Washington's Birthday

"Speaking of Washington and cherry trees, maybe you have heard the story about America's first president. As a boy George Washington supposedly told his father: "I cannot tell a lie. I chopped down the cherry tree."

Is the story true? "Probably not," says the Web site for his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.



Monday was George Washington's birthday. But not much is known about his childhood. So it seems that a biography written shortly after his death included several invented stories about his early life. These were meant to show where he got his heroic qualities. Children then learned the story of the cherry tree in a school book, and it became rooted in popular history.

--from VOANews: Winter Gives a Hard Chop to Washington's Cherry Trees

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