New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-30

supplies just the right key to the character of
her subject Peale had a sitting appointed for
MIN 10y Mrs. washington at Z O'clock morn
lng' but feared to present himself at that hour
He took stroll before ringing the door bell
Mrs Washington reminded him that he was late
ana he explained his hesitation about disturbing
her at such an early hour. 'Whereupon the
energetic little lady assured him that she hac
a"eauy attended family worship, given Miss
Nus.iS music lesson and read the newspaper
while she was waiting for hir," The episode
draws the curtain from her entire life which is
seen 10 be that of a typca! woman of the period.
"hether as the Widow GUSTS or the wife of the
President. her mode of existence was the same
one hcid nigh place in the social world OF that
Nic anu she knew 1t, but she had fashion
able fobles. Life for her was a thing of duties
Oh seriousness. and the portrait Miss Wharton
presents IS that of ideal American gentle
woman. unaffected by any of the pomps and
ceremonies in which she inevitably shared as
the wife Of her husband. In fact it is Just this
S""plcity OF hers which constitutes her claim
uPoh our interest She was not otherwise a
notable figure With the best will in the world
Miss Wharton could not persuade b>r readers or
herset that Martha Washington was a brilliant
woman that she was born for an official career
she mad no great mental originality But this
book SHOWS with delightful clearness that
i''' "a washington had all the housewifely
virtues that she was an embodiment of COM
by which she vas distinguished sprang from no
commanding qualities. from Identification or
her nature with the tendencies Of public life but
simply from the training and experience of a
woman accustomed 10 the best social life OF
virginia at a time when that life had a certain
provincial distinction. She was herself a pro-
Vincial TO the
What that meant in tho last centrrv :, 81.
south Miss Wharton shows as much through her
sketch OF Mrs. Martha Washngton's environ
iiieht as through her portraiture of the latter
herselL 1t is a subject Of peculiar fascination
ana though MIR Woodrow Wilson and Mr. Paul
Leicester Ford have covered it at some length
very recently, there is room for Miss Wharton.s
pleasant volume. She is familiar with the social
life OF the Colonial and Revolutionary epochs
ana In the present instance she revives perfectly
the atmosphere OF the time she describes. Not
many miles from Williamsburg on the James,"
she says, ARE a number OF fine old homesteads
where in the palmy days of old Virginia their
owners. surrounded by large plantations and at
tended by retinues OF servants. lived life
nearly approaching that of the English country
gentleman, and she indicates the curious COM
Dihation OF courtliness and simplicity which a
child brought up among these manors must have
had impaired to its nature Martha Dandridepp
showed all her life long the results of her earIvt
experiences in this interesting "rnilieu" She
was something Of an aristocrat when she was in
her teens. and on her marriage to Colonel Gusts
she look her place as one OF the first figures in
the society along the James of Virginia Rut
Miss Wharton reminds that although She
was Lut twenty-five at the time of her first
husbands death. Mrs Gusts was a great man.
ager OF domestic affairs. She attended person.
ally TO the administration OF her own and her
chlldren's estate. making loans on mortgage OF
moneys, and through her stewards and agents
conducting the sales or expectation of her crops
to the best possible advantage" Further on
referring to the life at Mount Vernon Misc
Wharton observes that Mrs. WASHINGTON WIS a
notable and painstaking housekeeper. and at
home dressed with the simplicity that suited her
active and useful life" All the anecdotes re-
peated here go to show how deeply inerained
were these fine old homespun traits When she
joined Washington in camp she carried her sim
pie ways with her. On the road She might he
accompanied by all the gorgeousness that
fine equiDage and liveried servants could nro
vide. and that she could keep up her social bahu
even in the midst OF is indicated bv bor IN
sistence upon celebrating the anniversary of her
wedding. on Twelfth Night. in the old Craigie
Mansion at Cambridge. when her husband was
dealing with the first developments of the Reyo-
luton But she was to herself and Mrs
Troupe, who visited her at headquarters in Nor
rfstown. wrote to one of he| friends afterward
with some excitement how she had
found Lady washington KNITTING with a