When George Washington was a young man in Virginia, he had his eyes set on a life as an English country gentleman. In Washington: A Life, author Ron Chernow describes one way Washington tried to attain this goal. He copied 110 social maxims from the book The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation in an attempt to know proper etiquette. Here is one of these guidelines I just couldn’t help laugh at:
Bedew no man’s face with your spittle by approaching him too near when you speak.
Well now I know bedew is a word and I will try not to do it to someone’s face!
In 1750, Henry Knox was born in Boston. After some limited education at Boston Latin Grammar School, he began to work as a clerk in a local bookstore. According to Ron Chernow in Washington: A Life, Knox “took advantage of every spare moment to read, preferring military history and engineering.” At the age of 21, Knox opened his own business called the New London Book Store. During this time he continued to read and gain military knowledge from British soldiers who would occasionally stop by the shop.
In his years at the New London, Knox solidified his revolutionary beliefs. When war broke out in 1775, he quickly joined the militia. Just outside Boston, Knox used the ideas he acquired in his hours of reading to help build fortifications surrounding the city. The breastworks that Knox designed allowed the Patriots to sting one of the most feared armies in the world.
When George Washington came to take command of the Continental Army, he was immediately impressed with Knox. This favorable impression would carry on, and Knox quickly became one of Washington’s favorite officers.
Throughout the Revolution, Knox moved up the military ranks and would eventually don the title of major general. When the British finally left the city of New York, Knox was at the command of the American forces taking over. After the war, he would go on to serve as our nation’s Secretary of War before dying in 1806.
It turns out that during the Siege of Boston back in 1775, everything in Knox’s store was destroyed. Though the piles of his books were probably torn or burned, the words on those pages had certainly already made their power known through Henry Knox; Boston bookseller and lover of the written word.
Do you want to become something great? Go read a book!
Hey Mister, Sing Me a Song! 
