The British troops were then marched back to their quarters in Yorktown, and the ceremony of the surrender

was over.

From that hour the Revolutionary War was at an end. British troops remained upon American soil, but the fighting was over, and in 1783 a formal treaty of peace was made between England and the United States. As soon as intelligence of this was received the British prepared to leave New York. This ceremony took place in November, 1783; and in December of the same year Washington, who was then in the city of New York, took leave of his old friends and comrades, who had fought under him so long. It was an affecting scene. Washington came into the room where his generals were all assembled, and raising a glass of wine, addressed them in a voice full of the deepest feeling:

"With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you," he said. "I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable."

He then drank to their health and happiness, and looked at them with deep emotion. The tears were running down their cheeks, and they seemed unable to utter a word.

Washington then said, “I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you if each will come and take my hand.”

General Knox, who was next to him, grasped his hand, and Washington kissed him. He then shook hands with and kissed each of the generals in turn, after which he left the room. Long lines of his old soldiers were drawn up in the street. Between these he walked to a boat on the river; raised his hat in reply to the cheering; the boat was rowed away, and thus ended one of the most affecting scenes of history.

A LAST WORD TO THE BOYS.

I HAVE thus told you a good many stories of Virginia history, and have tried to do so in a manner to interest you. Whether I have succeeded I do not know; but I have done my best, and I hope, at least, that some of them have pleased you.

But pleasing you was not my main object in telling you my stories. It is a great thing to interest young people, and make them acquainted with facts which they ought to know; but what is far more important is to improve their characters, by showing them how great and good men did their duty wherever and whenever they were called upon. If you will go back and remember the stories in our little book, you will see that I have never lost sight of this, or allowed it to pass out of my mind. I first told you about John Smith and his adventurous career-how he began life as a poor boy, but was always so brave and true that every one respected him, and how he came at last to found a great country, and died leaving a famous name. Then you were told of Nathaniel Bacon and his patriotic life; and then all about Washington, and his courage and high character, from the time when he was a boy whom scarcely any one had heard of, to that day in New York when he was looked upon as the greatest man living in the whole world. You heard next about Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, and other patriots; and in my stories of Andrew Lewis, and Elizabeth Zane, and Colonel Rogers, I showed you how brave and true

the men and women and very children of the border were, in the dark days when they were called upon to show what was in them. All these and other stories still I have gone on telling you day after day-never tired telling them, if you were willing to listen; and now when I have finished, and am about to bid you good-bye, I think I can say that some, at least, of these true stories will be of profit to you.

Then

now is

You are boys now, but you will soon be men. you will have your own way to make in the world. Do you mean to be idle, and fearful, and deceive people, and give them a bad opinion of you? Or do you intend to go to work, and act bravely and nobly, and do your duty, and leave a name behind you when you die which the world will love and respect? Take care — the time! Did you ever notice a large tree that grew crooked, and was an ugly eyesore on that account? Perhaps it stood on the lawn, right in front of the porch, and your father would have liked very much to straighten it. It was impossible to do so. A hundred horses could not have dragged it erect. And yet think of the time when that large tree was a small sapling: a child might have straightened it then, and it would have grown properly, and every one would have admired it.

By this I mean that boys ought to grow straight, not crooked. You are young now, as the tree was once: begin in time, and you will be as straight as an arrow when you are a man. If you wait, it will be too late. The way to make men erect and noble is to take them, when they are boys, and show them that there is nothing in this world so noble as doing their duty. Once more I say, remember that, though you are boys now, you will be men soon. The old people will die, and you must take their places; and woe to these old people if they set you a bad

example!

Did you ever hear what a great and good man said one day? He was walking in the snow, and his little son was following him, and stepping in the prints. which his father's feet had made in the snow. His father saw this, and shook his head:

"I must mind how I walk," he said to himself; "that fellow is following in my footsteps!"

We old people must mind how we walk, if you young fellows are walking after us, and take care where we go and what we do. You will do good or evil, just as you have been taught. If you are false and worthless, you and everybody else will have a hard time of it. You may be soldiers, judges, statesmen, and presidents. What you say or do may decide the fate of millions of other people. These will look to you; and, more than all, God will watch you, and hold you to a strict account. If you are brave, and true, and unselfish, Heaven will bless you, and every one who knows you will love and respect you. If you are mean and cowardly, and think of nothing but your own pleasure, God and man will hate you. Which will you be?

The greatest of all things is to be pure, and to do your duty. Boys, and grown people too, learn this best by example, I think, and I have tried to show you these examples in American history.

I might have made my book longer, and written it in a different style; but I think I acted wisely in never forgetting that I was writing for boys. If I have interested you, I am more than content. I am sure of one thing—that I would not write what would make you worse, for all the world. I hope my little stories, by showing you great examples, will make you wiser and better.

THE END.