The times., 1897-05-09
LADY WASHINGTON.


One of the most interesting books OF
recent publication is Anne Hollngsworth
Wharton's Martha Washington" which is
a fit companion piece TO Woodrow Nilson's s
biography of George Washington. The
vile OF our first President was long known
as Lady Washington" in tile simple but
stately speech OF our grandfathers The
title of lady meant great deal in those
DAYS, and Martha Washington was the
sort of woman to whom this title seemed
exactly appropriate. There We're women
in those days. as there have always been,
who were of unusual intellectual gifts, and
who had man-like grasp of affairs but
Mrs. Washington was not one OF them.
Her fame was derived simply and solely
from that of her husband. She was
sweet. sincere, home-lovinE woman, and
one of her nieceS bears testimony that the
Chief object of her life was to adapt
everything in their home 70 the comfort
and convenience OF the general" House
keeping in that time was more comph-
Gated affair than il is now, and to man.
age a house on a plantation like Mount
Vernon sometimes took almost as much
skill as it would to be mayor of a small
eity. so that the career OF Mrs. Wash
ington need not necessarily be considered
limited Whether it was or not. it was
confined to Mount Vernon and To the
other places in which ''the generals
official duties called him TO be.
Martha Washington was the daughter
of John cambridge, who lived on the bank
Williamsburg and Annapolis to enable his
daughter, as she grew TO maidenhood, to
share their social advantages She made
her debut at fifteen. and married, not very
long after. Col. Daniel Parke Custis. Col
Custis vas the son of the man who gave
Arlington its nanae-John Gusts. a some
what crusty and eccentric individual, who
had much trouble with his family. His
wife was uncongeniai to him and he made
no secret OF his JOY at her death. She
left a son and daughter, and the latter,
much to her fathers disgust, married Sc
cretly an officer in the English army.
while the son capped the climax of the
family affh ctions. John Custis thought,
by falling precipitately in love with pretty
Martha cambridge. instead of dutifully
wedding a young woman OF expectations"
Old John declared that his son should
never have one foot of the Arlington es-
tate. and actually made viii leaving all
his POSSESSIONS TO a servant. But one day.
luckily for the future Lady Washington,
he met Ills sons betrothed at some social
gathering and became a willing captive
10 her beauty and sweetness. After that
he was heard 10 make the remark that if
Daniel didn't marry her lie should. for
such a charming woman should not 70 |
out of the family. He not only gave them |
q good farm near Arlington at their mar
riage. but altered bis will, giving them
the Arlington estate on condition that his |
tomb shonld be inscribed with certain sen |
timents. After the name and residence |
comes the statement, "A ged seventy-one /
gears, and yetlived but seven years, which |
was the space OF time he kept a bachelors |
home ut Arlington" Col. Daniel did as |
his father had desired, but took the lib |
erty OF adding ON the back of the tomb |
O lire to lie effect that the inscription |
was put there by the positive orders of |
tie deceased.
The house in which Col. Castis and his 1
young wife lived at Arlington was a |
plaia wooden house removed when the /
present mansion was erected. Before he 1
was thiTty-fire tie colonel died. leaving /
two children and a will bequeathing Ar /
lingtun TO the boy and the White House /
estate. his fathers first gift was
called. to the girl, Eleanor. The rest of |
the property. about 100000, was left |
20 the widow.
There is TO record OF her comparatively
brief widowhood. She is believed to have
had MANY suitors, some Of whom were, |
perhaps. as iTHportunate as were those of |
odysseus wife during his lUug absence in |
world's-end wanderings. 1t is surniised
that she may have sought refuge from them |
st thc house of her neighbor. Ma jor Cham
beriayne, who, however, requited her con-
fideuce in a somewhat opposite sense by |
introducing 10 her the gallant and distin-
guished Col. Washington. with whose mar
tial exp PLOTS the colonies We're already ring
ing The tradition that Washington and
Mrs. Custis first met at the home of Col /
william Fitzhugh in Fredericksburg is re-
1ected as Icing unsupported by any proof
Washingtons woOing was as energetic as
were his operations against the British
In New Jersey. when Trenton and Prince
ton witnessed their sudden discontinue |
Eefore he went on the final expedition
against the French at the headwaters of
tie Ohio. he and Mrs. Custis were en-
gagged.
A writer in the New York Commercial !
Advertiser in giving a review of the
book. says:
'sThc middle chapters OF this biography,
even after they begin TO relate to the war
of the Revolution, are the least interesting |
In the account of Lady WashIngtons |
visits 20 Gen. Washington in camp there
are some simple touches Of nature. how
ever. that are specially grateful to the |
mind that is Stufeted with tales of bat |
Ties and fevees We are glad of the note |
of Mrs. bland. OF Virginia, to the effect
that at Morristown the generals worthy |
lady seems in perfect felicity by the |
side Of her ''old man, ~as she calls him.
And OF Mrs. Troupe's gossip. too, about
Lady Washington having sat and knitted |
with a specked apron on when she and
lome other ladies decked out in much
fankry called at headquarters The wife
" Col. John Cox. of Bloomsbury, tcstifies |
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