"How long am I to remain in this situation ?" he inquired.

"Not long sir," replied the doctor.

"I feel I am going," said Washington, "I thank you for your attentions, but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly."

"He took whatever was offered him."

"I am just going," said he, "have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead."

"Do you understaud me ?" he inquired. "I replied, yes."

""Tis well," said he.

"He felt his own pulse. I saw his countenance change. His hand fell from his wrist-I took it in mine."

"Is he gone?" inquired Mrs. Washington.

"I held up my hand as a signal that he was no more.”

""Tis well," said she, "I shall soon follow him. I have no more trials to pass through."

"Tears chased each other down the furrowed cheeks of Dr. Craik." "Mrs. Washington was seen kneeling at the bed side, her head resting upon her Bible, which had been her solace in the many and heavy afflictions she had undergone. She could with difficulty be removed from the chamber of death."

"Yesterday," writes an eye-witness, "I attended the funeral of the saviour of our country at Mount Vernon; and had the honor of being one who carried his body to the vault. He was borne by military gentlemen, and brethren of our lodge, of which he was formerly Master. To describe the scene is impossible. The coffin bore his sword and apron; the members of the lodge walked as mourners, his horse was led, properly caparisoned, by two of his servants in mourning."

"As I helped to place his body in the vault, and stood at the door while the funeral service was performing, I had the best opportunity of observing the countenances of all. Every one was affected, but none so much as his colored domestics of all ages."

"The sun was now sitting! Alas! the sun of glory was set forever!! No-the name of Washington, the American President and General, will triumph over death! The unclouded brightness of his glory will illume future ages!"

"When the burst of grief which followed the death of the Pater Patriæ had a little subsided, visits of condolence to the bereaved lady were made by the first personages of the land.”

"Although the great sun of attraction had sunk in the west, still the radiance shed by his illustrious life and actions drew crowds of pilgrims to his tomb. The establishment of Mount Vernon was kept up to its former standard, and the lady presided with her wonted ease and dignity of manner, at her hospitable board. She relaxed not in her attentions to her domestic concerns, perforining the arduous duties of the mistress of so extensive an establishment, although in the 69th year of her age, and evidently suffering in her spirits from the heavy bereavement she had so lately sustained."

"Upon the decease of my wife," wrote the General in his will, "it is my will and desire, that all the slaves which I hold in my own right, shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life, would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended by such insuperable difficulties on account of their intermixture with the dower negroes, as to excite the most painful sensation, if not disagreeable consequences to the latter, while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the dower negroes are held, to manumit them. And whereas, among those who will receive freedom according to this devise, there may be some who, from old age or bodily infirmities, and others, who on account of their infancy, will be unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire, that all who come under the first and second descriptions, shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live; and that such of the latter description as have no parents living, or, if living are unable or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the court until they shall arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and in cases where no record can be produced whereby their ages can be ascertained, the judgment of the court, upon its own view of the subject, shall be adequate and final. The negroes thus bound are, by their masters and mistresses, to be taught to read and write, and be brought up to some useful occupation, agreeably to the laws of the commonwealth of Virginia providing for the support of orphan and other poor children. And I do hereby expressly forbid the sale or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of any slave I may

die possessed of, under any pretense whatever. And I do moreover most pointedly and most solemnly enjoin upon my executors hereafter named, or the survivor of them, to see that this clause respecting slaves, and every part thereof, be religiously fulfilled at the epoch at which it is desired to take place, without evasion, neglect, or delay, after the crops which may be then on the ground are harvested, particularly, as it respects the aged and infirm; seeing that a regular and permanent fund be established for their support, as long as there are subjects requiring it, not trusting to the uncertain provisions made by individuals. And to my mulatto man William, calling himself William Lee, I give immediate freedom, or, if he should prefer it, on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking, or of any active employment, to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so; in either case however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent of the victuals and clothes he has been accustomed to receive, if he chooses the latter alternative; but in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my sense of attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the revolutionary war."

"The whole number of negroes left by General Washington, in his own right, is as follows: Forty men, thirty-seven women, four working boys, three working girls, and forty children, making in all one hundred and twenty-four."

"The slaves were left to be emancipated at the death of Mrs. Washington, but it was found necessary, for prudential reasons, to give them their freedom in one year after the General's decease. Although many of them, with a view to their liberation, had been instructed in mechanical trades, yet they succeeded very badly as freemen, so true is the axiom that, the hour which makes man a slave, takes half his worth away."

"A little more than two years from the demise of the Chief, Mrs. Washington became alarmingly ill from an attack of bilious fever. From her advanced age, the sorrow that had preyed upon her spirits, and the severity of the attack, the family physician gave but little hope of a favorable issue. The lady herself was perfectly aware that her hour was nigh; she assembled her grand-children at

her bed side, discoursed to them on their respective duties through life, spoke of the happy influences of religion on the affairs of this world, of the consolations they had afforded her in many and trying afflictions; and of the hopes they held out of a blessed immortality; and then surrounded by her weeping relatives, friends and domestics, the venerable relic of Washington resigned her life into the hands of her Creator, in the 71st year of her age."

The papers of the day published the following notice of her death: "Died at Mount Vernon, on Saturday evening, the 22d of May, 1802, Mrs. Martha Washington, widow of the late illustrious General George Washington. To those amiable and christian virtues which adorn the female character, she added dignity of manners, superiority of understanding, a mind intelligent and elevated. The silence of respectful grief is our best eulogy."

This

After bequeathing her principal property to her different relatives, the following sentence appears in her will: "It is my will and desire that all the rest and residue of my estate, of whatever kind and description, not herein specifically devised or bequeathed, shall be sold by the executors of this my last will, for ready money." clause included all the dower negroes of Mrs. Washington, referred to in the will of the General, as having intermarried with those in his own right. The dower negroes were now, by will, to be sold as slaves for life, and our young turkey driver being one of the number, soon found a good master in the person of Washington's old friend, Dr. Craik, of Alexandria.

Washington's servants were all free-Mrs. Washington's all slaves. Sorrow took the place of cheerfulness and joy, and Mount Vernon's groves no longer heard the happy songs of the days of the Chief. Immense estates, mountains, and rivers soon rolled between the two classes of negroes-the Mount became sad, and its groves a tuneless wild.

In 1802, the old family vault now contained all that was earthly of the beloved chief, and Martha, his wife. Within these walls no echoing sound had disturbed the "strangely solemn peace" for more than a quarter of a century after the interment; and no "curious fool" had attempted to "pry on corruption." Death reigned alone, and "the fearful mysteries of change were being there enacted."

The building of the new tomb, "at the foot of what is called the

Vineyard enclosure," was delayed for many years, and, in the meantime, the "curious fool" began his work on the old one; and now on a page of American history it is written-"the construction of this tomb was delayed until many years ago, when an attempt was made to carry off the remains of the illustrious dead! The old vault was entered, and a skull and some bones were taken away. They formed no part of the remains of Washington. The robbers were detected, and the bones were recovered."

In October, 1837, there was a gathering before the tomb of Washington on an interesting occasion. This was for the re-entombing of Washington and his wife. "Mr. John Struthers, of Philadelphia, generously offered to present two marble coffins in which the remains of the patriot and his consort might he placed for preservation forever, for already the wooden coffins, which covered the leaden ones containing their ashes, had been three times renewed."

"On Saturday, the 7th of October, 1837, Mr. Strickland, of Philadelphia, accompanied by a number of the Washington family, assisted in placing the remains of the illustrious dead in the receptacles where they have ever since been undisturbed."

"The vault was first entered by Mr. Strickland, accompanied by Major Lewis."

On entering the vault, "they found everything in confusion. Decayed fragments of coffins were scattered about, and bones of various parts of the human body were seen promiscuously thrown together. The decayed wood was dripping with moisture. The slimy snail glistened in the light of the door opening. The brown centipede was disturbed by the admission of fresh air, and the mouldy cases of the dead gave out a pungent aud unwholesome odor. The coffins of Washington and his lady were in the deepest recess of the vault. They were of lead, enclosed in wooden cases. When the sarcophagus arrived, the coffin of the chief was brought forth. When the decayed wooden case was removed, the leaden lid was perceived to be sunken and fractured. In the bottom of the wooden case was found the silver coffin-plate, in the form of a shield, which was placed upon the leaden coffin when Washington was first entombed. At the request of Mr. Lewis, the fractured part of the lid was turned over on the lower part, exposing to view a head and breast of large dimensions, which appeared, by the dim light of the can