Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    George Washington Manners and Character for Youth
    George Washington Manners and Character for Youth
    George Washington Manners and Character for Youth
    Ebook165 pages2 hours

    George Washington Manners and Character for Youth

    By Rick Lindsay

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book contains the rules for manners copied as a penmanship exercise by a teenage George Washington with a translation and comments in modern English for today’s youth and young adults. These 'Rules of Civility' are more than just suggestions for good manners. Washington took them to heart and used their value of consideration for others as a foundation for the remainder of his life. This book also reveals the remarkable character of this 'First of Americans' and demonstrates to readers the courage, selflessness, honesty and virtue of our First President. They will marvel at his foresight, and read his advice to future Americans on maintaining the freedoms given to them as an inheritance by America's first generation. Most of all, readers will appreciate Washington's example which sets a higher bar for all people to strive for in their own personal lives and in service to their country.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRick Lindsay
    Release dateAug 14, 2014
    ISBN9781311118011
    George Washington Manners and Character for Youth
    Author

    Rick Lindsay

    Rick Lindsay has spent most of his professional life as a radio and television news reporter. He's worked at stations in Salt Lake City, UT; Grand Junction, CO, Quincy, IL, Cape Girardeau, MO; Phoenix, AZ; Houston, TX and San Francisco, CA. He's also an award-winning documentary producer and writer. Rick had long wanted to translate into more modern English the rules of manners that the young George Washington used as a penmanship exercise. As he set about the task Rick became fascinated by the monumental character of our first president. He hopes all of America's and the world's youth can learn more about the finest example of humanity America has ever produced in hopes that they will want to emulate Washington's example in their own lives. Rick is now working on his next project - a historical novel.

    Related to George Washington Manners and Character for Youth

    Related ebooks

    Self-Improvement For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for George Washington Manners and Character for Youth

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      George Washington Manners and Character for Youth - Rick Lindsay

      George Washington

      Manners and Character for Youth

      Rick Lindsay

      Copyright 2014 by Rick Lindsay

      Smashwords Edition

      DEDICATION

      To my children: Boyd, Cameron, Preston, Ross, Jessica, Brett, Ricky

      and Tristan and to upcoming generations of American youth.

      May they understand, internalize and emulate the deep

      consideration of others, the prudent judgment

      and character of the Father of Our Country.

      Washington Before Princeton, oil on canvas, Charles Willson Peale, 1780

      Courtesy the Ladies Association of Mount Vernon

      Contents

      George Washington

      Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation

      The Character of George Washington

      George Washington

      Manners and Character for Youth

      America has probably never produced a man of more sterling character than he who became our first President. While not everyone always agreed with him, no one could dispute his honesty and singular motivation to do what was best for his fledgling nation.

      Much like Joseph of Egypt in the Biblical tale, Washington’s character made him stand head and shoulders above his countrymen, including such other greats as Benjamin Franklin, John Madison, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. And his character was evident from his early years. At the ripe old age of 21 Washington’s maturity of judgment was considered so sound as to place him at the head of the Army of Virginia. He served in that position for five years. In his eulogy of Washington in 1800, Massachusetts Federalist Fisher Ames said at that young age, Washington had acquired a maturity of judgment, rare in age, unparalleled in youth. Perhaps no young man had so early laid up a life’s stock of materials for solid reflection, or settled so soon the principles and habits of his conduct…. and [A]t a time when youth is almost privileged to be rash, Virginia committed the safety of her frontier, and ultimately the safety of America, not merely to his valor, for that would be scarcely praise, but to his prudence….

      Ames added that Washington was ‘cool in action, undaunted, self-possessed’. Later, when Washington became president, public perceptions of the office itself were enhanced by his having accepted the position, rather than the other way around.¹

      It is his morality, humility and leadership by which all other presidents should be compared and judged.

      Thomas Jefferson knew Washington for thirty years. Fourteen years after our first president’s death, Jefferson wrote to Dr. Walter Jones about Washington’s character.

      "He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally high toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and habitual ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath.

      "His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish, his deportment easy, erect and noble; the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback.

      "On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example….

      "These are my opinions of General Washington, which I would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of thirty years….

      I felt on his death, with my countrymen, that ‘verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel.’²

      Washington felt the most important thing for a person to aspire to was to be virtuous. A good number of historians say Washington’s crowning achievement was his resignation as commander in chief of the American Army, and at the same time, stepping down from public life. One may search in vain for a similar example in history. Washington had guided an upstart country to freedom and independence, yet he expected and sought no reward for his service. He was a believer in the revolutionary principles that guided the founders – that the common man and woman, no matter their background, have the right given them by the creator to use their intelligence, judgment, talents and effort to make of themselves whatever they can. It was a principle never before woven into the fabric of a nation, and it unleashed a torrent of enterprise and progress that the world had never before witnessed. The success of the war – and his young country’s freedom - were reward enough for Washington.

      When he was just a young man of 12, Washington came across a copy of the English translation of the Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation first published by the French Jesuits. The English translation was called Francis Hawkins’ Youths Behavior, or Decency in Conversation Amongst Men. By the time George was 16, he had hand-copied the rules into a notebook as a penmanship exercise. But the rules served as more than that. The young Washington took note of their moral foundation using it for the rest of his life as a guide in his relationships and behavior with others.

      It is these attributes we should seek to develop in our lives – as important now as they ever were in the 16th Century when they were first penned. Today’s definition of etiquette from the World English Dictionary is the customs or rules governing behaviour regarded as correct or acceptable in social or official life.

      The following is a listing of the 110 rules of etiquette taken to heart by a young George Washington, followed generally by a modern translation geared for youngsters, teens and young adults. We are all better for having heard the ‘rules’ and better still, if we review them on occasion, and take them to heart.

      Life-size wax figure of Washington at age 19

      Courtesy the Ladies Association of Mount Vernon

      "Rules of Civility & Decent

      Behavior in Company and

      Conversation"

      First Published by the French Jesuits 1595

      English translation by Francis Hawkins 1640

      Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.

      Always show respect to the needs of others when you’re in company.

      When in company, put not your hands to any part of the body not usually discovered.

      When you’re in company, keep your hands off parts of your body that people usually don’t see.

      Show nothing to your friend that may affright him.

      Do not show your friend something that may shock or make him or her afraid.

      In the presence of others sing not to yourself with a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet.

      If you sing or hum to yourself, or drum with your fingers or feet when in the company of others, you may make them feel you consider them as unimportant.

      If you cough, sneeze, sigh or yawn do it not loud but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.

      I’m sure you’ve heard obnoxiously loud sneezes from across a room. You don’t want to be that person. Also, if you try to talk while you’re yawning, you’re certainly not showing others the respect they deserve.

      Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk not on when others stop.

      This is great advice for showing consideration and respect to others. Deciding when it’s best not to talk (or to ‘hold your peace’) can be difficult for some of us.

      Put not off your clothes in the presence of others, nor got out to your chamber half dress’d.

      Don’t take your clothes off around other people and do not leave your room half dressed.

      At play and at fire its good manners to give place to the last comer, and affect not to speak louder than ordinary.

      If someone comes into the room and there’s no place for them to sit, give them your seat. Also, do not talk louder than you need to in order to be heard.

      Spit not in the fire, nor stoop low before it neither put your hands into the flames to warm them, nor set your feet upon the fire especially if there be meat before it.

      If someone is cooking over a fire do not spit in the fire or warm your hands by the fire or put your feet by the fire.

      When you sit down, keep your feet firm and even, without putting one on the other or crossing them.

      …especially in the company of others.

      Shift not yourself in the sight of others nor gnaw your nails.

      People will not think well of you if they see you squirming in your seat or chewing your fingernails.

      Shake not the head, feet or legs, roll not the eyes, lift not one eyebrow higher than the other, wry (or curl) not the mouth, and bedew no man’s face with your spittle, by approaching too near him when your speak.

      This is mostly self-explanatory but the last part means that you shouldn’t stand too close to someone when you’re speaking because you might accidentally get them wet…with your spit.

      Kill no vermin as fleas, lice, ticks,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1