the garden on a
spring morning, and drew the letters of his name with a cane in the
soft earth. Then he filled the letters with seed, and told little
George to wait a week or two and see what would happen. You can all
guess what did happen, and can think how pleased the little boy was
when he found his name all growing in fresh green leaves.

Then another story, I'm sure you've all heard, is about the cherry-
tree and the hatchet.

Little George's father gave him one day, so they say, a nice, bright,
sharp little hatchet. Of course he went around the barns and the