Washington sentinel., 1853-10-08
From the Waverly Magazine.
A Revolutionary Anecdote.

AS eyery little story Of the old revolutionary
times is interesting to an American, / thought
perhaps the following short anecdotes of the
'times that tried mems souls" might be &C
ceptable to your readers. can vouch for the
truth of them, as / had them from the lips of
an intimate friend of the family, and have my
self seen one Of the ladies'.
In the wear II, Mr. HIS family lived in
neat little house on the Hudson. 1t was in
very lonely situation, there not being sim
| ole human habtation for miles around. Mr..
H. Of course, Joined the continental army soon
after the war broke out, as the country required
every arm for her support. So, Mrs. n. and
| her daughter who was, at the time OF my mar
| ration, about twelve or thirteen years of age,
were left alone, and, for long time, entirely
unprotected. They were often surprised and
annoyed by visits from the British soldiery,
and one occasion in particular | shall proceed
to relate.
The mother and daughter were one evening,
quietly enjoying their simple meal, when they
were startled by q loud knocking at the door.
Mrs. II, peeped out Of side window, and dis
covered her visitors were troop OF British,
who, she had no doubt had come for the pur-
pose of plundering them. There were some
articles of considerable value in the house;
these she didnot think of; but there was one
tnlng Snc NaIueu eAlIeHtlly dIu tlio oiiO "ao
determined to save from the marauders. 1t
was a large feather bed, which had been in her
family for q very long time. In an instant she
barred the door, caught up the bed and made
| for the top of the house. There was ladder
placed for the purpose of ascending to the roof.
She quickly scampered mp this, but when
| about half way through the scuttle, she being
"woman of weight" stuck fast! The soldiers
had become excited, and the next moment down
came the door with great crash. Imagine
her feelings She was extricated with consid-
erable difficulty by the soldiers, and then they
at once commenced their plundering.
As it happened, some time before this, Mrs.
H. had received from relation, an officer IN
the British army, his portrait in Ola most
superb picture, which had hung an her parlor.
The soldiers very near turned everything upside
down, when the captain Of the troop, happen
ing to cast his eyes upwards, deserted the pic
ture. started and asked Mrs. III. who that
painting was intended to represent. He was
told by Mrs III. that it was Colonel ", of the
British army, a relation Of hers, whom she held
in high esteem. The captain turned around,
motioned his soldiers to stop their deprcdahons,
and then politely begged Mrs. HIS pardon, said
that he was very sorry for the intrusion and
in less time than take to tell it the house was
cleared of the disagreeable visitors. Thus, from
simply having a portrait of a British officer on
her walls, Mrs. HI. was spared from being robbed
of everything she had in the world.
Gen. Washington for some time lived at the
house Of Mrs III. and her daughter, who was
extremely anxious to see him, tried her best,
but could not get a glimpse of him. In those
davs there were no servants, at least among the
farmers in the United States; the ma'rons ana
daughters generally doing the household work.
i 70. for those good old times Miss Il. had
been sweeping and busting the apartment that
Washington occupied one morning, and was
Just going out when he entered; she was com,
pletely taken by surprise he stopped ana
Kissed her! From any one else, this, probably,
would have been taken as an insult; but from
Washington, no, no! his character was 100 wei,
known; he was too much venerated and loved
for that. This lady was never tired OF reiat'ng
these and the like anecdotes especially the last
one. She considered it was something every
body could not say, that Hdshmgfo" k1sse@
ker. y. II. N.