Dr. Scott, in whose Annapolis home Key had spent so many happy days, died in 1814, the year of the composition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Mrs. Scott lived until 1819.

XLIX

THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON

THE BEGINNINGS OF WASHINGTON CITY, AND THE
STORY OF THE HOME OF CONGRESS

The selection of parts of Virginia and Maryland as the site of the Federal District in which the National Capital was to be located was made only after many years of discussion.

In 1779 some of the members of Congress talked of buying a few square miles near Princeton, New Jersey, as a site for the government's permanent home. Four years later, the trustees of Kingston, New York, sought to interest Congress in that location. In 1783 Annapolis, Maryland, offered the State House and public circle to "the Honorable Congress" for their use. Burlington, New Jersey, also entered the lists, while in June, 1783, Virginia offered the town of Williamsburg to Congress and proposed to "present the palace, the capitol, and all the public buildings and 300 acres of land adjoining the said city, together with a sum of money not exceeding 100,000 pounds, this state currency to be expended in erecting thirteen hotels for the use of the delegates in Congress."

In October, 1784, Congress decided to place the capital near Trenton, New Jersey. Later it was decided to have a second capital on the Potomac, Congress to alternate between the two locations.

Neither Congress nor the country was satisfied with this solution of the difficulty. After years of discussion, in September, 1789, one house of Congress fixed on the Falls of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania as the permanent site. The Senate amended their proposal by suggesting Germantown, Pennsylvania.

This action was reconsidered and a long dispute followed. Finally, in 1790, the site on the Potomac was selected, and Congress was ready to provide for the building of "a palace in the woods."

President Washington and Vice-President Adams disagreed as to the location of the Capitol building. John Adams wished to see it the centre of a quadrangle of other public buildings, but Washington urged that Congress should meet in a building at a distance from the President's house and all other public buildings, that the lawmakers might not be annoyed by the executive officers.

The invitation to architects to present plans for the Capitol was made in March, 1792, five hundred dollars being promised for the best plan. None of the sixteen designs submitted were approved. Later two men, Stephen L. Hallet and Dr. William Thornton, offered such good plans that it was not easy to decide between them. The difficulty was solved by acceptance of Thornton's design and the engagement of Hallet as supervising architect at a salary of two thousand dollars a year. This arrangement was not satisfactory; it became necessary to replace Hallet first by George Hadfield, then by James Hoban, the architect of the White House. Under his charge the north wing was completed in 1800.

The proceeds from the sale of lots in the new city proved woefully inadequate for the expenses of the building. Congress authorized a loan of eight hundred thousand dollars, but this loan could not be disposed of until Maryland agreed to take two-thirds of the amount, on condition that the commissioners in charge of the work add their personal guarantee to the government's promise to pay.

Congress was called to hold its first meeting in the Capitol north wing on November 17, 1800. A few months earlier the government archives had been moved from New York. These were packed in ten or twelve boxes, and were shipped on a packet boat, by sea. The arrival of the vessel was greeted by the three thousand citizens of Washington, who rang bells, cheered, and fired an old cannon in celebration of the event.

At that time the foundation for the dome had been laid, and the walls of the south wing had been begun. Later a temporary brick building was erected for the House, on a portion of the site of the south wing. The legislators called the building "The Oven."

The south wing was completed under the guidance of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also reconstructed the north wing and connected the two wings by a wooden bridge. That the building was far from satisfactory is evident from an article in the National Intelligencer of December 2, 1813, which spoke with disgust of the wooden passageway as well as of the piles of débris on every hand.

In less than a year after the printing of the criticism, conditions were far worse, for the British troops came to Washington on August 24, 1814. They piled furniture in the hall of the House, and set fire to it. The wooden bridge that connected the wings burned like tinder. In a little while nothing was left but the walls. "The appearance of the ruins was perfectly terrifying," Architect Latrobe wrote.

Thus was fulfilled in a striking way the prophecy made by John Randolph when he pleaded with Congress not to make war on Great Britain, "All the causes urged for this war will be forgotten in your treaty of peace, and possibly this Capitol may be reduced to ashes."

The next session of Congress was held in the Union Pacific Hotel, but by December, 1815, there was ready a three-story building, erected by popular subscription, which Congress used for three years, paying for it an annual rental of $1,650. This was called "The Brick Capitol."

Of course efforts were made to remove the Capital to another location, but Congress made appropriation for the reconstruction of the Capitol on the old site. Work was begun almost at once, and was continued until 1830, when the wings had been rebuilt as well as the rotunda and centre structure. In general appearance the building was the same as before the fire, but marble instead of sandstone was used for colonnades and staircases and floors. The beautiful capitals of the marble pillars were carved in Italy or prepared by workmen brought from Italy.

During the latter part of this period the rotunda was used for all sorts of exhibitions. Once a panorama of Paris was shown there, an admission fee of fifty cents being charged. Exhibits of manufactured goods were made in this "no man's land," over which nobody seemed to have jurisdiction. In 1827 a congressman spoke in the House of the fact that "triangles of steel to take the place of bells, stoves, stew pans, pianos, mouse traps, and watch ribbons were marked with prices and sundry good bargains were driven." The general public felt that they had a right even to the hall of the House; frequently popular meetings were held there.

The present dome surmounting the rotunda is not the dome first planned. For Latrobe's dome, which he did not build, a higher dome was substituted by Bulfinch. The present dome is the work of Thomas U. Walter, the designer of Girard College, Philadelphia, whose plans for the completion of the Capitol were approved in 1851. The burning of the western front of the centre building in December, 1851, proved a blessing in disguise, for Walter was able to rebuild the section in perfect harmony with the other portions. The House first occupied its present quarters on December 16, 1857, but the Senate was not able to take possession of its new hall until January 4, 1859.

The great structure was finished in 1865, work having been carried on throughout the Civil War. Though they knew that there would be delay in receiving payment for their work, the contractors insisted on continuing and completing what is one of the most harmonious public buildings in the world.

The patriotic contractors had their reward, for the building was ready to receive the body of President Lincoln when, on April 19, 1865, after the services in the White House, the casket was placed on a catafalque under the dome of the rotunda, that the people of the country whose destinies he had guided through four years of civil war might gather there to do him honor.

L

THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON

THE HOME OF EVERY PRESIDENT SINCE WASHINGTON

When, in 1792, James Hoban suggested to the commission appointed to supervise the erection of public buildings at Washington that the Executive Mansion be modelled after the palace of the Duke of Leinster in Dublin, his proposition was accepted, and he was given a premium of five hundred dollars for the plan. More, he was engaged, at the same amount per year, to take charge of the builders.

No time was lost in laying the corner stone. The ceremony was performed on October 13, 1792, and operations were pushed with such speed that the building was completed ten years later!

In November, 1800, six months after the transfer of the government offices from Philadelphia to Washington, Mrs. Adams joined President Adams at the White House. She had a hard time getting there. A few days after her arrival she wrote to her daughter:

"I arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves when we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles on the Frederick road, by which means we were obliged to go the other eight miles through woods, where we wandered for two hours, without finding a guide, or the path. Fortunately, a straggling black came up with us, and we engaged him as a guide to extricate us out of our difficulty; but woods are all you see, from Baltimore until you reach the city, which is only so in name. Here and there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed amongst the forests, through which you travel miles without seeing any human being. In the city there are buildings enough, if they were compact and furnished, to accommodate Congress and those attached to it; but as they are, and scattered as they are, I see no great comfort for them."

Mrs. Adams found no great comfort in the White House, either. "To assist us in this great castle," she wrote, "and render less attendance necessary, bells are wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through the whole house, and promises are all you can obtain.... If they will put me up some bells, and let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design to be pleased.... But, surrounded with forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut and cart it.... The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apartment finished.... We have not the least fence, yard, or other convenience, without, and the great, unfinished audience-room I make a drying room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter."

The building itself was in good condition, though the surroundings were far from prepossessing, when it was burned by the British in 1814. President and Mrs. Madison moved to the Octagon House, and spent more than a year in this comfortable winter home of Colonel John Tayloe.

The cost of rebuilding and refurnishing the Executive Mansion was about three hundred thousand dollars. The work was begun in 1814, and in September, 1817, the building was so far completed that President Monroe was able to take up his quarters there in some degree of comfort, though the floor in the East Room had not yet been laid and some of the walls were still without plastering. On January 1, 1818, the first New Year's reception was held there. "It was gratifying to be able to salute the President of the United States with the compliments of the season in his appropriate residence," the National Intelligencer said. It may be added that the editor called the building "the President's House." The title, "the White House," was not yet in common use.

For many years the successive occupants of the building were subject to all sorts of criticism. Mrs. Monroe refused both to make first calls and to return calls. President Monroe bought foreign-made furnishings! John Quincy Adams actually introduced a billiard table, and the use of public money to buy "a gaming table" was bitterly attacked! (Of course the purchase was made with personal funds.) Mrs. Adams was cold and haughty! When President Van Buren left Washington he took with him the gold spoons and the gilt dessert service that had attracted attention! But these were private property.

However, most criticisms like these have been inspired by pride in the President and his household, and a pardonable feeling of possession in them and the White House.

Until within recent years the President's offices were in the east end of the White House. A pleasing description of these offices has come down from Isaac N. Arnold, who thus spoke of the quarters of President Lincoln:

"The furniture of the room consisted of a large oak table, covered with cloth extending north and south, and it was round this table that the Cabinet sat when it held its meetings. Near the end of the table and between the windows was another table, on the west side of which the President sat, in a large arm-chair, and at this table he wrote. A tall desk, with pigeon holes for paper, stood against the south wall. The only books usually found in this room were the Bible, the United States Statutes, and a copy of Shakespeare. There were a few chairs and two plain hair-covered sofas. There were two or three map frames, from which hung military maps, on which the positions and movements of the armies were traced. There was an old and discolored engraving of General Jackson over the mantel and a later photograph of John Bright. Doors open into this room from the room of the secretary and from the outside hall, running east and west across the house. A bell-cord within reach of his hand extended to the secretary's office. A messenger sat at the door opening from the hall, and took in the cards and names of visitors."

During the time of President Roosevelt, outside Executive offices were built, and rooms that had long been needed for the personal uses of the President's household were released. The change has increased patriotic pride in the White House, one of the simplest mansions provided for the rulers of the nations.

LI

THE OCTAGON HOUSE, WASHINGTON

IN WHICH DOLLY MADISON LAVISHED HOSPITALITY IN 1814

John Tayloe, the wealthiest man in the Virginia of the late eighteenth century, had his summer home at Mt. Airy. His plantation, the largest in the State, was worked by more than five hundred slaves.

When he wanted a winter home, he thought of building at Philadelphia. But George Washington, eager to secure him as a resident of the young Federal City on the Potomac, asked him to consider the erection of a house there. So Mr. Tayloe made an investigation of Washington as a site for a residence, bought a lot for one thousand dollars, and in 1798 commissioned Dr. William Thornton to make the plans for a palatial house. During the construction of the building Washington several times rode by and from the saddle inspected the progress of the work.

Thornton was at the time a well-known man, though he had been born in the West Indies and was for many years a resident there. After receiving his education in Europe, he lived for several years in the United States. During this period he was a partner of John Fitch in the building and trial of the steamboat that for a time ran successfully on the Delaware River, more than twenty years before Fulton built the Clermont. He was himself something of an inventor; he secured a number of patents for a device to move a vessel by applying steam to a wheel at the side of the hull.

He had returned to the West Indies when he read that a prize was to be given for the best plan submitted for the Capitol to be built at Washington. At once he wrote for particulars, and in due time he presented his plans. He was then living in the United States. The plans were considered the best that had been offered. Jefferson said that they "captivated the eyes and judgment of all," while Washington spoke of their "grandeur, simplicity, and convenience." While these plans were later modified by others, certain features of the Capitol as it appears to-day are to be traced directly to Dr. Thornton's plans.

At the time of the award he was but thirty-one years old, and had already won a place as a physician, an inventor, and a man of science. He was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and had received the prize offered for the design for the new building of the Library Company of Philadelphia, in which Franklin was especially interested. Later he was awarded a gold medal by the American Philosophical Society for a paper in which he outlined the method of the oral teaching of deaf and dumb children which is still in use in many institutions.

The next stirring period in the history of the Octagon House was the later years of the second war with Great Britain. On the night of August 24, 1814, when the British Army entered the city, the French minister, M. Serurier, looked from his window and saw soldiers bearing torches going toward the White House. Quickly he sent a messenger to General Ross and asked that his residence be spared. The messenger found General Ross in the Blue Room, where he was collecting furniture for a bonfire. Assured that "the king's house" would be respected, he returned to the minister.

Dr. Thornton, who was at the time superintendent of the patent office, succeeded in persuading Colonel Jones to spare that building, on the ground that it was a museum of the Arts, and that its destruction would be a loss to all the world.

Among the public buildings destroyed was the White House. Mr. Tayloe at once offered the Octagon House to President Madison. On September 9, 1814, the National Intelligencer announced, "The President will occupy Colonel Tayloe's large house, which was lately occupied by the French minister." For more than a year the house was known as the Executive Annex.

Rufus Rockwell Wilson, in "Washington, the Capital City," tells how the mansion looked at this time:

"Its circular entrance hall, marble tiled, was heated by two picturesque stoves placed in small recesses in the wall. Another hall beyond opened into a spacious and lovely garden surrounded by a high brick wall after the English fashion. To the right was a handsome drawing room with a fine mantel, before which Mrs. Madison was accustomed to stand to receive her guests. To the left was a dining-room of equal size and beauty. A circular room over the hall, with windows to the floor and a handsome fireplace, was President Madison's office. Here he received his Cabinet officers and other men of note, listening to their opinions and reports on the progress of the war; and here, also, on a quaintly carved table, he signed, February 18, 1815, the proclamation of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the contest with England."

The story of this table's history is interesting. From the Octagon House it went to John Ogle Ferneaux, of King George County, Virginia. He kept it until October 30, 1897, when it was sold to Mrs. A. H. Voorhies, of 2011 California Street, San Francisco. When the fire that succeeded the earthquake of 1906 approached the house, the table was taken away hurriedly. Mrs. Voorhies says, "We wrapped sheets around the circular part of the table, and in part of the journey, it went turning round as a wheel to a place of safety." The San Francisco chapter of the Institute of Architects purchased it for $1,000, and sent it to Washington, December 1, 1911.

It is said that on the day the message came to the Octagon House that peace had been declared, Miss Sally Coles, who was Mrs. Madison's cousin, called from the head of the stairs, "Peace! Peace!" One who was a guest at the time gave a lively account of the scene in the house:

"Late in the afternoon came thundering down Pennsylvania Avenue a coach and four foaming steeds, in which was the bearer of the good news. Cheers followed the carriage as it sped on its way to the residence of the President. Soon after nightfall, members of Congress and others deeply interested in the event presented themselves at the President's House, the doors of which stood open. When the writer of this entered the drawing room at about eight o'clock, it was crowded to its full capacity. Mrs. Madison—(the President being with the Cabinet)—doing the honors of the occasion; and what a happy scene it was!"

Mr. Tayloe occupied the Octagon at intervals until his death in 1828. Mrs. Tayloe lived until 1855. By this time the neighborhood had changed, and the property deteriorated. In 1865 it was occupied as a girls' school. From 1866 to 1879 it was the hydrographic office of the Navy Department. Later it became a dwelling and studio. From 1885 to 1889 it was in the hands of a caretaker, and deteriorated rapidly. At the last eight or ten families of colored people lived within the storied walls.

The Institute of American Architects leased the property in 1899 and later purchased the house for $30,000. It is now one of the sights of Washington. A tablet fixed to the wall relates the main facts of its history.

SIX: HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS

SIX: HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS

MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

George Washington was twenty years old when he became the owner of the Mount Vernon estate on the Potomac, in accordance with the provisions of the will of Laurence Washington, his half-brother. At that time the house contained but eight rooms and an attic, four rooms on each floor. There were twenty-five hundred acres in the farm.

As a boy Washington had tramped over every acre of the estate. When he was sixteen he made a plot of the region around Mt. Vernon. The original of the survey made at that time may be seen in the Library of Congress at Washington.

The young owner looked forward to years of quiet on his estate, but he was frequently called away from home for service in the militia of Virginia. In spite of these absences, however, he managed to make the acres surrounding the mansion give a good account of themselves.

When he responded to the call of the Colonies and became Commander-in-Chief of the army, he turned his back on Mt. Vernon with great reluctance, and for six years hardly saw the place he loved. But when the independence of the Colonies had been won he returned home, in the hope that he might be permitted to remain there in obscurity, farming his land and entertaining his friends in the house on the Potomac.

That he might have more room for his friends, he enlarged the house. On July 5, 1784, he wrote to his friend, William Rumney of Alexandria, asking him to inquire into the terms on which "a House Joiner and Bricklayer" might be engaged for two or three years. To the house, which dated from 1744, he made additions until it was three times as large as when he inherited the property. The alterations were completed in 1785. The completed house was ninety-six feet long, and thirty feet deep, with a piazza fifteen feet wide. The building material was wood, cut in imitation of stone.

While these alterations were in progress a visitor to Mt. Vernon was Charles Vardo, an Englishman. When he returned home he wrote an account of his visit, in which said:

A visitor of January 19, 1785, was Elkanah Watson. In his diary Washington wrote simply that Mr. Watson came in and stayed all night; and that he went away after breakfast next morning. But Mr. Watson had a fuller account to give:

"I found him at table with Mrs. Washington and his private family, and was received in the native dignity and with that urbanity so peculiarly combined in the character of a soldier and eminent private gentleman. He soon put me at ease.... The first evening I spent under the wing of his hospitality, we sat a full hour at table by ourselves, without the least interruption, after the family had retired. I was extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted by the exposure of a harsh winter journey. He pressed me to use some remedies, but I declined doing so. As usual after retiring, my coughing increased. When some time had elapsed, the door of my room was gently opened, and on drawing my bed-curtains, to my utter astonishment, I beheld Washington himself, standing at my bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his hand."

The following May Rev. Thomas Coke and Bishop Francis Asbury were welcomed to Mt. Vernon. "The General's seat is very elegant," Mr. Coke wrote. "He is quite the plain, country-Gentleman." After dinner the visitors presented to their host a petition for the emancipation of the Negroes, "entreating his signature, if the eminence of his station did not render it inexpedient for him to sign any petition." Washington told his guests that he was "of their sentiments, and had signified his thoughts on the subject to most of the great men of the State; that he did not see it proper to sign the petition, but if the Assembly took it into consideration, would signify his sentiments to the Assembly by a letter."

An attractive picture of the General was given by Richard Henry Lee after a visit to Mt. Vernon in November, 1785:

"When I was first introduced to him he was neatly dressed in a plain blue coat, white Casimer waistcoat, and black breeches and Boots, as he came from his farm. After having sat with us some time he retired.... Later he came in again, with his hair neatly powdered, a clean shirt on, a new plain drab Coat, white waistcoat and white silk stockings."

John Hunter, who was with Colonel Lee, added his impression:

"The style of his house is very elegant, something like the Prince de Condé's at Chantilly, near Paris, only not quite so large; but it's a pity he did not build a new one at once, as it has cost him nearly as much as repairing his old one.... It's astonishing what a number of small houses the General has upon his Estate for his different Workmen and Negroes to live in. He has everything within himself—Carpenters, Bricklayers, Brewers, Blacksmiths, Bakers, etc., etc., and even has a well assorted store for the use of his family and servants."

While the repairs were still in progress, the ship Mary arrived at Alexandria, having a consignment for Washington from Samuel Vaughan, a great admirer in London. This was a chimney-piece, wrought in Italy from pure white and sienite marble, for the use of Mr. Vaughan. When the mantel reached England the owner learned of the improvements then in progress at Mt. Vernon. Without unpacking the mantel he sent it on to America. When Washington received word of the arrival of the gift, he wrote, "By the number of cases, however, I greatly fear it is too elegant and costly for my room and republican style of living." Nevertheless the mantel was installed in the mansion and became a great delight to the household.

Washington's days at Mt. Vernon were interrupted by the renewed call of his country. For much of the time for eight years he was compelled to be absent, and when, at length, the opportunity came to resume the free life on his estate, he had less than three years left. But these years were crowded full of hospitality in the mansion and of joyous work on the estate, and when, on December 14, 1799, he died as a result of a cold caught while riding on the estate, he left it to his "dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington."

For many years Mt. Vernon continued its hospitable career. Then came years of neglect, when the mansion was falling into ruins. But in 1853-56 Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina appealed to the women of the nation, and succeeded in organizing an association that took over the estate, restored it to its original condition, furnished it with Washington relics gathered from far and near, and opened it for the visits of the reverent visitors to the city of Washington, who continue their journey sixteen miles down the Potomac that they may look on the scene that brought joy to the heart of the Father of his Country.

Perhaps the plan was too ambitious for the Custis fortune. At any rate the rooms on the south side of the hall were not completed. But it was a famous house, nevertheless. Guests were many. They delighted to look from the portico across the Potomac to Washington, where they could see the government buildings slowly taking shape.

One of the favored guests was Robert E. Lee. His frequent visits led to his marriage, in 1831, to Mr. Custis' daughter. At this time Lee was a lieutenant in the United States Army. Mrs. Lee remained at Arlington, waiting for the husband whose military duties enabled him to spend only brief seasons with her and the growing family there.

During the years before the war visitors to the Capital City thronged to Arlington. Some of them were interested in the many Washington relics in the house. Chief among these was the bed on which Washington died. Others came to the picnic grounds at Arlington Spring, which Mr. Custis had opened for the pleasure of the people, building for the use of all comers a great dining-hall, a dancing pavilion, and a kitchen.

One of these visitors told his impressions of Arlington:

"In front of the mansion, sloping toward the Potomac, is a fine park of two hundred acres, dotted with groves of oak and chestnut and clumps of evergreens; and behind it is a dark old forest, with patriarchal trees bearing many centennial honors, and covering six hundred acres of hill and dale. Through a portion of this is a sinuous avenue leading up to the mansion."

At the time of the secession of Virginia, Robert E. Lee was a colonel. Duty seemed clear to him. It was not easy for him to take up arms against the United States Government, but he considered himself first of all a citizen of his native State. To respond to the call of the Confederacy meant ruin. His beautiful home, he feared, would be destroyed. But he did not hesitate. A desire to retain possession of his slaves had nothing to do with his decision. His own slaves had already been freed, and provision had been made in the will of Mrs. Lee's father that all his slaves should be freed in 1862.

When, in 1865, General Lee was urged to prolong the conflict by guerilla warfare, he said: "No, that would not do. It must be remembered that we are Christian people. We have fought the fight as long and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people there is but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation. These men must go home and plant a crop, and we must proceed to build up our country on a new basis."

But he could not return to Arlington. The government had taken possession of the estate for a National Cemetery. For a time he lived in obscurity on a little farm. Then he became President of Washington College, later Washington and Lee University. With his family he lived on the campus at Lexington, Virginia, and there he died, October 12, 1870.

In the meantime the National Cemetery at Arlington was becoming a pilgrimage point for patriotic Americans. The slopes of the beautiful lawn were covered with graves. The stately white mansion, with its eight great pillars and its walls of stucco seemed a fitting background for the ranks of little white tombstones.

For years the title to the property was in dispute. In 1864 the United States bought it for $26,800, when it was sold at auction for delinquent taxes. In 1882 the Supreme Court decided that G. W. C. Lee, son of General Lee, was entitled to the property, and the following year the government paid him $150,000 for eleven hundred acres, including the mansion.

The original contract called for the expenditure of £600. Colonel John Carlisle, who was bondsman for the contractor, James Parsons, in 1772, agreed to complete the building on payment of £220 additional, since Parsons failed to fulfil his agreement.

The church was built of brick, and was sixty by fifty feet long. The work was carefully done, but the structure was ready for the vestry to take possession early in 1773.

At the first sale of pews, of which there were fifty in all, Washington paid £36 10 s. for pew number five. He had already made a generous gift toward the building fund, but asked the privilege of giving the brass chandelier which still hangs from the ceiling.

When the Church and State were separated in Virginia, after the Revolution, Washington subscribed five pounds a year to the rector's salary. By act of the legislature the glebe lands of churches in the State were confiscated, but, through the influence of Washington and Charles Lee, Christ Church "and one other" (probably Falls Church) were allowed to retain their lands.

Many changes have been made in the building. The gallery was added in 1787, that twenty-five pews might be provided for the growing congregation. The west aisle was built in 1811, and the next year the chimneys were built, for stoves were placed in the church at that time. The bell was hung in 1816. The pews were later divided, including that which Washington occupied, but this pew has since been restored to its original condition. Since 1891 the high pulpit and sounding board have been replaced as they were at first.

Washington's diary tells of his attendance at service on Sunday, June 2, 1799. Perhaps it was of this Sunday a visitor to Alexandria wrote in a letter to a friend, which was quoted in "The Religious Opinions and Character of George Washington," published in 1836. The writer said:

"In the summer of 1799 I was in Alexandria on a visit to the family of Mr. H.... Whilst there, I expressed a wish to see General Washington, as I had never enjoyed that pleasure. My friend ... observed: 'You will certainly see him on Sunday, as he is never absent from church when he can get there; and as he often dines with us, we will ask him on that day, when you will have a better opportunity of seeing him.' Accordingly, we all repaired to church on Sunday.... General Washington ... walked to his pew, at the upper part of the church, and demeaned himself throughout the service of the day with that gravity and propriety becoming the place and his own high character. After the services were concluded, we waited for him at the door, for his pew being near the pulpit he was among the last that came out—when Mrs. H. invited him to dine with us. He declined, however, the invitation, observing, as he looked at the sky, that he thought there were appearances of a thunderstorm in the afternoon, and he believed he would return home to dinner."

The first property mentioned in connection with the name of Mary Ball, who became the mother of George Washington, was on the tract of four hundred acres "in ye freshes of Rappa-h-n River," bequeathed to her in her father's will before she was six years old. Her father, Colonel Joseph Ball of Epping Forest, Lancaster County, thought he was about to die, but he lived some years longer.

Ten years later an unknown writer spoke of Mary Ball in pleasing terms:

This "Belle of the Northern Neck," as she came to be called, continued her conquests of young and old until, at twenty-two, an orphan, she left Epping Forest to live with her brother, Joseph Ball, at "Stratford-by-bow, Nigh London." There, on March 6, 1730, she became the second wife of Augustine Washington, the second son of Laurence Washington, who was visiting England at the time.

Less than two years later, at Wakefield, on the Potomac, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, George Washington was born. He was not three years old when the mansion was burned.

The new home was at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg. For eight years the family circle was unbroken, but on April 12, 1743, Augustine Washington died. Laurence Washington, Mary Washington's stepson, then became the owner of Mt. Vernon, while to George Washington was bequeathed Pine Grove, though the estate was to be managed by Mrs. Washington until the son became twenty-one.

With wonderful skill Mrs. Washington directed the plantation and with firm purpose she devoted herself to the care of her five fatherless children.

A picture of this capable woman at this period was recorded by Laurence Washington, a nephew of George Washington's father. He wrote:

"I was often there [at Pine Grove] with George, his playmate, schoolmate, and young man's companion. Of the mother, I was more afraid than of my own parents; she awed me in the midst of her kindness; and even now, when time has whitened my locks and I am the grandfather of a second generation, I could not behold that majestic woman without feelings it is impossible to describe."

The death, in 1752, of Laurence Washington of Mt. Vernon made George Washington the owner of that property. Thereafter the twenty-five hundred acre estate became known as the home of the eldest son, while Mrs. Washington remained at Pine Grove with her younger children.

Only a few months later he stopped to see his mother, as he was on his way to the West to carry out a commission laid upon him by Governor Dinwiddie. As Mrs. Washington bade her son good-bye, she urged him to "remember that God only is our sure trust." Then she added, "To Him I commend you."

Her words were remembered. In 1755, when General Braddock asked Colonel Washington to accompany him to Fort Pitt, Mrs. Washington hurried to Mt. Vernon and urged him not to go. He considered her objections, but said:

"The God to whom you commended me, madam, when I set out on a more perilous errand, defended me from all harm, and I trust He will do so now; do you?"

One by one the children left Pine Grove. In 1750 Betty Washington was married to Colonel Fielding Lewis, who built for her the stately house Kenmore, not far from her mother's home, but across the river, on the edge of Fredericksburg. This house is still among the show places of the old town.

In the early days of the Revolution Colonel and Mrs. Lewis tried to persuade Mrs. Washington that she was getting too old to live alone at Pine Grove, and urged her to make her home at Kenmore. At the same time Colonel Lewis offered to take over the management of the plantation. To both entreaties she turned a deaf ear; she said she felt entirely competent to take care of herself, and she would manage her own farm.

However, she consented to make her home in a house purchased for her in Fredericksburg, because "George thought it best." The dutiful son had time to help in the flitting to the new home before he hurried to the North. He was not to see her again for seven long years.

A member of the family described later the days of waiting when Mary Washington directed her household in the preparation of clothes, provisions, and other comforts for the General and his associates: "During the trying years when her son was leading the Continental forces, the mother was watching and praying, following him with anxious eyes," the story is told. "But to the messenger who brought tidings, whether of victory or defeat, she turned a calm face, whatever tremor of feeling it might mask, and to her daughter she said, chiding her for undue excitement, 'The sister of the commanding general should be an example of fortitude and faith.'"

It was November 11, 1781, when the victorious commander next saw Fredericksburg, on his way to Philadelphia from Yorktown. George Washington Parke Custis has described the meeting with his mother:

"She was alone, her aged hands employed in the works of domestic industry, when the good news was announced, and it was told that the victor was awaiting at the threshold. She bade him welcome by a warm embrace, and by the well-remembered and endearing name of George.... She inquired as to his health, for she marked the lines which mighty cares and toils had made in his manly countenance, and she spoke much of old times and old friends, but of his glory not one word."

When the Peace Ball was given in Fredericksburg she was an honored guest. Her son walked with her into the gaily decorated ballroom. She remained for a time, but after a while, from the seat where she had watched the dance, she called him to her side. When she was near she said, "Come, George, it is time for old folks to be at home."

Lafayette visited Fredericksburg in 1784, that he might pay his respects to Mrs. Washington. He found her in her garden, dressed in a short linsey skirt, working among her flowers. After his visit he declared, "I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day."

She still went frequently to her plantation across the river, but as she became more feeble her son gave her a phaeton in which she could cross the ferry in comfort. Her great-granddaughter has written of her appearance when she rolled in the phaeton down the village street:

"In summer she wore a dark straw hat with broad brim and low crown, tied under her chin with black ribbon strings; but in winter a warm hood was substituted, and she was wrapped in the purple cloth cloak lined with silk shang (a present from her son George) that is described in the bequests of her will. In her hand she carried her gold-headed cane, which feeble health now rendered necessary as a support."

One of the last visits paid by George Washington to his mother was on March 7, 1789. A Fredericksburg paper of March 12 said, "The object of his Excellency's visit was probably to take leave of his aged mother, sister, and friends, previous to his departure for the new Congress, over the councils of which, the united voice of America has called him to preside." On March 11 Washington's account book shows that the expenses of the trip were £1.8.0. He also noted that he advanced to his mother at the time "6 Guineas."

At New York, on September 1, 1789, President Washington was dining with friends when a messenger brought word of the death of Mrs. Washington. The notice of her death, as given in the Gazette of the United States, on September 9, read:

"Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 27, 1789—On Tuesday, the 25th inst. died at her home in this town, Mrs. Mary Washington, aged 83 years, the venerable mother of the illustrious President of the United States, after a long and painful indisposition, which she bore with uncommon patience. Though a pious tear of duty, affection, and esteem is due to the memory of so revered a character, yet our grief must be greatly alleviated from the consideration that she is relieved from the pitiable infirmities attendant on an extreme old age.—It is usual when virtuous and conspicuous persons quit this terrestrial abode, to publish an elaborate panegyric on their characters—suffice it to say, she conducted herself through this transitory life with virtue, prudence, and Christianity, worthy the mother of the grandest Hero that ever adorned the annals of history."