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to Mount Vernon when Washington retired from office the last time. It was used there until his death, for Nelly and her husband resided at Mount Vernon for more than

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It is now

a year after their marriage in February, 1779. (1859) in the possession of Mrs. Lee, of Arlington House, who intends to present it to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Associa tion, when the home of Washington shall have passed into their absolute possession, that it may take its ancient place in the parlor of the hallowed mansion.

The instrument was one of the most elegant of its kind. It is about eight feet long, three and a half feet wide, and three

feet in length, with two banks, containing one hundred and twenty keys in all. The case is mahogany.

On the 4th of March, 1793, Judge Cushing, of Massachusetts, administered to Washington, in the senate chamber, in Philadelphia, the oath of office as President of the United States, he having been, by unanimous vote of the electoral college, speaking the will of the people, re-elected to the exalted station of chief magistrate. It was with great reluctance that he consented to serve another prescribed term of four years. He had looked forward to retirement from office with real pleasure, and when he agreed to serve his country still longer, he endured a sacrifice which none but a disinterested patriot could have made. For himself he preferred the quiet of domestic life at his pleasant home on the Potomac, to all the honors and emoluments that the world could offer. But in this instance, as in all others, he yielded his own wishes to the more important demands of his country. He knew, as well as any man living, the dangers to which the country was then exposed from the influence of French politics and of domestic factions; and the representations of the true friends of government convinced him that his further service in public life was demanded by every consideration of patriotism.

Hamilton, in whose judgment and purity of motives Washington had the most entire confidence, had urged him, in a touching letter, to accept the high office a second term; and while his cabinet was agitated by discordant opinions upon other subjects, they all agreed that Washington's retirement from office at that time would be a serious calamity to the country. Every one felt that the affairs of the national gov ernment were not yet firmly established; that its enemies

were many and inveterate, and that Washington could not retire without damaging his reputation as a patriot. "I trust, sir, and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further sacrifice of your tranquillity and happiness to the public good," said Hamilton, at the close of his letter just alluded to.

Such sacrifice was made, and for four years longer Mount Vernon was without its master, except at long intervals.

Although Washington's second inauguration was in public, there was far less parade than at the first. It had been determined by those with whom he had consulted respecting the matter, as the democratic feeling was very strong, that the President should go to the senate-chamber "without form, attended by such gentlemen as he may choose, and return without form, except that he be preceded by the marshal.”

Thus he went and thus he returned, conveyed in his own beautiful cream-colored coach, drawn by six splendid bay horses. And thus he went to that senate-chamber a few months later, when he presented his annual message to the Congress, for in those days the President read the address before the assembled wisdom of the nation, and did not, as now, send it in manuscript by his private secretary.

An eye-witness on one of these occasions has left a pleasant picture of it on record. "As the President alighted," he says, "and, ascending the steps, paused upon the platform, looking over his shoulder, in an attitude that would have furnished an admirable subject for the pencil, he was preceded by two gentlemen bearing long white wands, who kept back the eager crowd that pressed on every side to get a nearer view. At that moment I stood so near that I might have touched his clothes; but I should as soon have thought of touching an

electric battery. I was penetrated with a veneration amounting to the deepest awe. Nor was this the feeling of a schoolboy only; it pervaded, I believe, every human being that approached Washington; and I have been told that, even in his social and convivial hours, this feeling in those who were honored to share them never suffered intermission. I saw him a hundred times afterward, but never with any other than that same feeling. The Almighty, who raised up for our hour of need a man so peculiarly prepared for its whole dread responsibility, seems to have put an impress of sacredness upon His own instrument. The first sight of the man struck the heart with involuntary homage, and prepared every thing around him to obey. When he addressed himself to speak,' there was an unconscious suspension of the breath, while every eye was raised in expectation.

"The President, having seated himself, remained in silence, serenely contemplating the legislature before him, whose members now resumed their seats, waiting for the speech. No house of worship, in the most solemn pauses of devotion, was ever more profoundly still than that large and crowded chamber.

"Washington was dressed precisely as Stuart has painted him in Lord Lansdowne's full-length portrait-in a full suit of the richest black velvet, with diamond knee-buckles, and square silver buckles set upon shoes japanned with the most scrupulous neatness, black silk stockings, his shirt ruffled at the breast and wrists, a light dress-sword, his hair profusely powdered, fully dressed, so as to project at the sides, and gathered behind in a silk bag, ornamented with a large rose of black riband. He held his cocked hat, which had a large

black cockade on one side of it, in his hand, as he advanced toward the chair, and, when seated, laid it on the table.

"At length, thrusting his hand within the side of his coat, he drew forth a roll of manuscript, which he opened, and rising, held it in his hand, while in a rich, deep, full, sonorous voice, he read his opening address to Congress. His enunciation was deliberate, justly emphasized, very distinct, and accompanied with an air of deep solemnity, as being the utterance of a mind profoundly impressed with the dignity of the act in which it was occupied, conscious of the whole responsibility of its position and action, but not oppressed by it." Washington made a hurried visit to Mount Vernon in April, on account of the death of his nephew, already mentioned, some matter connected with that young man's affairs requiring his personal attention. He was again called to Mount Vernon at the close of June, on account of the sudden death of Mr. Whiting, his manager, who had taken the place of Robert Lewis. "It was a critical season," says Washington, in a letter to General Henry Lee, "for the business with which he was interested. How to supply his place I know not; of course my concerns at Mount Vernon are left as a body without a head."

Notwithstanding Congress was not in session, the pressure of public business was such that Washington remained at the seat of government all through the summer, and it was not until the yellow fever, which broke out in Philadelphia in August, had raged for two or three weeks, and the officers of government had fled, that he left his post and retired to Mount Vernon. He left Philadelphia on the 10th of September. He would have remained longer, but Mrs. Washington, alarmed

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