106 GooD HABITS AND"MANNERS |

please: they can govern their tempers;
they can adopt good rules of conduct; they
can get into the habit of being calm, patient,
and just.

There are many other traits of character
belonging to Washington that are interesting
and worthy of imitation. He was accurate
and just in all his dealings; he was punctual
in the performance of promises; he was a
man of prayer, and an observer of the Sab-
bath. And the point héereyto be noticed by
youth, is, that all these qualities which we
have been noticing, were the fruit of seed
sown in his youth. They appear all to have
taken root in one great principle—oBeEpI-
ENCE—obedience to his mother, obedience
to his teachers—obedience to a sense of
duty,formed into»habit in early life. This
was the real source of Washington’s great-
ness. He was not made greater or better
than are many others, but he adopted good
habits, and under their influence he became
great. The actual greatness of Washington
in life arose more from the good use he made
of his faculties than from any original supe-
riority of those faculties.

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