Part 5 (1/2)
He further saved her , and we find hi for ”A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern, with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,” ”1 Cap, Handkerchief, Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to ith the above negligee, to cost 20,” ”1 pair black, and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the sent, ”Mrs Washi+ngton sends hoet cleaned, or fresh dyed of the saain, would be her choice; but if the cloth won't afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown” At another ti kind are sent he writes that ”she intended to have leathern Gloshoes” When she was asked to present a pair of colors to a co, and when ”Mrs Washi+ngtonperceived the Toet a workman to repair it The care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his wife's ability, a housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this position was on the point of leaving, Washi+ngton wrote his agent to find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would ”throw a great additional weight on Mrs Washi+ngton;” again, writing in another doood housekeeper are such as to render the wages deh) of no consideration” Her letters of forraphy than she was h he was
It has already been sho he fathered her ”little progeny,” as he once called theof a visit in which ”I carried my little patt with me and left Jacky at hoh ere gon but wone fortnight I was quite is barke or a noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me I often fancied he was sick or some accident had happened to hi as Mr Washi+ngton must stay when he comes down” To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the titon ”withheld from her the infornorancetill I hear of his return, or perfect recovery; she having often wished that Jack wou'd take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that she ht escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into” And on the death of Patsy he wrote, ”This sudden and unexpected blow, I scarce need add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is encreas'd by the absence of her son”
When Washi+ngton left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the Continental Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as commander-in-chief, and as soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,--
”I am now set down to write to you on a subject, which fills ravated and increased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I knoill give you It has been deterress, that the whole army raised for the defence of the American cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take upon me the command of it
”You may believe me, my dear Patsey, when I assure you, in thethis appointment, I have used every endeavor in ness to part with you and the fareat for my capacity, and that I should enjoy more real happiness in one month with you at ho abroad, if my stay were to be seven tier of the can; my unhappiness will flow fro left alone”
To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same time to different reat concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her into; I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using everyeverything in your power to pros on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable necessity which has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily hope that success will attend it and crown our s with happiness”
”I entreat you and Mrs Bassett if possible to visit at Mt Vernon, as also my wife's other friends I could wish you to take her down, as I have no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at her lonesome situation”
”I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the spirits of my wife, asstroke upon her; and on this account alone I have reeable sensations I hope you and reat), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a little time at Mount Vernon”
When, six e, Washi+ngton wrote that ”seeing no prospect of returning to my family and friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs Washi+ngton to co, ”I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must attend the journey before her, and left it to her own choice” His wife replied in the affirton's aides presently wrote concerning sooods to the effect that ”There are li perishable, you must sell immediately
The General ant some of each, as well of the sweetmeats and pickles that are on board, as his lady will be here to-day or to-s on board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send the without payie house in Cae, the discomforts of ere reduced to atiet used to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her paid so little heed to it With the opening of the ca summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the are she once ton in a letter to Jack, as follows: ”Your Mamma is not yet arrived, butexpected every hour [My aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her intention) to meet her We are in a dreary kind of place, and uncoton wrote, ”I came to this place, some time about the first of February where I found the General very well, in careat valley on the Banks of the Schuylkill Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts, which they say is tolerably comfortable; the areneral The General's apart cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much s” becaular custom, and brief references in various letters serve to illustrate theton infor to custon was about to open;” in July, 1782, he noted that his wife ”sets out this day for Mount Vernon,” and later in the sa ton;” and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, heeight or nine years of the war”
Another pleasant gli a brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained alhter in a letter to her father: ”I have lately been several titon He always inquires after you in the hly We danced at Mrs Powell's your birthday, or night I should say, in coether, and he told e; it was just twenty years that night” Again there was junketing in Philadelphia after the surrender at Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed in a line fro the latter that ”Mrs Washi+ngton,with you in the way proposed, to- Christmas day”
With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more companionshi+p was obtained, for, as already stated, Washi+ngton could only describe his home henceforth as a ”well resorted tavern,” and two years after his return he entered in his diary, ”Dined with only Mrs Washi+ngton which I believe is the first instance of it since my retireh, for in six years they were both in public life again Mrs Washi+ngton was inclined to sulk over the necessary restraints of official life, writing to a friend, ”Mrs Sins will give you a better account of the fashi+ons than I can--I live a very dull life hear and know nothing that passes in the town--I never goe to any public place--indeed I think I a else; there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from--and as I cannot doe as I like, I areat deal”
[Illustration: MRS DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS WAshi+NGTON]
None the less she did her duties well, and in these ”Lady Washi+ngton” wasto Thacher, she conity of”no striking htened Washi+ngton's shoulders of social deton, which were held every Friday evening, so a contemporary states, ”the President did not consider himself as visited
On these occasions he appeared as a private gentle without restraint”
Froton also saved her husband, for a visitor on New Year's tells of her setting ”'the General' (by which title she always designated her husband)” at liberty: ”Mrs Washi+ngton had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and with a complacent smile said, 'The General always retires at nine, and I usually precede hi salutations, and withdrew”
Nor was it only fro that the wife saved her husband, Washi+ngton writing in 1793, ”We remain in Philadelphia until the 10th instant It was er; but as Mrs Washi+ngton was unwilling to leave nant fever which prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her, and the Children any longer by _ in aevery day more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them”
Finally from these ”scenes more busy, tho' not more happy, than the tranquil enjoy that in the latter their ”days will close” Not quite three years of this life brought an end to their forty years of ton's illness first became serious his secretary narrates that ”Between 2 and 3 o'clk on Saturday ton & told her he was very unwell, and had had an ague
Shewould have got up to call a servant; but he would not permit her lest she should take cold” As a consequence of this care for her, her husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in a cold bedroo any attention, or before even a fire was lighted When death came, she said, ”Tis well--All is now over--I have no h--I shall soon follow him” In his will he left ”to my dearly beloved wife” the use of his whole property, and named her an executrix