But though that fact is encouraging, I am not writing for boys, but for their comparatively ignorant parents.
Not only did the first English colony establish itself in Virginia, and the first known tobacco come from there--a point the importance of which cannot be overstated--but the history of the Old Dominion is in every way more romantic and heroic than that of any other State.

The first popular government existed there long before the Revolution, and at the time of the break with the mother country Virginia was the most wealthy and populous of the Colonies.

Some historians say that slavery was first introduced there when some Dutchmen sold to the colonists a shipload of negroes, but I believe this point is disputed.

The Declaration of Independence was, of course, written by a Virginian, and made good by the sword of one.

The first President of the United States was a Virginian, and so is the present Chief Executive.