AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS.

351

BUSHROD WASHINGTON.

Washington's death, President Adams had appointed Bushrod to the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and he performed the duties of his exalted station with eminent ability until his death, thirty-two years afterward.

Judge Washington took possession of the Mount Vernon estate, immediately after the death of Mrs. Washington. Among the slaves that belonged to him, and who were taken to Mount Vernon at that time, only one is living. Although set free by the will of his master in 1829, he has never left the estate, but remains a resident there, where he is regarded as a patriarch. I saw him when I last visited Mount Vernon, in the autumn of 1858, and received from his lips many interesting reminiscences of the place and its surroundings.

352

MOUNT VERNON

Just at evening, when returning from a stroll to the ancient entrance to Mount Vernon, I found WestFord (the name of the patriarch) engaged at the shop, near the conservatory, making a plough. He is a mulatto, very intelligent and communicative; and I enjoyed a pleasant and profitable half-hour's conversation with him. He came to Mount Vernon in August, 1802, and when I saw him he was in the seventy-second year of his age.

WestFord well knew Billy, Washington's favorite servant during the war for independence. Billy, with all of his fellow-