He hoped
to make a valuable property of this but his strength failed him too
rapidly.
The house in West Medford was the only one he ever owned, and he gave a
number of good reasons for purchasing it. It was cheap, and large enough
for three people; there was a small garden with two fine apple-trees
attached to it, and the salt water came almost to the foot of the
garden. He had noticed also that the streets became dry after a rain
more quickly in that portion of the town than elsewhere and judged from
that it must be a healthy locality. He very quickly remodelled the place
giving it the stamp of his own style and character.
He showed good judgment also in the education of his son George, now a
marine-painter of well recognized merit. The boy inherited his father's
sincerity and artistic feeling but not his intellectual tastes. In many
respects he was more like his mother. He did not take to his studies nor
was he fond of games, but liked bathing and sailing. When he was
thirteen his father remarked that he did not know what he should be able
to do with him. Well-intending friends said, you should get him a place
in a store so that he may be earning something to help his parents, but
Wasson replied: "No! I care too much for my boy to make a drudge of him
for life, if it is possible for him to do better."
Soon after this George began to draw ships and naval engagements on the
black-boards at school, and one of these was so good that the teacher
gave an order to have it remain until his father could be called in to
look at it.
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