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hope that my undertaking is designed to answer some good purpose. You might, and I suppose did perceive, from the tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive I could not avoid this appointment, as I did not pretend to intimate when I should return. That was the case. It was utterly out of my power to refuse this appointment without exposing my character to such censures as would have reflected dishonor upon myself and given pain to my friends. This, I am sure, would not and ought not to be pleasing to you, and must have lessened me considerably in my own esteem. I shall rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from the toil or the danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness you will feel from being left alone. I therefore beg that you will summon your whole fortitude, and pass your time as agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as to hear of it from your own pen."

In this letter Washington enclosed his will, which Colonel Pendleton had drawn up for him by his direction. He wrote: "The provision made for you in case of my death will, I hope, be agreeable."

CHAPTER IV.

THE tenor of Mrs. Washington's life was now entirely changed. The genial society in which she had so long moved as one of its most cherished members and brightest ornaments was broken into fragments by conflicting opinions concerning public affairs. The Fairfaxes adhered to the crown, and many others of her friends and relatives became alienated. She was burdened with cares and anxieties she had never felt before, but her heart and faith were strengthened sufficiently for the occasion, and her cheerful spirit never forsook her. Her husband had left the management of his farms in the hands of his competent kinsman, Lund Washington, who, with his wife, resided at Mount Vernon during the whole period of the long war that ensued. And Mrs. Washington was comforted by that assuring expression in her husband's letter-"not doubting I shall return safe to you in the fall.”

Alas! the hope which these words inspired was long deferred. The fall came and winter approached, and the period of Washington's return to his home appeared more remote than ever. There was a strong British force in Boston, under Gen. William Howe, while a stronger patriotic force, which partially circumvallated the town, kept them close prisoners there.

In October a committee of Congress visited Washington. Arrangements were made for a new organization of the

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It was

army, and a siege of Boston was determined upon. resolved to capture the British army or drive it into the sea. For this purpose an irregular line of fortifications to command the whole Peninsula was speedily constructed, and strong gunboats were placed in the Charles River.

Perceiving no prospect of returning to Mount Vernon for many months, Washington invited his family to join him at Cambridge. When his express with this invitation reached Mrs. Washington, she was at Williamsburg. She immediately returned to Mount Vernon, and prepared for the journey to Boston.

Washington was occupying a fine mansion at Cambridge, built nearly twenty years before, as his head-quarters. This

house was the property and dwelling-place of the late Mr. Longfellow, the poet, for many years before his death. It is in a state of perfect preservation in outward and interior aspects, as in 1775. Then, as now, it was a little back from the street, with a gentle slope in front. At each front corner of the house is now a lofty and venerable elm. These were saplings when Washington dwelt there.

There had been some alarm felt at Mount Vernon in Oc tober, a little while before Mrs. Washington received her invitation to Cambridge. Lord Dunmore, the fugitive royal governor of Virginia, had begun marauding expeditions on the shores of the waters of Lower Virginia, and had spread alarm along Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. It is believed he intended to ascend the Potomac, devastate the estate at Mount Vernon, and seizing Mrs. Washington, hold her as a hostage. Virginia militia soon checked the career of the marauder, and the alarm subsided. Lund Washington had written to the general:

"Many people have made a stir about Mrs. Washington's continuing at Mount Vernon, but I cannot think there is any danger. The thought, I believe, originated in Alexandria; from thence it got to Loudoun, and I am told the people of Loudoun talk of sending a guard to conduct her up to Berkeley, with some of the principal men to persuade her to leave this place and accept their offer. Mr. John Augustine Washington [the general's brother] wrote, pressing her to leave Mount Vernon. She does not believe herself in danger. Lord Dunmore will hardly himself venture up this river, nor do I believe he will send on that errand. Surely her old acquaintance, the attorney, who, with his family, is on board his ship, would prevent his doing an act

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of that kind. You may depend I will be watchful, and upon the least alarm persuade her to remove."

Immediately after this letter was written the danger appeared more menacing. Still Mrs. Washington courageously refused to leave her home, until she received a message at dawn one morning from her good neighbor and friend, George Mason, apprising her of apparently near danger, and advising her to retire to the country, away from the river. She did so, but went only a few miles, and returned in less than forty-eight hours. Concerning this event Mason wrote to Washington:

"Dunmore has come and gone, and ieft us untouched except by some alarm. I sent my family many miles back in the country, and advised Mrs. Washington to do likewise, as a prudential movement. At first she said 'No; I will not desert my post ;' but she finally did so with reluctance, rode only a few miles, and, plucky little woman as she is, stayed away only one night."

It was towards the middle of November when Mrs. Washington, accompanied by her son, John Parke Custis, his charming young wife, and a maid - servant, set out from Mount Vernon for Cambridge, in a chariot drawn by four spirited horses, and with an expert postilion and a driver. Washington had made all possible provision for their guidance and entertainment on the way, for they were ignorant of the roads and were strangers everywhere.

Washington's military secretary, Joseph Reed, was then at his home in Philadelphia attending to private business, and had prepared to entertain Mrs. Washington and her companions at his home during their sojourn for rest in that city. When, on the 21st of November, they approached the