Rating: K<\/p>\n
Word Count=3554<\/p>\n
Summary:\u00a0<\/span>Little Joe has to write an essay on George Washington. His first draft is so bad that Adam makes him rewrite it. Ben can’t believe the second version got turned in. Read the final version and see if Little Joe finally got the facts right.<\/span><\/p>\n Disclaimer: I don’t own the Cartwrights or Bonanza. No copyright infringement is intended. Original plot and characters are property of the author. This story is for entertainment and no money was made from it.<\/span><\/p>\n Reviews from the Old Library are on the last page.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The History Essay<\/strong><\/p>\n Eleven year old Joe had been writing his history essay for at least two hours. Miss Jones had assigned every student a historical figure. He had gotten stuck with George Washington. Joe wished he had gotten John Paul Jones. His Pa had been a sailor so he could have interviewed his father to get an idea of what ship life would have been like for Jones. Oh well, George Washington it was.<\/span> When he got a little older, he became a surveyor. This meant that he wandered around the woods a lot. He met lots of Indians. They wandered around the woods with him. Washington measured lots of land and claimed it in the name of Thomas Jefferson. Washington thought that would be a good joke. But the joke was on him. People already lived there in log cabins, so Washington couldn\u2019t get the deed to any of it after all.<\/p>\n After Washington got tired of living with the Indians, he decided to try farming. He wasn\u2019t very good at it. No one can remember anything he grew on his farm. He probably didn\u2019t grow tobacco because if he smoked, his teeth might catch on fire.<\/p>\n He used to go to town on Saturday nights. Sometimes, Washington got into fights with other farmers. There weren\u2019t any ranches around because people didn\u2019t raise cattle. All they ate were deer, squirrels, rabbits, and potatoes. On one trip to town, Washington met Martha. She was a rich widow-lady. Washington needed money because he lost his farm in a poker game and Martha loaned him money to win it back. She agreed to marry him if he won back the farm. Lucky for Washington, he had a good hand.<\/p>\n After they got married, they moved back to Washington\u2019s farm. They didn\u2019t have any kids because he remembered what he had been like as a kid. Martha wouldn\u2019t be happy if all the trees on the farm were chopped down. Besides, Martha didn\u2019t like to bake pies. She was more of a cake person.<\/p>\n Then the French and Indians started a war called the French and Indian War. The French and the Indians fought the Americans. George Washington became a general. He was upset about fighting the French because he wouldn\u2019t be able to go to Mardi Gras anymore. Almost all the Indians fought with the French. It was a good thing that Washington had lived in the woods with the Indians all those years ago. He knew all of the shortcuts to the French forts. Because of the war, many of the Indians packed up and moved west. Some are still here today.<\/p>\n After the war, Washington went back to his farm. But it was boring there now. There was nothing to do but plow the fields. Washington might have become the town drunk if there hadn\u2019t been a tea party in Boston. He wasn\u2019t invited, though. After the tea party, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and King George made Washington the General of America. Washington fought the British at every turn. He even had to sneak his men across the state of Delaware to get to Valley Forge. Lots of horses had thrown shoes, so the blacksmiths needed the forge to make new ones. They all crossed at night. It was very cold, so they were able to walk on ice, which was quieter than snow. The British would\u2019ve heard the Americans if they had been crunching through snow.<\/p>\n Washington finally led the Americans to victory at Yorktown. This was in Virginia, so Washington had to ride fast to get there from Delaware. General Cornwallis surrendered. Then Washington became President of the United States. He was president for eight years. He had his portrait painted. The painting made him look really old, probably because he wouldn\u2019t wear his fake teeth. That\u2019s probably why he isn\u2019t smiling in the painting.<\/p>\n After being president for eight years, Washington retired to his new farm, Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson gave him Mount Vernon as a birthday present. Washington just sat on the porch all day, smoking a pipe since he didn\u2019t wear his fake teeth anymore. He died three years after he left the White House because he got sick. Martha told him to put a coat on before he went riding, but he didn\u2019t think it was that cold. He was wrong. The doctors tried everything to save him, but nothing worked.<\/p>\n When George Washington died, the whole country was very sad. Even old John Adams cried. Even though Washington had no kids, he\u2019s called the father of our country. That\u2019s because he thought of everyone as his children. As a young man, Washington decided he didn\u2019t want to run a plantation like his father. So, he went to college where he studied math. Then he became a surveyor. Washington\u2019s abilities at surveying were in high demand as people moved to the frontier.<\/p>\n When Washington\u2019s father died, he inherited the family plantation. Realizing he needed a wife, he began courting many of the ladies in the area. One lady named Martha caught his eye. She was a widow with kids of her own. Those kids needed a father, so Martha agreed to marry Washington. They all lived on his plantation in Virginia.<\/p>\n The French and Indians started a war with the Americans in 1756. This was called the French and Indian War. All of the colonies had to raise militias because there was no army. Washington was made a general. He bravely led his men into many battles. At the end of the war, he went home to his plantation in Virginia.<\/p>\n When the American Revolution began, the American colonies didn\u2019t have an army of their own. So, they had to raise one. Remembering what a good leader Washington had been during the French and Indian War, the Continental Congress asked him to lead the new American army. Tired of being a farmer, Washington eagerly accepted.<\/p>\n Washington led the American army in lots of battles. In one instance he led the whole army across the Delaware River, which is in New Jersey, so he could attack the British Army really early the next morning. Afterwards, Washington\u2019s army camped at Valley Forge, which was really cold. No horseshoes were made at Valley Forge.<\/p>\n After Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Washington went home to his plantation again. He didn\u2019t stay there long. In 1788, Washington was elected in a landslide to be President of the United States. The White House didn\u2019t exist yet, so Washington had to live in New York. He served as president until 1796, when he decided to retire to his plantation in Virginia.<\/p>\n All of Washington\u2019s teeth fell out by the time a painting was made of him as president. His teeth probably fell out because of stress. He had a set of fake teeth made from wood, but they probably hurt a lot.<\/p>\n Washington died in 1799. If he hadn\u2019t gone riding in the rain, he probably would\u2019ve lived a lot longer. The country was very sad when Washington died. Of course, we were only on our second president when Washington died. He\u2019s buried in Virginia at his plantation, Mount Vernon.<\/p>\n He helped win the American Revolution and had been the first president. That\u2019s why Washington is the father of our country. As a young man, Washington became a surveyor. He surveyed land in Virginia and elsewhere. Washington also claimed a lot of land for himself, making him very rich.<\/p>\n Washington joined the Virginia militia as a major. He trained his troops just in case war should break out. When the French and Indian War started, Washington was promoted to colonel. He and his men kicked the French out of America. Then he retired.<\/p>\n After the French and Indian War, Washington married Martha and lived at Mount Vernon, his plantation in Virginia. He grew tobacco and wheat because he liked to smoke and drink whiskey. He also represented Virginia in the legislature.<\/p>\n When the Revolution began, America had no army. Washington was named general of the army. On Christmas Eve 1775, Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River to attack the British army in Trenton, New Jersey. They succeeded. The army spent the winter at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n After the Revolution, Washington retired to Mount Vernon. He meant to stay there but the new American government decided Washington should run for President. Everyone voted for him, so he won. Washington served two terms, so other presidents since then have served no more than two terms.<\/p>\n In 1797, Washington retired as President and went back to Mount Vernon. He died two years later because he got sick while riding in the rain. The doctors tried to save him, but they had no luck. Everyone in America was sad when Washington died. He could have been a king by never giving up the office of President, but he knew that would be bad for our country. Along with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison, George Washington is remembered as one of the Founding Fathers of America. <\/p>\n
Pa was out of town until tomorrow evening, so Adam was in charge. Old bossy boots would want to read the finished essay to be sure that Joe had completed it. Adam had even brought his college history books downstairs so Joe could find information on Washington for the essay.\u00a0<\/span>
Joe read through his essay one more time and decided it was finished. He thought he\u2019d done a really good job on this one and would definitely get an A.<\/span>
Adam came in from finishing evening chores. He saw that Joe was still sitting at their Pa\u2019s desk. Hanging up his hat, Adam asked \u201cHave you finished yet, Joe?\u201d<\/span>
\u201cSure have\u201d Joe answered. \u201cWanna hear it?\u201d<\/span>
Adam sat down to hear Joe read his essay aloud.<\/span>
George Washington\u2014An Essay by Joe Cartwright
\nGeorge Washington never lied about anything. He chopped down a cherry tree. When his ma asked Washington why he chopped down the tree, he said he wanted a cherry pie. So, his ma baked him one and he broke his teeth on the pits. That\u2019s why he had to have fake teeth. They were made from the trunk of the cherry tree he\u2019d chopped down. That way, he\u2019d never forget that he\u2019d done something bad.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe End.
Adam could not believe what he\u2019d just heard. He\u2019d loaned Joe all of his college history books so he could find facts about Washington. How could the boy make light of such an important figure in the history of our country?<\/span>
\u201cDid you actually read through any of the books I loaned you?\u201d asked Adam with disbelief.<\/span>
\u201cI tried, Adam\u201d answered Joe. \u201cThose books made Washington seem really boring. I know there has to be more to him than what\u2019s in those books.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cJoe, you can\u2019t turn that report in! Miss Jones will not be amused. This is supposed to be a history essay, not a lampoon of a historical figure\u201d Adam said.<\/span>
\u201cI have facts in here\u201d answered Joe. \u201cWashington had fake teeth, he was a surveyor, he fought in the French and Indian War, he married Martha, he fought the British in the Revolution, he became President, he retired, and then he died. There\u2019s not much else about him other than those facts I just named.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cBut you made things up about those facts\u201d countered Adam. \u201cWashington and his men crossed the Delaware River, not the state of Delaware. The Delaware River is on the border of New Jersey. Valley Forge was a town, not an actual forge. The Americans crossed the river at night so they could surprise the British the next morning. How could you get that one fact so wrong?\u201d<\/span>
\u201cAt least I know he had fake teeth\u201d said Joe with a pout.<\/span>
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn\u2019t believe that Joe could turn a simple essay into something so horrible.<\/span>
\u201cDon\u2019t you have an essay I can copy?\u201d Joe pleaded, trying a different approach on Adam. As he asked, Joe widened his green eyes. This usually worked on Pa and Hoss.<\/span>
\u201cNo, Joe\u201d said Adam forcefully. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to do this on your own.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cI wish I\u2019d gotten someone interesting, like John Paul Jones\u201d said Joe.<\/span>
\u201cYou probably would\u2019ve made things up about him, too\u201d said Adam with a snort.<\/span>
\u201cNo I wouldn\u2019t\u2019ve!\u201d replied Joe. \u201cI would\u2019ve asked Pa what sailing was like so I could write a report about Jones\u2019 sailing days.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cJoe, you have to rewrite this essay whether you want to or not\u201d thundered Adam. \u201cThis time, you should look through the books I loaned you.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cBut, Adam\u201d whined Joe, \u201cI\u2019ll be up all night if I have to rewrite it!\u201d<\/span>
\u201cWell, I suggest you get busy\u201d Adam replied.<\/span>
Joe sat down at Pa\u2019s desk with a couple of Adam\u2019s books. He flipped through one and noted that he had the same facts in his essay as were in the book. Only the book made those facts sound so boring. Well, if boring was what was called for\u2026<\/span>
George Washington\u2014Father of Our Country by Joe Cartwright
\nGeorge Washington grew up in the colony of Virginia. His family owned plantations, so he was a spoiled rich kid. History books say Washington chopped down the cherry tree and then admitted to doing it because he couldn\u2019t tell a lie.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe End.
Ben Cartwright could not believe the drivel he had just read. He had met Miss Jones in Virginia City when he was coming back home. She asked him to come by the school house to discuss Little Joe\u2019s history essay. When she told him that she couldn\u2019t give Joseph a passing grade in good conscience, he certainly understood. He thanked her for taking the time to show the essay to him and he assured her that he would have a long talk with Joseph about taking his writing assignments seriously.\u00a0<\/span>
No one was inside when Ben entered the house. He thought that the boys must be finishing up their chores.<\/span>
Adam walked into the house to find his father sitting at his desk, rubbing his temples. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Pa?\u201d Adam asked with concern.<\/span>
Ben gestured for Adam to come to the desk. Then he handed Joe\u2019s essay to his oldest son. Adam\u2019s jaw dropped as he read Joe\u2019s rewritten essay.<\/span>
\u201cDid Joseph ask for your help with this?\u201d asked Ben, hoping that Adam hadn\u2019t had a hand in this essay.<\/span>
\u201cI loaned him my college history books and told him to write an essay based on facts, not suppositions\u201d said Adam.<\/span>
\u201cYou can\u2019t expect an eleven year old to comprehend college level books\u201d said Ben rubbing his temples again. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you help him with this assignment?\u201d<\/span>
\u201cI made him rewrite his essay, Pa\u201d said Adam. \u201cYou should\u2019ve read the first one\u201d he added with a derisive snort.<\/span>
\u201cBut did you offer to help him rewrite the essay?\u201d asked Ben, fixing Adam with a look.<\/span>
\u201cWell no, Pa\u201d said Adam. \u201cJoe\u2019s gotta learn to take his homework seriously. All he had to do was pull the facts out of the books I loaned him and write an essay.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cDo you think that an eleven year old can pick facts out of a college book?\u201d Ben asked with his voice rising. \u201cI am embarrassed that Joseph turned in this load of tripe and appalled that you didn\u2019t help your brother!\u201d<\/span>
Adam felt his temper rising. \u201cIf Joe paid as much attention to his school work as he does to his pony, he would be quite the scholar. Instead, you let him do whatever he wants without any consequences.\u201d<\/span>
Ben was going to interrupt, but Adam held out his hand to indicate he wasn\u2019t finished. \u201cJoe wanted to know if I had an essay that he could copy instead of having to do the work on his own. By indulging his every whim, you let him think he shouldn\u2019t have to work too hard or that someone else will do the work for him. He manages to con Hoss into doing most of his chores and tries to get me to do his homework. It\u2019s about time Joe realized there are consequences to his actions.\u201d<\/span>
Just then, Joe came in the house. He was surprised to see Adam\u2019s and Pa\u2019s faces so red. Joe thought they must be arguing about Adam trying to get out of work by doing useless things like drawing plans for things that wouldn\u2019t work anyway. He tried to sneak towards the kitchen, but Ben saw his youngest and yelled \u201cJoseph!!!\u201d<\/span>
Joe immediately stopped and turned around. Ben got up and came over to him clutching a paper in his hand. \u201cWhat is the meaning of this?!?\u201d he asked Joe, holding the essay up so Joe could see the large F written by Miss Jones. Joe\u2019s eyes grew large and he tried to think of an answer that would lay the blame squarely at Adam\u2019s feet.<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019m awaiting an answer!\u201d Ben said.<\/span>
\u201cThat\u2019s my history essay, huh?\u201d said Joe trying to stall for time. Realizing that his father would not be put off, Joe decided the truth would be the better option. \u201cI tried to read Adam\u2019s books, but the words were too big. Adam told me to write the facts about George Washington, which is what I did. But I had to fill in the gaps when I couldn\u2019t find any facts. I tried to get Adam to help me, but he wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/span>
Adam turned an even darker shade of red. \u201cI told you to rewrite that essay and include facts about Washington. This time, you had more facts but you still wrote blatant lies. All of Washington\u2019s teeth fell out from stress?!?\u201d<\/span>
Realizing that he couldn\u2019t wheedle his way out of this one, Joe turned to his weapon of last resort. Tears started to spill out of Joe\u2019s green eyes and his lower lip began to quiver. At that moment, Hoss walked in. He noticed that Joe was crying, Pa looked surprised, and Adam looked really mad.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d asked Hoss.<\/span>
\u201cJoe is trying to cry his way out of failing a school assignment\u201d said Adam.<\/span>
\u201cOh, Adam\u201d said Hoss, \u201cLil Joe and I cain\u2019t help it if we ain\u2019t as smart as you.\u201d Ben turned to look at Hoss. \u201cWe both try our hardest, but I ain\u2019t good with words like you and Lil Joe ain\u2019t as good at math as you. Why are ya pickin\u2019 on him? Just because you went to college don\u2019t make you better\u2019n me or Lil Joe, ya know.\u201d<\/span>
Ben looked like he\u2019d been smacked with a two by four. Joe sniffed as he watched his Pa\u2019s and Adam\u2019s reactions to what Hoss had said.<\/span>
\u201cWell, Joseph\u201d Ben finally said, \u201cI suppose you tried your hardest on this essay. After all, you did write it twice. Maybe if you and Adam sit down together, you can write another essay to be graded.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cBut, Pa\u201d Adam started to say.<\/span>
\u201cYou gave him college level books, Adam\u201d Ben replied. \u201cTherefore, you can interpret what these books say for Joseph. And Joseph, this time don\u2019t take liberties with the facts.\u201d<\/span>
George Washington\u2014Founding Father by Joe Cartwright
\nGeorge Washington was born in Virginia in 1732. He had two older brothers. As a little boy, Washington chopped down a cherry tree. Since he couldn\u2019t tell a lie, he told his father that he chopped down the tree, but he didn\u2019t get punished.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe End.
\u201cHey, Pa! Hey, Adam!\u201d Joe was yelling as he rode into the yard the next afternoon. Ben, Adam, and Hoss came out of the barn to see what Joe was so excited about. Joe had dismounted and pulled a paper out of his saddlebag.<\/span>
\u201cWe got a C, Adam!\u201d Joe yelled proudly.<\/span>
\u201cA C?!?\u201d Adam asked in disbelief. \u201cHow could you get a C when I helped you this time?\u201d<\/span>
\u201cWell, the essay was still boring, so I had to make some changes\u201d said Joe. \u201cBut Miss Jones said my essay was much better this time.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cYa done real good\u201d Hoss said to Joe with a wink.<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019m pleased that you did better this time, Joseph\u201d said Ben. \u201cIn the future, though, stick to the facts, no matter how boring they are.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cI\u2019ll try, Pa\u201d said Joe, beaming proudly and holding his essay. Maybe next time he wouldn\u2019t even need Adam\u2019s help. Maybe next time, he\u2019d get to write about John Paul Jones. Then he could ask Pa for facts about sailing to add to his essay.<\/span>
The End.<\/span><\/p>\n