"Did you ever see him, mamma?”

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "he died the year after I was born, at the age of ninety-six. When he carried the letter of Congress to Mount Vernon, Washington received him like a very dear friend, and asked him to become one of his cabinet, but Thomson said no, the country no longer needed him."

"Had he written his Bible then?" asked Patty. "Was that what Washington loved him for?"

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "he did not write his Bible till after he retired from public life; but he must have loved it always, and so did Washington. When I used to turn over the books at Mount Vernon, I was astonished to see how many of them were religious books, or books about the Bible. Washington's memory was very good. His books looked as if they had never been used; but after he had read a book once, he seldom cared to look at it again.

"Mrs. Washington was always delighted to see Charles Thomson. She said it was because he was so sweet and so cheerful. Once when I was in Philadelphia, I was shown a

portrait of Mr. Thomson. It gave me great pleasure to see it, because, you know, Patty, how much I value his Bible, which almost everybody has forgotten. The picture made me think of Mrs. Washington's words. It showed a thin old man with a sweet and gracious face. His hair, long, and curling at the ends, was as white as snow, and fell back from a high, fair forehead. His eyes were large and dark; they told of peace and love. I could not look at it long enough, and I kept saying to myself, This was the man that Washington loved.""

While Mrs. Gray was speaking, they had come out of the office. Tony took the key, and Patty put her hand in her mother's. They went out of the side door, and walked up the hill. It was nearly half a mile to Arlington yet.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARLINGTON AND ISAAC.

LITTLE way beyond the house they

A found a two-seated wagon, into which a

beautiful mule was harnessed. Over the back seat was one of Miss Brittania's knotted rugs.

"What a beautiful creature!" said Patty, stopping to pat the mule's dark, glossy sides; "but, mamma, is he a Dutch horse? He looks thick and short, just like the Dutch girls."

"He's a mule," said Tony, before Mrs. Gray could answer. "He's a Mount Vernon mule, Miss Patty. They don't have no mules at Mount Vernon now, but in the Gineral's time he thought everything of his mules. After the Judge's death, he was Bushrod, you know,— all the country round wanted to get at the Mount Vernon stock, it was that famous; but the family mostly bought it in. Mr. Custis he had some

asses and horses as long as he lived; and when Gineral Lee left, there was a couple of splendid mules in his stable. When I come over, they were all dragged out; the soldiers and the freed-folk had just tuk 'em for their own. I asked leave of the Bureau to get a common mule, and I sent these away to rest and feed up; and now they're jist beauties."

"I don't see why it's a mule," said Patty, in a troubled tone; for the creature was so spirited and beautiful, that it was hard to see the donkey blood.

"A mule is a mixed creature," said Mrs. Gray. "The father of this beauty was an ass, and its mother a mare."

"What did Washington want mules for?" said Patty.

"I don't know that he did want them," said Mrs. Gray; "but they are very useful creatures all through the Southern country better on the bad roads and steep mountain sides than either horses or asses. Washington was very much interested in farming, and he wanted everything that would help our people to make their own clothes and raise their own food. When Mrs.

Washington went to join him, after he was elected President of the United States, everything she wore was made in this country."

"What did she wear, mamma?" said Patty. "I thought you once said it was foolish to wear poor things just because they were American."

"So I did, and so I do," said Mrs. Gray, laughing. "I don't know what Mrs. Washington wore, though I have often asked, but I don't believe she wore a single poor thing. Mules are used a great deal in Southern fields; they do the ploughing, and they carry water to the young tobacco. The King of Spain, Charles III., happened to hear that Washington wanted fine mules, and he sent him a jack and two jennies. A man came with them to take care of them; and what was funny, they all landed in Portsmouth, N. H., and came by land to Mount Vernon!"

"How silly!" said Patty, who could not see any reason why they should not have come to New York or Baltimore. She did not know that very few vessels came at all in those days, and that to people across the water, New Hampshire and Virginia seemed very close together.