The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-09-01
Lady Washington.

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In the year 1883, General Washington
yielded to the call OF his countryrnen, and
his own conviction of duty to the new.
born State, and was installed as President
of the young Republic. His wife, Mrs.
Martha Washington, generally called by
courtesy Lady Washington, of course
wen Up with her husband to the Govern
ment House. She was q refined, thought
full woman, with a great blending of
strength, sweetness, and simplicity in her
character. With the calm self possession
of a Christian lady, she entered on her
duties as wife of the President, and, Off
cially, the first woman in the land, while
she continued to maintain in her habits
and department the simplicity Of drtss
and the sincerity of speech for which she
had always been remarked. At first, she
was almost overwhelmed with the hosts
Of visitors, many of them idle and trivo-
lous, that she had to receive. This ives
soon brought into rule. General Wash
ington had a reception" on Wednesdays,
from / to 5 o'clock, and his wife on Fri
days, for the same number of hours, dis
pvn,iug will as much OF mere ceremonial
n state as possible.
There were, however, some ladies who
wanted more splendor, and they resolved
to ask q special audience, and try to alter
the plans of the wife of their illustriOus
President.
One morning three fair danes appeared
at the Government House they were
dressed out in the utmost gayety and
splendor, as if nature had formed them
merely to carry tincry and trinkets. Dia-
monds sparkled in their ears and glittered
on their necks. Their hair was pulled
out, frizzled, crimped. and tortured in
every form but that OF natures ele-
gance. They wore also high head
dresses, adorned with artificial flowers
and nOdding plumes, ana fiuttering
ribbons 10 crown the edifice of hair
which fashion then decreed should en-
cumber their heads and brains. Their
hands were e~mblaZoned with rings, their
wrists encountered with rutlles, clasps,
and bracelets. Stiff muslin rose ike foam
around their chests and shoulders and
though their rich brOcaded silks fell in
costly folds about them, and partially hid
the pressure that gripped in their waists,
yet the pent-up heart had to ~sympathiZe
with the oppressed brain, over weighted
with fashions load. They came r~ustling
and futtering into the presence Of the
lady they sought. Size received them in
q plainly-furnished room, in which she
spent her morning.
With dignitied courtesy the thoughtful
matron rose TO greet her visitors. Her
well-flled book case, made for use not
show, was behind her chair her table,
with her work basket and materials for
work before her and in her hand was
her knitting needles, the useful compan-
ions of many lonely hours. Gravely, yet
most courtcously, she heard the remarks
which, with ialtering speech, they bad
come to make. For they did not find it
SO easy to speak of luxury and display as
desirable when they were face to face with
the noble woman who, through years OF
anxiety and privation, had ministered to
the wants and mitigated the sutferings of
the soldiers during the terrible struggle
for independence. Somehow their faces
lost the defiant air and vain shipper they
had worn when they first entered her
presence, and had deepened into serious
ness and respectful attention as the wife
of Washington, after hearing them. said
ladies, you came to advise nue., and,
as far as kindness prompted you, l am
obliged for the motive, though l cannot
act on your suggestions. You arc in the
bloom of life. Many years, trust are be-
fore you. Ny age, even more, lar more
than my station, sanctions my giving you
some advice. Dear ladies, suffer the word
of exhortation. SHOULD Christian women,
honOred wives and mothers, be content To
aim at no higher glory than that of the in
sect that glitteIs in the sunbeam-tO be as
the FREELY, or the humming bird? You
spoke OF the greatness OF my husband.
His dear mother ever looked well to the
ways of her household. She taught him
to be Industrious by her example, for the
spinning wheel spun the clothes he wore
from his earliest days; and she, like my
self, loved the knitting needles" (She
looked, az she spoke, at her hnitting)
4" Ladies, during eight years Of ceaseless
struggle the women of America-the
mothers of the land spent no money on
fincry for themselves. They spent all
their available means in providing cloth
ing for the army, which, but for that sue
cor, must have persisted in our long and
bitter winters. L DO not wish To boast
Ibid only my duty; nay, l know it was
my privilege, as WashiDgtOn's wife, tC
toll for the men under his command. ]
always went into winter quarters will
him. In summer time | and his mother
and my friends were at our spinning
wheels. Once, in the winter, l had six
teen looms under one roof, all weaving
cloth coarse, indeed, but warm-for the
soldiers of the nation. Trust me, woman
was made for nobler ends than merely to
display fnery, which mars rather than
improves the graces that nature has be
slowed"
81 know" said one of the ladies,
thoughtfully, "that Mrs. Sarah Bache, the
daughter of Benjamin Franklin, sold hel
ornaments and all that she could possibly