St. Nicholas; A Monthly Magazine for Boys and Girls Volume 43, PT. 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ...outside of his own country. Unfortunately, Lawrence's health was not permanently improved, and, returning to Virginia, he died there the following summer. His Mount Vernon estate was left to his only daughter, but she outlived her father only two years, the property then passing to George. It was in this way that Washington became the owner of the home he so dearly loved, and which is to-day the shrine of all patriotic Americans. After the stirring events of Braddock's campaign against the French and Indians, and his defeat at Fort Duquesne in 1755, Colonel Washington, now twenty-four years old and the commander of the Virginia militia, was given permission by Governor Dinwiddie to journey to Boston, in order to settle a question of rank with Governor Shirley of Massachusetts. Washington, in gold-laced hat and cloak, with the family crest on his saddle-cloth, set out with Captain Stewart, of the Virginia Light Horse, Captain Hugh Mercer, who some years later fell at the battle of Princeton, and two servants, in the Washington livery of white-and-scarlet. They made a gay cavalcade, galloping along the roads leading from "the Old Dominion" to New England's thriving capital. Two days after leaving Alexandria, they reached Philadelphia, where they remained a week, enjoying the official and social attentions that made the "City of Brotherly Love" the most attractive in the colonies. New York, then about half the size of Philadelphia, was next visited. A stage-coach line had been established between the two cities only the year before, and the journey then took as many days as it takes hours in our time. The New York of that day was a quaint little town, with many of the old Dutch houses still standing, but even then it had...