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Show .The Mother of George Washington LIKE other mothers of great men, Mary Ball Washington sought divine di-vine guidance through prayer and through her Bible and other deeply religious writings. Her associations from early childhood were of a deeply religious nature, for the early settlers stanchly adhered to church doctrine and to the established custom of family fam-ily prayers. Mary Ball was imbued with reverence rever-ence and religious fervor. This, supplemented sup-plemented by adequate training In domestic do-mestic routine and her sense of re- . sponsibility for the duties of home life, admirably fitted her for the role of motherhood. It was in 1730 that she came as a bride to the Washington home at Bridges Creek, later known as Wakefield, Wake-field, which had been without a mistress mis-tress since the death of Jane Butler, Captain Washington's first wife and mother of his three children. The greatest joy and pride of Mary Washington's life came on February 22, 1732, when her first born was placed in her arms. She chose for her child the name of George In loving regard re-gard for her guardian, George Esk-ridge, Esk-ridge, an eminent lawyer of Virginia. George was only eleven when his father fa-ther died but upon him she placed the old patriarchlal duty of saying grace at table and prayers at night and morning. From this early age his mother expected him to assume and carry such responsibility as the circumstances cir-cumstances of life brought to him. Under her pious guidance he could not have evaded any service that she deemed his duty. She was a wise and loving mother who set her face against every diversion di-version in life to devote herself entirely en-tirely to her children. Her entire interest in-terest was centered in and revolved around the care and development of the best that was in them. The steady rise of her first born from one position of responsibility to another of leadership was accepted by the "Spartan" mother as a matter of course, as a part of his duty. She Is never recorded as praising him. She WASHINGTON'S MOTHER fr xv 1 (nf V m si c-Vi "Y ft fee. Vy - I Mary Ball Washington, From a Portrait Made at the Time of Her Marriage. took his superb valor under fire, his unfailing patriotism, all in his day's work. Her fear for his safety was put aside In the challenge she gave herself "The mothers of brave men must themselves be brave." General Washington's election to the Presidency, the first Executive of the young Republic, brought no added elation ela-tion to his mother. It was his duty. She saw nothing else for him to do. When he came to tell her of it, all his future honors were shadowed by her realization that this was her last meeting meet-ing with the child of her heart. Her mother love sought to enfold him In all the love, protection, and security that her prayers and blessings could invoke. Mary Ball Washington typifies the highest example of American motherhood mother-hood and is a most illustrious prototype proto-type of Colonial home maker. Like Martha of old, she attended well to the ways of her household. |