Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-06-06


became the nurse of Mr.. Custis and b;s
sisters in their infancy. On the death m
Mrs Washington she remained at Mount
Vernon in the family of Judge Washing.
ton, who inherited the estate. until We
were married, in 1904, when at her earnest
request she came to live with us and
became the nurse of our four daughters.
only one of whom (May, the wife Of Col.
onel Lee) grew to womanhood. Eleanor.
who lives with me, was Mays nurse or
care-taker from her fourth to her twelfth
year. Westford, Judge Washington's serv-
ant, is her nephew and is yet at Mount
Vernon. They much resemble each other. !"
! SIS she intelligent, and is her memory
| trustworthy ?" inquired.
"She is remarkably intelligent, and her
memory of events in her earlier years seems
perfectly clear"
''Would it be agreeable for me to have
some conversation with her?" ] inquired.
Perfectly so," responded Mrs. Custis.
''She is little deaf, but you can easily
make her understand you."
Mrs. Custis went to her room, and soon
returning, said, "You can see her an hour
after breakfast"
l found the aged woman sitting in an
armchair knitting stockings, her room in
perfect order. Seated near her it was easy
to converse. Her dialect was that of the
colored people in general, which I shall not
attempt to initiate in this record. / made
many inquiries Of her touching the daily
life of her master and mistress, and re
ceived satisfactory answers. I asked her if
she remembered the young Martha Custis
the dark lady-who died before she was
seventeen years of age.
SIN course do" she answered. II was
a smart gal, almost as old as she was. Oh,
she was so purity and so good 1t seemed
as if the Lord wanted her, sure, and
thought she was too good to stay in this
wicked world. Her dying made master
and mistress almost sick and very sorry a
long time, they loved her SO and poor
Master Jack, her brother, took it so hard
We thought he'd go crazy. But somehow
he soon got over it. 'spects it was cause
he got in love with Miss Nelly Calvert,
and married her soon afterwards. She was
80 purity, too! They lived at Abingdon,
not far from Mount Vernon, most of the
time after the war was begun and lived
with them from the time when their first
baby was born until Master Jack joined
master to go and fight CORVALLIS. Then
he left young mistress and her four children
at Mount Vernon"
"Master Jack, as you call him, never
came back alive" 1 said.
'Oh, he did not ~ she exclaimed. "It
was drefful, drefful He was so good, and
everybody loved him SO. Oh, it was so
drefful l was building fire in mistress
room one frosty morning, just at daylight"
she continued, when there was loud
knock at the west door. l ran and opened
it, and there stood soldier holding the
bride of his very sweaty horse, who hand
ed me letter, and said, Tell your mis-
tress that CORVALLIS is whipped and a
prisoner l ran and told her. She was
very happy and thanked the good Lord
Then she sent me to tell the stable-boy to
take care of the soldiers horse and tell the
soldier to stay to breakfast. When I came
back mistress was just dressed. She went
to Master Jacks room to tell the good
news to his wife. When she came back
she opened the letter. 1t was from master,
and told her that Master Jack was very
sick at the house of his uncle, Colonel Bas-
sett, at Ethan, in Kent, and might not get
well. Oh, how troubled the poor women
were | The coachman was ordered to make
the big carriage and best horses ready as
quickly as possible, and as soon as we had
breakfasted the two women, the two
younger children and me to take care of
them, started for Ethan. We travelled all
day and greater part of the night as fast
as we could, stopping only to feed the
horses. We found Master Jack dying
with the camp fever, so DR.. Craik tcld US.
Master came at day break. He rode all
night. A few minutes after he came Master
Jack died. Then master aud mistress were
alone in room for a while, and young mis-
tress and 1 and the children were in another
room. By and by master and mistress
came in. He took young mistress hand and
said many kind words to comfort her. She
was crying and sobbing as if her heart
would break. Mistress told me afterwards
that he said to the poor mother, that he
would tako the two children that were
there, Nelly and George, and bring them
up as his own. And he did. Nelly, who
was then nearly three years old, and
George, who was baby, lived at Mount
Vernon until master himself died. George
MIR. Custis-lived there until mistress
died, more than two years afterwards"
"Were you in the room when your
master died?" l asked.
81 was there few minutes before. l
came up to the r0Om-it was an upper
chamber-with something. I remember
seeing Christopher (who had taken the place
of old Billy as masters body-servsnt) and
his wife Charlotte, and Molly the seam
strees, standing at one end of the room, look
ing much troubled. A few minutes after
wards Molly came down and told me master
was dead"
Sand you were with your mistress when
she died?"
"Oh, yes" she answered; call the time,
for 1 was to her what Christopher was to
master. She died of fever. That morning
brought into her room large bunch of
flowers from the fields, for it was a warm
day in May. l remember how sweetly she
smiled. The fever had left her and she was
very pale and so weak that she could hardly
speak in whisper. Oh, she was so good
She appeared to me like an angel lying
there. AT dusk that night she was an
angel, for she had gone to heaven"
A few weeks after my visit at Arlington
House, in the spring of 1858, Mrs. Castis
departed from earth, and in the fall of 1857
her husband followed her. The spirit of
the last relic of the bondservants of the be-
loved patriot departed in the summer of
1855.
BENSON J. LOSING, LID.