in the London world, and was jilted by a beauty who preferred a duke, and gave her faithful but less titled lover an apparently incurable wound.  His life having been thus early twisted and set awry, Lord Fairfax, when well past his prime, had determined finally to come to Virginia, bury himself in the forests, and look after the almost limitless possessions beyond the Blue Ridge, which he had inherited from his maternal grandfather, Lord Culpeper, of unsavory Restoration memory.  It was a piece of great good-fortune which threw in Washington’s path this accomplished gentleman, familiar with courts and camps, disappointed, but not morose, disillusioned, but still kindly and generous.  From him the boy could gain that knowledge of men and manners which no school can give, and which is as important in its way as any that a teacher can impart.

Lord Fairfax and Washington became fast friends.  They hunted the fox together, and hunted him hard.  They engaged in all the rough sports and perilous excitements which Virginia winter life could afford, and the boy’s bold and skillful riding, his love of sports and his fine temper, commended him to the warm and affectionate interest of the old nobleman.  Other qualities, too, the experienced man of the world saw in his young companion:  a high and persistent courage, robust and calm sense, and, above all, unusual force of will and character.  Washington impressed profoundly everybody with whom he was brought into personal contact, a fact which is one of the most marked features of his character and career, and one which deserves study more than almost any other.  Lord Fairfax was no exception to the rule.  He saw in Washington not simply a promising, brave, open-hearted boy, diligent in practicing his profession, and whom he was anxious to help, but something more; something which so impressed him that he confided to this lad a task which, according to its performance, would affect both his fortune and his peace.  In a word, he trusted Washington, and told him, as the spring of 1748 was opening, to go forth and survey the vast Fairfax estates beyond the Ridge, define their boundaries, and save them from future litigation.  With this commission from Lord Fairfax, Washington entered on the first period of his career.  He passed it on the frontier, fighting nature, the Indians, and the French.  He went in a schoolboy; he came out the first soldier in the colonies, and one of the leading men of Virginia.  Let us pause a moment and look at him as he stands on the threshold of this momentous period, rightly called momentous because it was the formative period in the life of such a man.

[Illustration:  Lawrence Washington]