an eye-witness, says that Miss Custis was so much agitated that "she could not trust herself to be near her honored grandfather." This same narrator adds:

"There was a narrow passage from the door of entrance to the room, which was on the east, dividing the rows of benches. General Washington stopped at the end to let Mr. Adams pass to the chair. The latter always wore a full suit of bright drab with lash or loose cuffs to his coat. He always wore wrist ruffles. He had not changed his fashions. He was a short man with a good head. . . . "General Washington's dress was a full suit of black. His military hat had a black cockade.

"There was no cheering, no noise; the most profound silence greeted him, as if the great assembly desired to hear him breathe, and catch his breath in homage of their hearts. Mr. Adams covered his face with both his hands; the sleeves of his coat, and his hands were covered with tears. Every now and then there was a suppressed sob. I cannot describe Washington's appearance as I felt it-perfectly composed and self-possessed till the end of his address: Then, when strong nervous sobs broke loose, when tears covered the faces, then the great man was shaken. I never took my eyes from his face. Large drops came from his eyes."

The day before his retirement from public life, a large dinner was given by the President.

The foreign ministers and their wives, Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferson, and many other distinguished persons were present. Bishop White, who was one of the company, has left the following touching description of the

Scene:

"During the dinner much hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the cloth it was put an end to by the President: certainly without design. Having filled his glass, he addressed the company, with a smile on his countenance, as nearly as can be recollected in the following terms: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall drink your health as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all possible happiness. There was an end of all pleasantry. He who gives this relation accidentally directed his eye to the lady of the British minister (Mrs. Liston) and tears were running down her cheeks.”

On the eighth, the ex-President called to make his farewell visit upon Mr. Adams, and to leave his own and Mrs. Washington's respects for Mrs. Adams. The next day the General and Mrs. Washington, accompanied by Miss Custis, young Lafayette and his tutor, set forth for Mount Vernon. In Baltimore they were received with enthusiastic demonstrations, and met, says one of the journals of the day, by "as great a concourse of people

as Baltimore ever witnessed," including a detachment of Captain Hollingsworth's troop, which escorted the distinguished visitors to their stopping-place, the Fountain Inn, amid "reiterated and thundering huzzas from the spectators."

A few days later Miss Custis wrote to her friend, Mrs. Oliver Wolcott:

"We arrived here on Wednesday without any accident after a tedious journey of seven days. Grandpapa is very well and much pleased with being once more Farmer Washington."

ΧΙ

LAST DAYS AT MOUNT VERNON

"I CANNOT tell you, my dear friend," wrote Mrs. Washington to Mrs. Knox soon after her return to Mount Vernon, "how much I enjoy home after having been deprived of one so long, for our dwelling in New York and Philadelphia was not home, only a sojourning. The General and I feel like children just released from school or from a hard taskmaster, and we believe that nothing can tempt us to leave the sacred roof tree again, except on private business or pleasure. We are so penurious with our enjoyment that we are loath to share it with any one but dear friends, yet almost every day some stranger claims a portion of it, and we cannot refuse. Nelly and I are companions. Washington [G. W. P. Custis] is yet at Princeton and doing well. Mrs. Law and Mrs. Peter are often with us, and my dear niece Fanny Washington, who is a widdow, lives at Alexandria only a few miles from

us. Our furniture and other things sent us from Philadelphia arrived safely, our plate we brought with us in the carriage. How many dear friends I have left behind! They fill my memory with sweet thoughts. Shall I ever see them again? Not likely unless they shall come to me here, for the twilight is gathering around our lives. I am again fairly settled down to the pleasant duties of an old-fashioned Virginia house-keeper, steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and cheerful as a cricket."

This letter was evidently dictated by Mrs. Washington, or written for her by her husband, as were most of her letters at this time. Writing seems to have become more and more of a burden to her, and the General, whose pen never rested, often relieved his wife of this task, even in her correspondence with intimate friends.

Many repairs were necessary at Mount Vernon after the eight years' absence of its master and mistress. Washington wrote to Dr. James McHenry, "I have scarcely a room to put a friend into, or to sit in myself, without the music of hammers, or the odoriferous scent of paint." A little later he wrote to his

1 It is a rather curious circumstance that Mrs. Washington should speak of her niece Fanny as a widdow," when she had been for several years the wife of Mr. Lear.