ETNA AERA

 

 
 

GIFT OF
JANE K.SATHER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS
 
i vm wre

THEY KNEW
THE WASHINGTONS

 

Letters from a French Soldier with Lafayette
and from His Family in Virginia

 

Translated by
PRINCESS RADZIWILL

£8

 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
INDIANAPOLIS PUBLISHERS

 

 

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By Tar Boses-MerriL COMPANY

 

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Printed in the United States of America
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By P. F. CorrLier & Son CoMPANY
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To
JUANITA H. FLOYD
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
AS A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE

FOR LONG YEARS OF UNFAILING FRIENDSHIP

6141062
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PUBLISHERS NOTE

Historical authorities who read these let-
ters may differ as to their authenticity. But
they are so vivid and present such an inter-
esting picture of the Washingtons and the
events of their period, that we think they
are worthy of publication, if only for their
literary merit.
 
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION we tn ee i RY
I Tur VicTolRE SarLs FoR AMERICA . . . 25
II Gastron Has His Baptism oF FIRE AT
BeaxpewiNe . ... Lia di, A
III A Great Star SHINES THROUGH THE
Nicar or Variey Fogere .. . . . u B%
IV La Faverte Is REapy To Say His Nunc
DimmirTis, AND CHARLES LEE HEARS A
Man Swean |, 0, 0 pong ig Jongg
V Azrxorp Wourp Betray His CoMMANDER,
Bur Yorkrown REwarps THE CoON-
STANCY OF WASHINGTON . . . . . 96
VI Gastron Fercues His Faminy To America . 112
VII HfvriNg Recorps Her First IMPRESSIONS
or aQuren Coumrry . . . . . , 128
VIII TrEY StarT Lire oN A PLANTATION, AND
ApfrAmE-Rosavie Is Boew . . . . 133
IX HELENE Goes To MouNnT VERNON AND TO
A WEpDING Party ON THE James . . 151
X A CoxstrrurioN Is MADE AND A PRESIDENT

Inavevmarep , 0. , 0, 0,00, 169
CONTENT S—Continued

CHAPTER PAGE
XI HfieneE Exsoys Society iv PHinapELPHIA 180
XII Tuer Is TrouBLE TO FACE IN France
AND ON THE PrANTATION . ,.  « 193
XIII DerracTioN Is DirECTED AT THE PRESIDENT 212
XIV Gastron Goes Howe . . . . . . .2%9
XV Avpivrame-RosanLie Sees Miss NELLIE

XVI

I Crers Wer... hi ny, ao

TrE HERO Passes, AND THE CurTalxy Farts 253
THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS
 
They Knew
The Washingtons

INTRODUCTION

In France of the eighteenth century, letters
were never destroyed, but, with lavender strewn be-
tween the leaves, were carefully put away in some
casket, the key of which was carried on a ribbon
around one’s neck. From time to time they were
taken out and read over; they were always men-
tioned in people’s wills with an injunction to pre-
serve them as piously as they had been preserved
by their original owners. In many an old French
chateau there still exist documents of inestimable
value, priceless records of long ago which no one
reads or examines. They are considered simply
rubbish, but rubbish which has, nevertheless, a sen-
timental value because of its antiquity, if for no
other reason.

The correspondence which I am presenting to
the American people was considered such rubbish
for many a year. It lay among old family papers,

11
ey Se

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

which even my father, fond as he was of reading
documents, had never given himself the trouble to
examine. There was a twofold reason for this ap-
parent indifference: the first consisted in the fact
that the writer of these letters, Gaston Marie Léon-
ard Maussion de la Bastie, had been considered a
black sheep by his parents and friends. They had
never cared to learn anything about him, the fact
that he had caused so much trouble to his wife and
mother being quite sufficient to alienate any sym-
pathy that might otherwise have been extended to
him. The second reason may be found in the indif-
ference with which America and Americans were
looked upon by Russians of my father’s generation
who had heard about the country only vaguely and
whose interest in our War of Independence was
absolutely nil. Of course they knew that such a
man as General Washington had lived and that he
had snatched from the British crown a large slice
of its possessions, but beyond that they did not go.
The United States was too far away for any one to
take the trouble to ascertain the exact extent of the
struggle through which it had acquired its inde-
pendence. Consequently, when letters dealing
with it were found, they were seldom touched, far
less read. I am convinced that the red silk ribbon
12
 

INTRODUCTION

 

with which those of Monsieur de Maussion were
tied, was the very one which his mother used when
she carefully laid them away, one by one.

After my father’s death, my brothers and my-
self began to set in order our family archives. As
often happens in such cases, the task was slow, for
we were seldom together in the old family home,
and when we were, the correspondence of Mon-
sieur de Maussion was not the one which interested
us most. We scarcely ever glanced at it, and when
we did, it was always with the mental reservation
that we would find time to look it over after we
had sorted all the other papers. Days, weeks,
months and even years glided away until there
came the cataclysm of the Great War.

Our family castle was situated close to the Aus-
trian frontier. The Bolsheviks, after plundering
its priceless art treasures and wonderful library,
gutted and burned it completely. My brother,
fearing the possibility of a German invasion, con-
sidered putting a few valuables in a place of safety,
and so had the family papers and archives sent to
Warsaw to be deposited in a bank there. These
have proved to be the only possessions which es-
caped the complete wreck of our fortunes. Among
these papers were the letters of Monsieur de Maus-

13
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

sion. When I heard they were safe, I thought it
might be opportune to publish them. I had been
driven to the United States by circumstances con-
nected with the whirlwind of the War and the Rus-
sian Revolution; I had found a home—and a hap-
py one—there; I had learned to appreciate the
blessing of living in a free land under the protec-
tion of a strong government, and had become an
American citizen. I thought I might do one small
thing in return for these blessings and so add my
contribution to those which had already seen the
light in connection with our glorious struggle for
independence.

It seemed to me, too, that these letters describ-
ing the life of planters and society people in Phila-
delphia, New York and the plantations of Virginia,
had an interest as healthy and pure and sweet as
the lavender leaves in which they had been pre-
served; and so I have gathered them together in a
volume which I am now offering the American
people.

After this explanation, it may be interesting to
tell something about the persons mentioned in the
letters, to relate their history and how their letters
fell into the possession of our family.

The Maussions de Bastie did not belong to what

14
 

INTRODUCTION

 

in France was called la haute noblesse, but to la
noblesse de robe. This comprised families connected
with the different parliaments, the provincial ones
as well as the Parliament of Paris, where from
father to son a legal career was followed without
any interruption. One must not confuse the word
parliament as we understand it to-day with the in-
stitution as it was under the old French régime,
where parliaments were nothing but law courts.
The Maussions, so far as I can make out, were
originally domiciled in the province of Picardy and
were not at all connected with the Maussions of
Dauphiné. The latter is a very old noble family
from which are descended the St. Valliers, an his-
toric race, the last of whom was ambassador to
Berlin during the reign of the old Kaiser William I.
His mother was a Mademoiselle de Maussion.
My Maussions were far more humble people, but
were well-connected. The father of the writer of
these letters seems to have settled in Paris where
his widow remained after his death. Here she
formed a large circle of friends, keeping, however,
their country chiteau in Picardy. She must have
had a salon, because we find her name mentioned
in one of the letters of Madame du Deffand, and
she also must have lived in the Marais, where parlia-
15
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

mentary families as a rule resided, and have known
President Hénault, Fontelle and other prominent
persons belonging to the same coterie. Judging
by her letters to her son, she appears a severe, de-
termined sort of person who exercised an almost
despotic sway over her family and friends. She
had several children. One of her sons joined the
Congregation of the Lazarists and died in prison
during the Terror, while one of her daughters be-
came a Carmelite nun in the convent of the rue
d’Enfer. Madame de Maussion always refers to
her in her letters as ma sainte fille (my holy
daughter).

Gaston de Maussion was the black sheep of an
eminently respectable family. He got into all
kinds of scrapes from his earliest youth, and even
after his marriage to a sweet, kind and patient
woman, he did not give up the life of wild excite-
ment—the only one for which he seemed to care.
He must have fallen at last into difficulties of a
more serious nature, for about the year 1776, when
he was twenty-six or seven years old, it was deemed
advisable for him to leave Paris and remain in re-
tirement in the family castle in Picardy. His
mother would probably have compelled him to do
it, if the enthusiasm which drove so many young

16
 

INTRODUCTION

 

Frenchmen to offer their help to the Americans
fighting the King of England had not got hold of
him too and induced him to ask his family to allow
him to start for America with Monsieur de La
Fayette, with whom and the powerful Noailles
group Madame de Maussion, as well as her chil-
dren, seems to have been acquainted.

In the wave of exultation which had possession
of French and especially Parisian society, in those
momentous years of struggle for freedom, pure
love of liberty and the desire to rush to the rescue
of oppressed brothers were not everywhere the
leading motives. This does not apply to such noble
figures as Monsieur de La Fayette, the Vicomte
de Noailles, or the chivalrous and fascinating
Count Axel von Fersen, the only true friend the
unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette ever had; but
these men were exceptions and not truly represen-
tative of the large numbers of Frenchmen who em-
barked for America. As is usual in such expedi-
tions, the leaders had to take with them men of a
very different type and caliber—adventurers, fel-
lows who had got into some scrape or other through
carelessness or lack of honor; fellows bent on
finding the means to get rich quickly in the new
world which represented to them all the wealth

17
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

lacking in the old one, the only one they knew.
There were a few persons seeking to avoid
angry creditors, and good-for-nothing boys, hating
work and persuaded that this American expedition
would afford them the means of distinguishing
themselves on the battle-field without any danger
to their own skin. In fact, one would find that
among the companions of Monsieur de La Fayette
there were few who believed there was any element
of seriousness or real peril in their enterprise, and
that most of them followed him for fun rather than
from any other motive. :

I do not say that Monsieur de Maussion be-
longed to any one of these classes, but it is certain
that he left France under a cloud of disgrace and
that he did not do anything that could be called
very commendable in America, except fight. One
thing we do know, that he willingly or unwillingly
deceived his mother in order to induce her to
open her purse-strings to him and that on several
occasions he deliberately lied to her, as when he
wrote her that he had bought a plantation in Vir-
ginia, when he had only obtained the position of
overseer on the estate of one of his friends. On the
other hand, he must have made himself popular, be-
cause he certainly knew well-to-do, prominent

18
 

INTRODUCTION

 

people and was received at Mount Vernon by Gen-
eral and Mrs. Washington. It argues well for
Gaston’s qualities of heart and head that he had
such a really wonderful appreciation of the Gen-
eral’s character and greatness as these letters
reveal. If I were passing judgment on Monsieur
de Maussion, I should say that he was a per-
fect type of those half-adventurers who, in old
France, the France before the Revolution, were
called gentilhommes de fortune, something like
the famous d’Artagnan in The Three Musketeers,
always ready to receive or inflict a sword stroke,
but generous, brave, fascinating, loved by women
and admired by men, who, in spite of their chase
after wealth, could at times forget it, or renounce
it, if their hearts were touched or their ambitions
awakened.

When I have said this, the reader will see that
in spite of his defects, my hero was able to judge
better than most of his companions of the greatness
of the events he witnessed. He appears to have
been gifted with singular common sense and clear
outlook. All he tells us of General Washington is
the more precious because it is so spontaneous and
often “against the grain,” for it is certain that he
would have preferred calling the Marquis de La

19
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Fayette the great man of these days. But he does
nothing of the kind, and at times his opinion con-
cerning the French general is singularly severe in
its outspokenness, as when he writes that it was
due to the greatness of General Washington that
La Fayette became great, or at least was called so.
This remark, I believe, has never been made else-
where. De Maussion was an enthusiast by nature
and in George Washington he found a proper sub-
ject for its expression. At a time when the name
of “the Father of his Country” had not been ap-
plied to our national hero, de Maussion realized
that it was the only one which would fit him in the
ages to come,

By the side of de Maussion we find his wife, a
sweet creature—one whose mission in life seems to
have been to smooth difficulties and persuade her
mother-in-law that she was quite satisfied with her
fate, though this could hardly have been the case.
She belonged to the category of women who, while
accepting all the unpleasantness of existence with
resignation, are sufficiently endowed with a sense
of humor to smile and try to make the best of a bad
bargain. Gifted with wonderful power of observa-
tion, she always tried to keep the old Madame de
Maussion in a good temper and catered to her

20
INTRODUCTION

 

curiosity by giving her as much information as pos-
sible in regard to the details of her daily life, the
habits, customs and manners of the new country to
which she had been transported. Her letters are, in
their way, even more entertaining than those of her
husband and the interesting things they tell us of
the manners and habits of the people with whom she
was thrown reveal much of the colonial life about
which so little is known by most of us to-day. Some
of her observations are delightfully quaint and hu-
man, for example, her description of Mrs. Wash-
ington’s caps, and the remark that “the ones she
got in New York suited her better than those which
she bought in Philadelphia.”

Madame de Maussion shared her husband’s ad-
miration and respect for General Washington, and
like him, she had fallen under the spell of his com-
manding personality. But in some respects her
veneration was even more remarkable than Mon-
sieur de Maussion’s, considering that the latter had
many opportunities to see the General under cir-
cumstances of a nature to impress him, while his
wife had simply the feeling of awe every intelligent
person experiences when put face to face with real
genius—always the best homage that can be
offered.

21
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Madame de Maussion belonged to a family
more ancient than that of her husband. The
Chastenays were well known in France and at the
Court of Versailles. She writes that she is related
to the Duc de Lorge. This fact adds to her merits
in accepting with such courage and good tem-
per a life vastly different from anything she
had been accustomed to. She must have been
made of a strong build to face so bravely the many
difficulties with which her path was beset. When
her husband left her alone in America and re-
turned to France under the lame excuse of looking
after his properties, he never sent her any remit-
tances to enable her and their children to live. In
order to be able to bring them up properly, she ac-
cepted the position of companion to an old and
eccentric lady in New Orleans for which she was,
however, rewarded by the latter leaving her a leg-
acy which enabled her finally to return to France
with her son and two daughters. The youngest of
her children, Adélaide-Rosalie, who must have
been a general favorite with everybody, was born
in Philadelphia.

With her departure from America, we lose sight
of Hélene de Maussion and have no more records
concerning her, except a notice of her death soon

22
 

INTRODUCTION

 

after her return to France. Maussion succumbed
to the fascination of Napoleon I, entered that mon-
arch’s service and obtained from him an appoint-
ment as Trésorier Payeur (collector of taxes) in
his native province of Picardy. His only son,
Pierre, was killed at Austerlitz, and his eldest
daughter, Marie, also died young. The only sur-
vivor of the little family that had spent so many
happy years in America, was Adélaide-Rosalie
who inherited the fortune of her father and grand-
mother. She was married to a near connection of
my own family, Count de Grand, who had settled
in France at the time of the marriage of King
Louis XV with our great-great aunt, Marie Les-
zczinska. She left no posterity. Her papers
and other family possessions became the property
of a cousin of my father’s, Count Leonce Rzewuski,
whose sister, married to the old Duke of Sermo-
neta, was the grandmother of Prince Gelastio
Caetani, the former Italian ambassador to Wash-
ington. Count Leonce died childless and be-
queathed to my father all the family’s archives,
which he had assembled with the greatest
care.

Among them were found the letters I am here
publishing.

23
 

 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

It remains only to add that the spelling of
proper names and the capitalization are retained
from the original.

Princess RapziwiLL,
CHAPTER I
THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

BorpEAUX
16th March, 1777
My pEAR MOTHER:

I am writing you to-day, because an opportuni-
ty is offered to me to entrust this letter to a mes-
senger and avoid sending it by the mail. I have
been in Bordeaux three days, where we are await-
ing further orders to tell us what to do. We all
depend on Monsieur de La Fayette* from whom
we have no news, and who, we are afraid, may yet
be stopped on his way by a lettre de cachet, which
his father, Monsieur le Duc d’Ayen, is trying to
obtain. There is considerable opposition among
the whole of the Noailles family to his plans, and
there was a rumor the other day that he had been
compelled to give them up on account of the threat
of the King’s displeasure. But Colonel de Lesser,

 

*The name of the great general was spelled La Fayette in
eighteenth-century France, not Lafayette,
1The Duke d’Ayen was not the father, but the father-in-law of
La Fayette, In those days in France a father-in-law was often
called father,
25
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

who joined us here two days ago, brought the news
that in reality the whole court was in favor of Mon-
sieur de La Fayette, and that Monsieur de Ver-
gennes had said that he would not have raised any
objections to his departure for America but for the
complaints of the Due d’Ayen.

Meanwhile the Victoire is quite ready to start,
and the plan is to take her to San Sebastian where
at least she will be in safety and the cargo not liable
to confiscation. All this is very annoying and none
of us is very gay just now. But two of my friends
and myself have made up our minds that even if
Monsieur de La Fayette does not succeed in reach-
ing us, we shall embark all the same on some other
boat than the Victoire and join the American
armies.

But we think that all we hear is nothing but
rumor, because those who know Monsieur de Ver-
gennes well assure us that at heart he is with us
and that secretly he has given his sanction to the
Comte de Broglie as well as to Monsieur de La
Fayette. Let us hope that it is these persons who
are well informed.

While we wait, I am very comfortably quar-
tered in the tavern which your friend Monsieur
d’Aunas recommended to me. The host is very

26 :
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

kind and feeds me with excellent pdtés, which you
would enjoy eating if you were here. The wine
also is excellent, although of course not to be com-
pared to the Burgundy vintages which we are ac-
customed to. Cyprien* is doing very well, but be-
came quite nervous when he saw the Garonne, and
asked whether the sea was as wide. He sends you
his most humble respects. I shall try to write to
you again before we sail, and in the meanwhile, my
dear Mother, I recommend my wife and the little
ones to your tender care. I know that you will
watch over them and that they are safe under your
protection.

I implore you not to forget me in your prayers,
and subscribe myself

Your very dutiful son,
GASTON DE MAUSSION.

Los PAsAJEs
18th April, 1777
My pEAR MOTHER:

Monsier de La Fayette is sending an estafetie
(courier) to Madame de La Fayette, to advise her
of our sailing which will take place in a day or two.
I have asked the man to take charge of this letter,

 

*Probably his servant. See page 91.
27
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

which he will deliver to my Uncle Jean in Paris,
who will find a way to send it on to you.

I received your letters yesterday, together with
one from Hélene* which disturbed me greatly, so
that I am asking myself whether, after all, it would
not have been the right thing for me to stay at
home instead of joining my friends. But it is too
late now to repent, so I beseech you, my dear
Mother, to do your best to comfort Héléne in her
grief and to explain to her that we are all of us in
God’s hands and must trust Him, but that I love
her and shall love her until my dying day; she must
never doubt my tenderness for her, for I cherish
her the most of any on earth, together with our
children and you, my beloved Mother.

My last letter was written immediately after I
had arrived in Bordeaux, and in it I told you about
the uncertainty in which we were as to our future
course of action. Baron de Kalb was extremely im-
patient, and it was he who decided that the Victoire
had better take to sea. Accordingly we embarked
and arrived on March twenty-seventht at Los
Pasajes, a little Spanish port, and here we have
stuck.

 

*The writer's wife, Héléne-Louise de Chastenay.
4By common reckoning, the twenty-sixth.

28
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

Monsieur de La Fayette joined us again on
March nineteenth, so you see that the various
rumors which I mentioned to you in my last letter
did not rest upon anything tangible. But since then
we have had to fight against any number of diffi-
culties, and I have often wondered what the reasons
were which seemed to make Monsieur de La
Fayette hesitate at the last minute, aware as he
was that the Minister approved his conduct al-
though he might not say so officially. He was in-
fluenced to wait for something, the nature of which
he did not explain when besought to do so.

With him here is his great friend, Monsieur le
Vicomte de Mauroy, who also has secured from
Monsieur Deane* the promise of an important po-
sition in the American army, and I somehow think
that it is Monsieur de Mauroy who is playing a
kind of double game in the whole affair, But both
Monsieur de La Fayette and Monsieur de Kalb ap-
pear to trust him entirely, and it was in his com-
pany that Monsieur de La Fayette finally escaped
from the surveillance of the commandant of Bor-
deaux and in disguise made his way to Spain
where the Victoire and ourselves awaited him. We
have been told a lot about this journey, but I don’t

 

*Silas Deane, business agent in Paris of the Revolutionary
government.
29
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

quite believe all the tales of danger with which,
they relate, it was accompanied. I also do not be-
lieve in the honesty of the captain of the Victoire,
Captain Le Boursier, whose face is that of an ab-
solute villain, unless I am very much mistaken. I
am sure he will give us a great deal of trouble be-
fore we are done with him and I should not
wonder if he were playing the spy all around.

Now we're told that we're to sail in a day or
two, and many more officers than were at first ex-
pected will sail along with us. Of course Monsieur
de Mauroy is one of them, and Colonel de Lesser,
and Colonel de Valfer, whom you know, and
Cousin Pierre, and Major du Buysson, and a few
others whom you do not know. There is alsc an
American called Brice. I am making friends with
him and trying to talk English with him. I felt
very proud the other day when he told me that he
could understand quite well what I said, which
proved to me that our good Abbé really knew what
he was supposed to be teaching us. With the ex-
ception of Monsieur de Kalb, I am the only one in
our party who can understand the English lan-
guage, and I am wondering what all our young
officers will do when called upon to command men
who will not understand their orders.

30
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

Oh! I forget; Monsieur de Voigny is also with
us. He bade me ask you to remember him and to
accept his deep homage and to pray for him for his
mother’s sake. He has altered much, I am happy
to say, and is no longer flighty and careless as in
the old days, but serious and desirous of making
himself useful to every one. I wish, in order to en-
courage him, that you would send him some kind
message in one of your letters to me.

They now say that we shall put to sea to-mor-
row,* so, my dear Mother, I take leave of you, and
in doing so, I crave your blessing and humbly ask
your forgiveness in case I have done anything that
displeased you, and I beg you to believe me

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
GasToN DE MAussioN.T

CHARLESTOWN
20th June, 1777

My pEAR MOTHER:
By this time you're wondering whether we have

*The Victoire sailed from the little Spanish port of Los
Pasajes on April twentieth, 1777.

+These first two letters from de Maussion to his mothér are the
only ones signed “Gaston de Maussion”; all of the others are signed
simply “Maussion,” according to the prevailing custom in France.
There is no indication of the reason for the writer using his Chris-
tian name on these two occasions, departing thus from the general
usage of the times,
31
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

reached America, or have gone down into the sea,
and when I think that it will be weeks before this
letter can come into your hands, and how Héléne
and you must be trembling for me, I begin to feel
very guilty toward both of you. But I know your
good heart and rely on your indulgence, and so,
without going further into the subject, I shall try
to describe our journey, which was indeed an
eventful one. ;

As you have gathered from the news which
must have reached you, we sailed from Los Pasajes
on April twenty-first,* and although the weather
was quite good, most of us on board were sick, and
many wished they had never embarked upon this
expedition. Monsieur de La Fayette was just as
ill as the others, but tried not to show it and walked
on deck regularly, which was more than could be
said of his friends. If I had had sufficient cour-
age to take advantage of this opportunity to ap-
proach him and try to talk with him, I might have
had a chance to become friendly with him. But I
did not dare do it, because it is so entirely against
our military regulations for a man who is not an
officer to approach one who is. From what I have
heard from Monsieur Deane, this kind of thing

 

*By general reckoning, the twentieth.
32
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

does not exist in his country where every man is en-
titled to approach his generals and commanders,
but Monsieur de La Fayette, although he knows
you so well, my dear Mother, might think that I
was not justified in departing from what is cus-
tomary in France. So, while I have never failed
to salute him every time he passed me, I have not
addressed him, and apparently he has not recog-
nized me; but then, this is no wonder, because how
could he remember my face in the midst of his
many cares and the annoyances which have met
him at every step he has taken before and after he
left France?

I think I told you what a bad impression Cap-
tain Le Boursier produced upon me the very first
time I set eyes on him. Well, he turned out just
as I suspected; he has proved to be, if not exactly
a scoundrel, at least a man alive to his personal in-
terests. We had our papers cleared for the West
Indies, and although the Victoire is the personal
property of Monsieur de La Fayette and he had
every right in the world to have her sail for what-
ever place he wished, the wicked Captain absolute-
ly refused to change her course and insisted he had
to go to the West Indies. There ensued a violent
scene between him and Monsieur de La Fayette,

33
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

and the Captain declared that he would lay a course
to the Canary Islands, and there await further in-
structions from France. Nothing like this could
be allowed, of course, and Monsieur de La Fayette
became so angry that we who were watching his al-
tercation with that Le Boursier creature feared at
one time that he would simply throw him overboard
in his rage at finding himself thwarted by such a
low, disgusting brute. You should just have seen
him advance toward him, raise and then drop his
hand with the remark, muttered in a low tone, that
he “must not dirty it by striking such a low-born
thing.”

I don’t know what would have happened at the
end if Major du Buysson, who had had plenty of
opportunities for observing Le Boursier in Bor-
deaux and Los Pasajes, had not had the idea of
putting certain questions to him. From these it
was discovered that he had smuggled on board pri-
vate stores which he meant plainly to sell for his
own account. As soon as Monsieur de La Fayette
realized this, he immediately offered to reimburse
the captain to the value of this contraband cargo,
after which he became as meek as a lamb. We
were all of us very much disgusted with this whole
incident, and Monsieur de Voigny declared that if

34
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

he had been in our fine Marquis’ place, he would
have sent a bullet into Le Boursier’s head, thrown
his body to the sharks and gone on without him,
but that he would never in the world have given
him any money. But you may imagine, my dear
Mother, how all this worried us during those long
days when we had nothing to do but watch the sea
and the sky. We were so afraid this man might do
something to Monsieur de La Fayette that some of
us made up our minds to keep a constant watch on
him and never let him out of our sight.

At last this interminable voyage came to an
end, but not without some further unpleasant inci-
dents which hindered our landing, such as meeting
two British frigates that chased us for a long while,
but which at last we managed to escape. We ran
into a small harbor on June thirteenth, after having
been nearly sixty days on the sea. It was early in
the afternoon, and although none among us knew
where we really were, we surmised it must be close
to a bay called Winneah (or Winnia, as they pro-
nounce it here), and Monsieur de La Fayette with
Monsieur de Kalb started in a small boat to try to
find a landing-place.

. Together with three other of our volunteers, I

had asked and obtained permission to accompany
35
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

them. We wandered along until night came; it
was such a dark one that we could not see two steps
before us, when suddenly a strong detachment of
Negroes came down upon us, and we all thought
we were in for a fight. But Monsieur de Kalb,
who speaks better English than any other of our
fine gentlemen, succeeded in making himself un-
derstood by these blackies, and they took us to the
house of an American officer named Major
Huger. After he had ascertained who we really
were, Major Huger gave us the warmest of wel-
comes. It seems that he is a very respected person-
age in this country and a man of great courage.
This he proved when, with two other men, he seized
the English King’s Arsenal in Charlestown. We
spent the night in his beautiful house, and there
was no attention that he did not lavish on us. He
is a very handsome man of commanding presence.
His wife, too, did all that she could to make us feel
comfortable in their house, where everything ap-
peared so strange to us.

Monsieur de La Fayette, Monsieur de Kalb
and two other officers who were with them, were
given the best rooms in the house, furnished in ex-
cellent taste, but the beds looked exceedingly queer
with their long white muslin curtains completely

36
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

enveloping them. We were told they were indis-
pensable on account of the number of mosquitoes
that swarm in this country. Myself and the other
three volunteers who accompanied their officers
were first assigned to the servants’ quarters, but
when Madame Huger heard of it, she said that this
would never do and had us taken to one large room
where we all four slept very well indeed, two on
the floor rolled in rugs. We were so tired that we
did not mind it in the very least.

The next morning we all breakfasted together,
and it was then for the first time that Monsieur de
La Fayette approached me and said, “Surely I
have seen you before.” I told him who I was, and
he instantly exclaimed, “Your mother’s son will
always find me his friend.” He added that if ever
I had need of anything whatever I was to come di-
rect to him, and that if he had known I was going
to sail with him, he would have asked Monsieur
Deane to give me an officer’s commission. But I
can’t help thinking that this was nothing but empty
words, because, if you remember, you had written
to him about my wish to join him and he had never
replied to your letter.

Well, my dear Mother, to cut things short, I
shall tell you that Monsieur Huger helped us out

37
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

of all our difficulties. Captain Le Boursier was
advised that as there was not enough water in the
bay for the Victoire to anchor in, he had better take
her to Charlestown, and he managed to do so quite
successfully. As for ourselves, we went by land,
some on foot and some on horseback. We were all
very tired, as the heat was intense and most trying,
but at last we reached this beautiful city about
which I shall write you in another letter.

Now we are preparing to start for Philadelphia
which, it seems, is a long and toilsome journey, but
there we are supposed to meet General Washing-
ton as well as some of his officers, and there we
shall learn our future destination. We are all ex-
tremely anxious to arrive, as the present uncer-
tainty is extremely hard to bear and upsets the
nerves of men and officers.

And now I bid you good-by, my dear Mother,
recommending myself to your affection, and beg-
ging you to believe that I shall always remain

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
DE MAuUSSION.

38
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

PHILADELPHIA
14th August, 1777
My DEAR MOTHER:

Forgive me for waiting such a long time before
writing you and describing our journey to this city.
I’ve not been feeling well and besides had nothing
cheerful to relate. Indeed, several of us felt so
discouraged that we were thinking of returning to
France without making any further effort to get
ourselves enrolled in the American army. I should
really have done so, had it not been that I felt curi-
ous to see General Washington and find out
whether he would not, out of his own authority,
allow me to join his volunteers. He seemed, ac-
cording to all the accounts we had heard, to be such
a remarkable and just personage that I could not
believe he would allow himself to be influenced by
the anti-French feeling which exists in this country
to the extent of refusing to acknowledge the hon-
esty of a Frenchman inspired by no other feeling
than love of liberty and hatred of injustice, and
decline to avail himself of his services.

The fact of the matter is, my dear Mother, that
when, after the terrible journey I'll presently de-
scribe to you, we reached this city, we found that
instead of the warm welcome we had expected, we

39
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

were looked upon with suspicion by the Congress,
the highest authority of this land. The reason for
this was that so many low adventurers, who had
imposed upon the good faith of Monsieur Deane,
had preceded us in Philadelphia and by their con-
duct given such a deplorable impression of
Frenchmen in general that no one wanted to have
anything to do with us. We were made to feel,
and indeed were fold, that the best thing we could
do would be to go back home. All the so-called
French volunteers whom we found already in-
stalled here were more or less adventurers—pi-
rates, I should say—whom the love of plunder
alone had brought to these shores. With perhaps
one or two exceptions, they had no idea of honor,
conducted themselves in the most disgraceful man-
ner imaginable, and of course could only give the
worst opinion of our countrymen to those who at
first had received them with real enthusiasm.

The result of the disappointment which the
Philadelphians felt was the frigid reception we re-
ceived when we reached this city, and indeed Mon-
sieur de La Fayette and his companions would
have been ordered out of it, had it not been for
General Washington’s interference. It seems that
the General is the only man who would differen-

40
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

tiate between the real gentlemen that we are and
the freebooters who call themselves by that name.
He said at once that he would not allow any in-
justice to be done and also that he would like to
reap for his country whatever advantages might
accrue to it from the cooperation of such true
soldiers as those who had come with Monsieur de
La Fayette.

It was the Marquis perhaps who among us bore
with the greatest dignity all his disappointments,
one of which was that he had to wait weeks before
meeting General Washington. When at last they
came together, it seemed that each had an excellent
impression of the other, and Monsieur de La
Fayette afterward told Monsieur de Voigny that
he had never met in his whole life any one who had
produced upon him such a deep impression as Gen-
eral Washington. There was, he said, such grave
sincerity in all his speech that as one listened to him
one felt a kind of reverent awe come into one’s soul,
and could not doubt for a moment that one was in
the presence of quite a superior being, endowed
with the greatest nobility of character in all his
lines of duty. This was told quite confidentially,
with an injunction not to repeat it, because Mon-
sieur de La Fayette would not care to be taken for

41
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

a flatterer. He was moved almost to tears when
relating the details of this first interview and he
added that he had never felt so proud as when Gen-
eral Washington asked him to accompany him on a
visit he was about to pay his army. This incident,
I'll say at once, did away with a good deal of the
depression under which we had all been laboring
since we reached Philadelphia. Now we are look-
ing forward to the day when we shall be able to
prove to the General that Frenchmen know how to
fight and how to die, if need be.

Before closing this letter, my dear Mother, 1
must tell you something about the fatiguing jour-
ney we had to reach this place from Charlestown.
It took us a whole month. We had to travel over
impassable roads, lost part of our baggage, and not
only were the primitive carriages, in which Mon-
sieur de La Fayette and a few of us rode, com-
pletely broken by the hard knocks of the road, but
we lost most of our horses, and finally the greater
number of us had to walk all the way under scorch-
ing sun and in clouds of dust, such as you can have
no idea of in France.

It took a great deal of courage to go on under
such conditions and the whole journey was hard.

We lost two of our men whom we had to bury at
42
 

THE VICTOIRE SAILS FOR AMERICA

 

the very spot where they fell, in the open plain, and
abandon to the mercy of fate. You will not be
surprised to hear that when we reached Philadel-
phia after thirty days’* tramping, we were more
dead than alive.

Now all this is forgotten, and now we are only
looking forward to the happy moment when we
shall be able to show the British, as well as the peo-
ple of this country, how Frenchmen can fight.

My dear Mother, I crave your blessing and
subscribe myself

Your dutiful son,
De MAUSSION.

 

*La Fayette and his men were actually thirty-three days on
their way. They left Charlestown on June 25 and reached Phila-
delphia on July 27, 1777.
CHAPTER II
GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE AT BRANDYWINE

BeraLEHEM
24th September, 1777
My pEAR BROTHER:

I have just written Madame our Mother an ac-
count of my first battle and how Monsieur de La
Fayette was wounded; and faithful to the promise
I made you I am writing you also to tell you in
detail about all the splendid actions I have wit-
nessed, and to describe to you from the military
point of view, in which alone you are interested, the
manner in which the battle of Brandywine (as it
will be called in history) was fought, what pre-
ceded and what followed it.

To begin with, General Washington, than
whom a more magnificent commander of an army
in the field never lived, for weeks had been con-
cerned as to the intentions of our enemy, because
the British fleet, whose movements he was anx-
iously following, suddenly disappeared as if the
earth had opened and swallowed it. He feared

44
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

this was a ruse and that this fleet was about to put
down reinforcements for General Burgoyne (one
of the English commanders who is preparing an
invasion from Canada) or else make a descent on
New Jersey or New England. He made up his
mind to thwart these designs and moved his army
to a place called Coryel’s* Ferry, where one
crosses the river, so as to be ready to send it north-
ward or eastward, according to the necessity. He
believed he was being kept very well-informed as
to the movements of the enemy by the numerous
spies he had at his service, but, as things turned
out, this was not at all the case and they only mis-
led him.

The British fleet appeared in Delaware Bay,
and its immediate withdrawal, together with the
absence of news as to its movements, completely
deceived our Commander-in-Chief, who really
believed it had returned to Charlestown.t Conse-
quently he turned back toward Philadelphia, gath-
ering the militia together on his way and
obstructing the Delaware River as much as
possible. There is an amusing anecdote connected
with this: A young farmer was about to be mar-

 

*Generally spelled, Coryell.
+He meant, of course, New York.

45
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

ried to a girl who lived on the other side of the
river. When he found he could not cross it because
of the obstructions, he began complaining and
swearing so energetically that the officer to whom
he used this insolent language had him brought be-
fore the Commander-in-Chief, who told him sharp-
ly that he had no right to criticize the dispositions
he had taken or the orders given the military au-
thorities to carry them out. The young man
looked General Washington straight in the eye
with absolute scorn as he replied, “If you were as
young as I am, and about to be married, you would
be impatient, too, to join your future bride, but I
expect you forgot long ago what such things are
like!” It seems that even the well-known gravity
of our Commander-in-Chief was for once discon-
certed by this frank reply, and that he burst out
laughing as he ordered the young man set free.
Meanwhile, the British had not been inactive.
Their strategy was excellent because, while our
people believed their fleet at Charlestown,* it ap-
peared one fine day, two hundred ships strong, in
Chesapeake Bay. This circumstance became the
American’s opportunity. General Washington
had lodged his troops in Philadelphia where they

 

*New York.
46
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

had been received with great enthusiasm, and after
they had rested there he led them against General
Howe, another British Commander.

General Howe had eighteen or twenty thou-
sand men under him, General Washington only ten
thousand, or something like that, but he was lead-
ing them personally and this alone meant victory.

Two other American detachments led by Gen-
eral Sulivane,* and Brigadier Maxwell, accom-
panied by Monsieur de La Fayette, joined him
near the Elk River. They hoped to reach Elk
River in time to save some stores we had there, and
perhaps prevent the British from effecting a land-
ing. But we arrived too late, and our men had a
skirmish with the British outposts, while the pro-
visions we had hoped to save were lost.

Two days later General Howe’s vanguard had
another skirmish with our troops. Our army was
then at Newport and had taken up its position
along what they here call Red Clay Creek, but we
were not able to resist the British forces and had to
retreat before their superior strength. This re-
treat, however, was effected in complete order and
without the slightest panic.

On September eighth, or rather during the

 

*Major General Sullivan.

47
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

night of September seventh, the British com-
mander tried to turn the right flank of our army so
as to cut off all communication with Philadelphia.
But on the morning of the ninth of September
General Washington took up a position which had
been chosen by General Greene, one of our ablest
commanders, on the banks of a river called Bran-
dywine, commanding the Philadelphia road. It
was then the great battle followed.

Our army was stretched along the east bank of
the river, which might easily have been defended
had the proper precaution been taken, because at
the next ford we had our artillery in a good position
behind earthworks thrown up in haste, and in our
rear was the reserve division of General Greene
with whom our Commander-in-Chief had his head-
quarters. Close to it were the divisions of General
Sulivane and Generals Stefane* and Sterling,
and scouts were scattered all round.

But, and this is what brought about the dis-
aster, the upper ford was not watched as it should
have been, and as our French generals would have
had it watched had they found themselves in a like
position.

On the morning of September eleventh, Gen-

 

*General Edward Stevens.

48
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

eral Maxwell (considered one of the best officers
in the American army) crossed the river hoping to
meet the enemy, but after a skirmish with Hessian
troops commanded by a man called Knyphoosen*
(or something like that), he was compelled to re-
cross it and retake the former position. There was
a dense fog, which, while it facilitated Maxwell's
operations, prevented his scouts from discerning
accurately the movements of the British army, so
that suddenly, when no one was expecting it, Lord
Cornwallis was seen debouching with a strong con-
tingent. In this emergency General Washington
showed himself a very magnificent strategist.
First of all he ordered General Sulivane to attack
Cornwallis, but when the fog lifted there was not a
sign of the whereabouts of the British troops who
had made clever use of it to retreat unseen. He at
once revoked his orders and recalled the few col-
umns that had already crossed the river.

None of us, not even General Washington,
guessed at first that the movement attempted by
Cornwallis was anything but a feint and a ruse to
divert our attention from the manceuvres of Howe.
The latter had started at daybreak from the po-
sition he occupied, marched more than twenty

 

*Knyphausen.
49
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

miles, and by half-past one in the afternoon had
crossed the upper part of the Brandywine and was
marching on us with his entire army.

Faced with this unexpected danger General
Washington did not lose his presence of mind for
a single instant, but without hesitation ordered
General Sulivane to meet the British army and
prevent its further advance. The woods were very
thick and dense, and General Sulivane was not up
to finding his way among them. His division, in-
stead of being able to help those of Sterling and
Stefane, fell into a panic and fled in such complete
disorder that after trying to hold it back, he gave
up every attempt to rally it. Meanwhile, the
enemy was advancing rapidly, and although Ster-
ling and Stefane resisted the attack in a most
wonderful manner, the absence of Sulivane’s divi-
sion left a gap in our flank, and the brigade of
General Deborre lost its position and, in turn, was
stricken with panic and fled in hopeless disorder.

As soon as he saw that his right wing was giv-
ing way, General Washington hastened to the
front. He had only one way open for a retreat,
the road leading to a village called Dillworth.*
With one of those flashes of genius which can be

 

*Dilworth.
50
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

inspired only by Divine Providence, our Com-
mander-in-Chief carried out a march of four miles
in fifty minutes, leading and encouraging his men
the whole while, telling them to remember that they
were fighting for their country and for liberty, and
crying out to them with the full strength of his
powerful voice to keep pushing on, no matter how
tired they felt. His energy, the sound of his voice,
his gestures of command, the very wave of his hand
and the flash of his eye, seemed to carry his soldiers
along and make them forget the difficulties to
be overcome. At last he succeeded in taking posses-
sion of a defile that allowed him to open a passage
for his retreating troops. He then closed in on
their rear, and with only a handful of men pro-
longed the resistance with extraordinary vigor.
Night fell at last and separated the two armies, and
although Generals Stefane and Sterling saved
their artillery and their baggage, another Major
General had to abandon his guns to be able to join
our main army. General Washington then gave
the order to fall back, and so he saved his army by
his genius and his genius alone. He took it first to
Chester and then to Philadelphia, in order to refit
it and provide it with ammunition and provisions,
after which he marched on to Germantown. The
51
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

whole manceuvre, including the march of General
Greene, was one of the most admirable pieces of
strategy that can be conceived.

In spite of our disadvantages, our casualties
were relatively unimportant. But Monsieur de La
Fayette was wounded, and this will deprive our
Commander-in-Chief of one of his best officers for
a while. The wound is not serious, a musket shot
in the leg, but it will disable him temporarily. This
does not prevent many of our fellow officers envy-
ing him with all their hearts, for being disabled has
won him the attention and care of General Wash-
ington. He not only went to see him immediately
but has continued to be interested in the condition
of our brilliant Marquis, who (so much I must con-
cede to him) has behaved very bravely and given
proof of immense intrepidity. He really represents
our beloved France in a most wonderful manner.
His courage equaled his prudence all through the
days before the battle of Brandywine and after it.
When wounded and in great pain, he thought only
of the army and was anxious only for the welfare
of General Washington.

There was another of our compatriots, however,
whose conduct I can not praise, and this was Gen-
eral Deborre, of whom you have perhaps heard,

52
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

and who showed himself one of the most disgusting,
loathsome cowards the world has ever seen, because
it was his panic that sent his division into a panic
and if he had only kept his nerve, he might have
saved the position and perhaps the battle would
have been won by our army instead of the British.
We are all ashamed of him and feel that he has dis-
graced France as well as himself.

T’ll now end this letter, which I hope you will
have sufficient patience to read; if not, remember
I am writing it only because you asked me for a
detailed description of the engagements in which
I participate. I wish you were here with your reg-
iment. How you would admire General Washing-
ton! He is a real giant among pygmies, and there’s
not a man in this country who is worthy to unfasten
the latchet of his shoe!

Good-by, dear Brother, keep well, and write me
when you can.

Dx MAussION.

BETHLEHEM
25th September, 1777
My pEAR MOTHER:
I have been in my first battle and I only wish
it had not been won by the British. Unhappily, I
53
THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

never was good at describing things, and I am still
so dazed by all I saw and all the heroic actions of
which I was a witness, that I really don’t know
where to begin to make you understand what took
place.

Two things which stand foremost in my mind
are: the wounding of Monsieur de La Fayette
and the truly heroic conduct of General Washing-
ton during this great battle which will be known as
the Battle of Brandywine. It would have ended
in a stampede of the American troops had it not
been for the presence of mind, courage and energy
of General Washington.

You should have seen him leading his men, en-
couraging them and crying out to them to keep
pushing on and to remember for what sacred cause
they were fighting. His marvelous genius never
appeared to greater advantage than on this day
when, taken unawares through a sudden movement
of the enemy, he had to change all his plans in the
twinkling of an eye and start dispatching new or-
ders to his generals. It was all done in a moment,
without one useless word being spoken, and with
the greatest prudence. But it must also be said that
he .was admirably understood by his subordinates,
and the rapid march made by one of them, General

54
 

GASTON HAS HIS BAPTISM OF FIRE

 

Greene, will certainly rank as an achievement of
which our greatest French strategists would have
been proud.

Verily this is an extraordinary people, so full of
fire and energy, and yet saying so little and so de-
void of all vanity. We were beaten, but we covered
ourselves with glory, and such defeats are better
than many victories because they bring out all that
is heroic in the nature of those who though broken
down are not discouraged and are ready and eager
to fight again.

As for Monsieur de Lia Fayette’s wound, it is
nothing serious, I am happy to say. He was hit by
a musket-ball below the knee, but no bones were
broken; and in a certain sense, this is one of the
luckiest things that could have happened to him,
because it has drawn him nearer to General Wash-
ington who showed his concern for him in the most
touching manner possible. He could not have done
more for him had he been his own son.

Indeed, only those who have had the opportuni-
ty to see this eminent man during these trying days
can realize the beauties of his character, his com-
plete unselfishness and his trust in God, which is
as deep as a little child’s. When he visited Mon-
sieur de La Fayette for the first time after he had

55
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

been wounded, I was standing near the door. I
shall never forget General Washington’s majestic
figure as he quietly entered the room and opened
his arms to Monsieur de La Fayette without say-
ing a single word. It was a great, a memorable mo-
ment, this experienced warrior bending over the
young man whom one felt at once he had taken to
his heart. Monsieur de La Fayette afterward told
me that it was well worth being wounded and suf-
fering to be cheered afterward by the kindness of
such a hero.

I'm quite well, and I implore you, my dear
Mother, not to worry about me and to console
Hélene, to whom also I am writing. I commend
myself to your tender affection and beg you to re-
member that I shall always remain

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dx MAausSION.
CHAPTER III

A GREAT STAR SHINES THROUGH THE NIGHT OF
VALLEY FORGE

Variey Force Camp
10th January, 1778

My pEAR MOTHER:
In moments of deep depression I always turn
to you and feel the need of your tenderness. I
should like so much to give you good news, but un-
fortunately, things don’t look very bright for us at
present, although there is one piece of good news I
want, first of all, to give you. This is that at last
Congress has begun to appreciate the services of
Monsieur de La Fayette, thanks—this must be
told at once—thanks to the constant protection
which General Washington has accorded him. It
was with real joy we learned that Congress had at
last informed him that “they would be highly
agreeable to the appointment of the Marquis de La
Fayette to command a division in the Continental

Army.”
Immediately after he had received this com-
57
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

munication General Washington put Monsieur de
La Fayette in command of a division, the leader of
which, General Stephen, had not succeeded in win-
ning his confidence; but this proof of the great re-
gard in which Monsieur de La Fayette was held
by General Washington was, I regret to say,
viewed with great disfavor by some people who are
jealous of both these men and would like nothing
better than to see them fail in whatever they at-
tempt to do.

So rumors without end are being spread in re-
gard to the choice of this place for an entrenched
camp.* They even go so far as to attribute to the
ignorance of General Washington the choice of
this place and the miseries the troops have had to
put up with since they were led to it.

It is absolutely true that the men are enduring
great hardships here for lack of good food, warm
clothes, shoes, blankets and even straw, and it is
very heartrending to have to look at them and see
them suffer as they do, but whose fault is it? It is
the fault of Congress, for it has turned a deaf ear
to all the entreaties of General Washington to
furnish him what he needs for his army. It is most
certainly not the fault of General Washington, be-

 

*Un camp de retranchement in French.

58
 

A GREAT STAR SHINES

 

cause no one could have done more for his soldiers
than this great and good man. But there are in-
trigues without number going on against him, and
evil-minded people are trying as hard as they can
to sully his fair fame.

But, as you always say, my dear Mother, it is
adversity which brings out our best qualities, and
during the dark hours we are living through, Gen-
eral Washington is certainly the most patient of us
all. He always has a word of good cheer to speak,
and with it all he never blames any one but tries to
excuse other people’s mistakes. Yet he must know
that there is conspiracy going on against him, con-
spiracy that works in the dark and is as restless as it
is shameless; he must know also that there is Eng-
lish gold at the bottom of it, and that one of its
aims is to separate him from those he trusts. But
he remains silent through it all, and when one sees
his wonderful courage, then, my dear Mother, one
forgets one’s own suffering to admire his self-pos-
session and admirable serenity.

I'm glad to be able to tell you that throughout
it all Monsieur de La Fayette, in spite of the ef-
forts which have been made to alienate him from
the General, has remained true and faithful.

We all work, and work hard, drilling and reor-

59
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

ganizing our soldiers. But it is weary work when
the men are so run down by privations, cold and
hunger. They lack everything, and we do, too, yet
what better proof can one require of the hold Gen-
eral Washington has on the affections of his men
than the fact that not one among them has had any
thought of running away and abandoning him.

I hope that my next letter will be more cheer-
ful, and in the meantime I commend myself to your
prayers, my dear Mother, and to those of my dear
Heélene, of whom I am always thinking with such
deep tenderness; and I remain, my dear Mother,

Your dutiful son,
Dz MAUSSION.

VairrLey Force Camp
20th January, 1778
Dear BROTHER:

In the midst of all the miseries of our existence
here, your recent letter proved most welcome, and
I heartily thank you for it. You are kind to say
that my descriptions of the things I see and of the
battles in which I take part interest you, and since
you wish to hear more about this part of my life, 1
am going to satisfy your curiosity. Having, un-
fortunately, more spare time on my hands than I

60
 

4 GREAT STAR SHINES

 

should like, I shall take up in detail the story of
what happened after the battle of Brandywine.
The loss of this engagement, a most serious
matter to the American army, would have crushed
any other man than General Washington. But his
calmness under adversity is truly one of the most
marvelous sights it has ever been my lot to witness.
We all know how he must feel, and yet never a
word is heard to escape his lips that does not ex-
press profound trust in Providence and in the lib-
eration of his country. Monsieur de La Fayette,
who, I believe, knows him better than any other of
our officers, has more than once said that he could
not conceive how any man could remain so self-
controlled under serious disaster. It seems that
once our Marquis could not restrain himself and
told the Commander-in-Chief how much he ad-
mired his attitude in anxiety and misfortune. The
only reply was a request never to mention it again.
“We are all in God’s hands,” added General
Washington, “and what He permits and ordains
we must accept and go on doing our duty regard-
less of consequences.” Now youll admit that
very few, if any, of our own brilliant generals
would ever have made such a remark!
To come back to my story: when it became evi-
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

dent that we had been beaten at Brandywine, our
Commander-in-Chief by a clever retreat brought
his army to Chester, and then by a forced march
reached Philadelphia where he secured ammuni-
tion and provisions for his troops. After this he
withdrew to Germantown, having ordered Mon-
sieur de Coudray* to complete a series of defensive
works along the Delaware River, planned some
time before. At the same time he ordered General
Armstrong to occupy the line of the Schuylkill
River and build redoubts near its fords in case it
should become desirable to cross the river.

Our enemy, for their part, were not inactive.
General Cornwallis, reaching Chester shortly after
our army had evacuated it, took prisoner the gover-
nor of the city of Wilmington, while Howe, who oc-
cupied a position in our rear, tried to march toward
Philadelphia so as to cut General Washington off
from the possibility of another retreat. But the
General is not a man to be taken unawares; he
crossed the Schuylkill himself and so frustrated the
British commander’s plans.

 

*Washington spells it Ducoudray. He was the son of a wine
merchant in Brittany, and had served as an under-officer in the
French artillery. Armed with a contract signed by Silas Deane he
had appeared in Philadelphia some time before the arrival of La
Fayette to claim the rank of Major General of the American army
and Commander-in-Chief of the Artillery and Engineers.

62
 

A GREAT STAR SHINES

 

Nevertheless, General Howe advanced to meet
us and was going to attack when one of the most
violent thunderstorms ever known in this country
prevented him but at the same time ruined all the
ammunition we had been able to save, to the great
distress of our Commander-in-Chief. Leaving
about two thousand men in charge of General
Wayne, with instructions to follow and harass the
British detachments, General Washington moved
with the rest of our army toward a place called Yel-
low Springs. But as soon as he left we had another
proof that without him everything goes wrong, for
General Wayne allowed himself to be surprised at
night through treachery and lost more than half of
his men as prisoners to the British, saving, however,
his guns and baggage. General Washington had
left a brigade under an officer named Smallwoud*
to reinforce Wayne in case of emergency, but al-
though it was encamped only about two miles dis-
tant, it failed to get up in time to render aid dur-
ing the night attack.

This attack saved Howe and allowed him to
move on unmolested, because General Washington
with his tired troops could not pursue and overtake
him. Here again he proved admirable, because,

*Smallwood.

63
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

when some one asked him whether he would have
Wayne court-martialed for his imprudence, he
merely replied that it was he himself who deserved
to be censured for having, in such a grave emer-
gency, trusted any one but himself, forgetful of the
fact that he could hardly have been in two places at
once and that he had performed wonders and kept
for himself the most dangerous and responsible
task in his brilliant strategy.

But we had lost Philadelphia and had to recon-
cile ourselves to that fact. It was occupied by
Lord Cornwallis, while General Howe established
himself at Germantown.

And here we were to witness one of the most ex-
traordinary incidents in this campaign and to see
a piece of daring on the part of our Commander-in-
Chief such as I am ready to stake my life was never
before attempted by a general in the field, no mat-
ter in what country.

Our headquarters were at a place called Penne-
beque, about eighteen miles from Philadelphia.
General Washington conceived the audacious plan
of storming the English positions and so reoccupy
the city. On the third of October he moved his
army, using four roads at the same time, and made
straight for the British encampment, intending to

64
 

A GREAT STAR SHINES

 

attack their whole line at daybreak. He ordered
General Sulivane and General Wayne to march
on the city and enter it while General Maxwell,
General Nash, and another officer whose name I
forget were to fall on the British rear and dis-
perse it.

But here again there was regrettable confusion,
and this brilliant piece of strategy failed because
none of these officers was able to appreciate its im-
portance or the greatness of its conception. Gen-
eral Stefane, who was also there, left General
Greene, his superior officer, and hearing sounds
of firing, moved in the direction from which it pro-
ceeded, and without ascertaining what troops were
facing him, ordered his men to fire away before
them, which they did, only to discover that they
had been attacking one of our own divisions, that of
General Wayne, who was in the place assigned to
him by the Commander-in-Chief. I hasten to add
that after this terrible incident General Stefane
was dismissed from the service, proof being offered
that he had been thoroughly intoxicated at such a
critical time and did not know what he was doing
nor where he was going.

~All this time General Washington had been
with General Sulivane whose conduct, in contrast
65
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

to the others, was quite admirable. From the ad-
vance post which they occupied, General Wash-
ington had been able to see that, owing to the ab-
sence of support, there was nothing he could do but
withdraw his army. He gave the order and with
great difficulty regained his headquarters. Again
a battle was lost that should have been won.

And here I'll add a detail which probably will
interest you. When General Washington saw he
could no longer expect assistance from his subordi-
nates, he suddenly passed his hand over his eyes
and murmured quite low, but not so low that those
who were close to him could not hear, “If only La
Fayette had been here, how different it would all
have been!” which will prove to you, dear Brother,
that our Marquis is appreciated as he deserves to
be.

Good-by, dear Brother, and keep well till I
see you again.

Dx MAUSSION.

VarLiey Forge Camp
31st January, 1778

My pEAR MOTHER:
Monsieur de Brimont has brought me your let-

ter of October second and I must begin by thank-
66
 

4 GREAT STAR SHINES

 

ing you for all the kind words you wrote as well as
for the good news about Hélene and our children.
I hope the latter will prove a comfort to you in my
absence. It’s such a relief to know they are under
your care and to feel that neither they nor their
mother will be in want of anything while I am
away.

I understand all you say about the indignation
prevailing in certain quarters, especially among
the friends and followers of the Noailles family,
against Monsieur de La Fayette, But to assume
that he had personal motives in escaping from
France to come to America is a cruel calumny. All
who know him well realize that it was the purest
of motives which led him to offer his help to Gen-
eral Washington. There may have been some love
of adventure behind his resolution, but the main
motive was entirely disinterested—an admiration
for a people fighting for their rights and for free-
dom. You must never forget that this war was
incited by the oppression of England and her in-
sistence on doing what was wrong, and not what
was merely unjust—two very different things. A
noble sentiment of this kind could not fail to touch
the warmest and most sensitive chords in a charac-
ter like that of Monsieur de La Fayette. This ex-

67 :
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

plains better than anything else, to me at least, the
instant sympathy which drew him to General
Washington and the General to him, from the first
moment they set eyes on each other. It is ridic-
ulous for our fine gentlemen of Versailles to try to
pass judgment on what they know nothing about.

You can not imagine, my dear Mother, how, in
view of these facts, your letters comfort me with
their desire to hear everything that is now going
on in this country. You will be enabled by what I
am writing you to correct the false impressions of
our friends and neighbors about America and Gen-
eral Washington.

As you'll see from this letter, we are still in
camp at Valley Forge. We should give much to
be out of this truly horrible place, but I don’t think
any one feels the hardships more than General
Washington. He always thinks of his soldiers
and suffers acutely when he sees them in need. He
must have hours of terrible discouragement. In-
deed, no one far away can form a notion of the dif-
ficulties which confront him at every step he takes:
to begin with, his officers spend most of their time
quarreling over questions of rank and precedence;
then he lacks ammunition; a virulent epidemic of
small-pox has put ever so many people on the sick

68
 

A GREAT STAR SHINES

 

list. The anxieties which are racking the General
probably appear to him at times far greater than
his strength. Congress expects him to do great
things and at the same time refuses him the means
of doing them. Can you believe that toward the
close of the year just ended he had to report to
Congress that nearly three thousand men out of
those quartered at Valley Forge were unfit for
duty because they lacked clothes and blankets? It
is a common sight through these long winter nights
to find whole parties of men sitting by big fires
trying to warm themselves in light summer cloth-
ing. To a man caring for the welfare of his troops
as General Washington does, such a sight must be
bitter indeed.

But this is not all: the army is undisciplined
and the men are not disposed to listen or to obey.
No sooner is a division well-drilled than it disbands
because it has been enlisted for only a short time.
There have been critical moments when the troops
could not be prevailed upon to remain under the
colors longer than the term of enlistment, and it is
a fact that the meanest and most mercenary spirit
pervades the whole army. The soldiers think only
of plundering whenever they find the opportunity,
and this under the flimsiest of excuses. The two

69
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

great troubles are the short periods of enlistment
and the fact that officers are generally of the low-
est class and lead their men into mischief instead of
setting them a good example.

For one so devoted to duty as General Wash-
ington, this must be a terrible thing to face. It
is not to be wondered at if he shows little mercy to
recalcitrant soldiers; but his enemies use this fact
to attack him and reproach him for excessive cruel-
ties and unnecessary sternness—as if such a thing
were possible with people who are real brigands.

At this trying time in his life I am thankful to
say that General Washington has found great help
and support in the sympathy of Monsieur de La
Fayette. This explains, I think, why he has be-
come so attached to him. We all know how fasci-
nating our Marquis can be when he chooses and
how, under the influence of his charm, people do
not discover at once that he is not as strong as
reputed. It seems to me General Washington has
at once grasped the weak as well as the strong
points of his character and known how to make him
useful. There is no doubt that, if the name of Mon-
sieur de Lia Fayette ever lives in history, it will be
due to the skill and care exerted by his friend to
bring out his good points rather than to his own
merits.

70
 

A GREAT STAR SHINES

 

I must tell you—but please keep it to yourself
and speak of it to no one because it might lead to
unnecessary gossip—that at first Congress did not
want to confer a military rank upon Monsieur de
La Fayette. It was due entirely to General Wash-
ington’s insistence that at last he obtained the rank
of Major General. This, in the intention of Con-
gress, was to remain a purely honorary title, for
Congress has not taken any too kindly to our gay
French gentlemen who have hurried over to Amer-
ica. But General Washington, seeing how eager
Monsieur de La Fayette was for a command, felt
inclined from the very first to give him one, and
after he had been wounded, the General had no rest
until he had achieved his object, although I believe
that Monsieur de La Fayette does not know how
much he is indebted to him. In fact, my dear
Mother, it is again a case of a man becoming great
because a really great man has helped him to ac-
quire the reputation. I must add, however, that I
think General Washington has not, in the whole
world, a more sincere friend than Monsieur de La
Fayette.

I'll now close this too long letter, my dear
Mother. It is such a help to be able to talk to you
freely. Dear as Hélene is to me, she does not yet

71
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

understand a man’s feelings when taking part in
really serious events involving the welfare of two
countries. But you, my dear Mother, seem to sym-
pathize with everything I think or feel, and be-
cause of this you are such a moral help to me.
Believe me, my dear Mother,
Always your very dutiful son,
DE MAuUSSION.
CHAPTER IV

LA FAYETTE IS READY TO SAY HIS NUNC DIMITTIS
AND CHARLES LEE HEARS A MAN SWEAR

WHITE PLAINS
14th July, 1778
My pEAR MOTHER:

We are certainly living in great times and are
actors in one of the greatest dramas of which his-
tory will keep the record. I wrote to you under
what sad conditions we spent all of last winter, but
I did not tell you everything for fear of exciting
your sorrow and making you worry more about me
than you were already doing.

How could one complain when one had con-
stantly before one’s eyes the spectacle of the endur-
ance and courage of General Washington, who
alone never lost his faith in the future? He shared
all the privations of his soldiers and, I firmly be-
lieve, suffered in a certain sense more than they
did because he was so constantly reproaching him-
self for not being able to do more to procure them
the food, warm clothes, shoes and other things

73
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

which they needed in this terrible place of Valley
Forge. And then he knew that people who were
plotting against him in the Congress blamed him
for having chosen such a spot for a camp. But
should you hear him blamed in France, my dear
Mother, don’t you believe he ever deserved it.

This man is so extraordinary one may be sure
he always has some good reason for all he does;
and, besides, how could he foresee he would not be
supported by Congress and that the supplies for
which he constantly kept asking would not be sent
to him? Any other man in his place would have
lost his temper, but he remained throughout the
calm superior being he always is. All the same,
even he must have been glad when spring came at
last. One who has not seen spring in this strange
country can form no idea of its beauty nor of the
magnificence of nature’s awakening after its long
winter slumber.

To us poor sufferers it brought another joy, the
happy news that at last the treaty between France
and America had been signed and ratified. We
received the joyful message during the night of
May fourth. You should have seen the enthusiasm
with which it was greeted, and witnessed the feel-
ing of confidence which all of a sudden replaced
the dark discouragement that had preceded it.

74
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

It was then that General Washington began to
reap the fruits of his past exertions. He could
truly say that out of those terribly dismal winter
quarters his army had emerged strong and more
devoted to him than before, because it understood
that but for him this alliance with France could
never have been achieved, and that with France
fighting by her side America would never be
beaten. As for the French officers and soldiers,
we knew that we had done the right thing;
that the enthusiasm which had sent us across the
sea had really been heaven-inspired. You may
picture to yourself, my dear Mother, the added
joy that filled our hearts when, one week ago, we
learned that our French fleet under Monsieur
d’Estaing had at last reached Delaware Bay.
Monsieur de La Fayette, when apprised of it, ex-
claimed, “Now I can say my Nunc Dimittis!”

But before that we had had other trials, and
poor Monsieur de La Ifayette in particular had
bad days to live through. I must explain that the
British General in command of the army quartered
in Philadelphia received orders to abandon that
city and concentrate his troops around New York.
The name of this General is Clinton. He had no
sooner started his march than General Washing-
ton, who had all the time succeeded in being in-

75
THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

formed of his movements, determined to pursue
him.

But before attempting any decisive step he sent
an advance guard to ascertain the exact position of
the enemy. He put it under the command of Mon-
sieur de La Fayette, to whom he gave very precise
instructions. He recommended him to use every
possible precaution to guard against surprise, and
to remember that if any accident happened to his
detachment it would mean a severe blow to the
whole army. Monsieur de La Fayette promised
to obey and started. But it seems that a spy be-
trayed him and that he allowed himself to be sur-
rounded by the British forces. For a moment he
thought himself lost. General Washington, who
had been following his movements through his field
glasses, also became quite alarmed.

Monsieur de La Fayette, however, contrived to
extricate himself from his perilous position; and
although I would not say so to any one else, my
dear Mother, it was luck, not his knowledge of
strategy or the science of warfare. He recognized
this himself and very frankly avowed that if he had
adhered strictly to the instructions he had received
from General Washington he would not have
found himself in such a plight.

76
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

But now, will you believe it, my dear Mother,
the General never said so much as one word of re-
proach to him when he saw him afterward, but on
the contrary praised the skill he had displayed in
extricating himself from his dangerous position. I
heard that when some people who dislike Monsieur
de La Fayette tried to disparage him to General
Washington and to induce the latter to say some-
thing against him, the only reply they got was that
if things had resulted to our disadvantage he
would have reproached himself for having en-
trusted the fate of the detachment to a man so
young as Monsieur de La Fayette, and with so
little experience, but that, as things had turned
out, he could only applaud himself for the wise
choice he had made of our young Marquis.

You might think this enough of the unpleasant
for a while, but I have something more to tell you
which will prove how little General Washington
can rely on even his most trusted lieutenants, and
how the whole responsibility of the campaign rests
on his shoulders alone. An officer named Lee,*
with a fair record for bravery, had insisted far too
much, in the opinion of competent men, on being
given a command in preference to Monsieur de La

 

*General Charles Lee.

Tl
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Fayette, whom he dislikes. He proved to be an
out-and-out traitor. He had probably sold him-
self to the British, for, as soon as he was invested
with authority, he started to play the British game
and absolutely refused to attack General Clinton,
but on the contrary began to withdraw before him.

Monsieur de La Fayette, whose clear judgment
saw at once what the trouble was, asked him point-
blank whether he was going to fight or not, and
being told in reply that it was impossible to make
a stand against English soldiers, took it upon him-
self to send a messenger post-haste to General
Washington to inform him of what was going on.
And then, my dear Mother, I saw for the first time
what fury means, because anything more appall-
ingly terrible than the face of General Washington
when he appeared on the scene and galloped toward
Lee, I have never seen, nor has any one else. It
was like the God of Battles intent to kill or de-
stroy. “You're a coward,” he cried to Lee in a
thunderous voice, and then fired away a volley of
oaths such as neither I nor any other human being
ever heard before. But he stopped the retreat, and
his fine wrathful bearing aroused an indescribable
enthusiasm. Mars himself, had he dropped from
the heavens, could not have done more than this

78
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

great man on that eventful day, the remembrance
of which will live in history forever.

After that the English were compelled to with-
draw. Now we hear that Lee is to be court-mar-
tialed, which he richly deserves. If ever a traitor
existed, he is the man.

Since then, my dear Mother, nothing of much
importance has taken place, so I'll end this already
too long letter, which I hope you and Héléne will
have the patience to read.

I remain, my dear Mother,

Always your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dx MAuUssION.

WHITE PLAINS
20th July, 1778
Dear BrorHER:

Your welcome letter reached me all right, and
knowing how interested you are in all that happens
to me here, I hasten to send you an inadequate but
precise account of our last military operations,
hoping that in the meantime you will have received
my letter of June twentieth in which I told you
that we were about to strike at General Clinton
once more and that our wonderful Commander-in-
Chief had determined to attack him on his march.

79
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

For once the British were quicker than we, for
they reached Crosswicks before we could destroy
the bridge over the river. With General Clinton
was a detachment of Hessian soldiers under Gen-
eral Knyphausen, also a Hessian, and he it was
who very cleverly covered the movements of Clin-
ton’s division.

The British also had their spies and secret serv-
ice, and General Clinton learned almost as soon as
it took place that General Washington had crossed
the Delaware; so he hastened to send his baggage
ahead, took command himself of the second division
of his army and started on the road to Monmouth
and the sea.

And here again an instance of the genius of our
Commander-in-Chief was given to the world. As
soon as he was advised of the movement attempted
by the British general, he changed all his former
plans in the twinkling of an eye. He moved
toward Kingston with his entire army and ordered
forward a force of only about fifteen hundred men
under Monsieur de La Fayette, urging him to take
the first opportunity to strike the enemy a decisive
blow.

On June twenty-sixth Monsieur de La Fayette
met General Wayne at a famous tavern belonging

80
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

to a man by the name of Robin, near Kingston.
His detachment had taken many prisoners, and he
wrote to General Washington that deserters from
the British army were coming in fast, and that he
intended to march on the enemy that night. Here
a dispute arose between our Marquis and General
Lee (the same General about whom I wrote you in
my letter of June twentieth),* but in the end it
was the advice of Monsieur de La Fayette that
prevailed and the vanguard was strengthened.
The army was then equal in numbers to the
British.

General Knyphausen had the responsibility of
conducting Clinton’s baggage train. Monsieur de
La Fayette had a sharp skirmish with his forces,
afterward ordering his army northward. At this
juncture General Lee arrived and took command
but seemed to have entirely lost his head, because
he gave one contradictory order after another, and
though his brigade repeatedly begged for clear
instructions he refused to give them.

When at last General Clinton came down to
attack our army from the high ground he had oc-
cupied, Monsieur de La Fayette was informed that
a retreat had been ordered by General Lee. He

*This letter seems to have been lost.

81
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

protested at once but in vain, and then in so many
words told Lee what he thought of him. Lee re-
plied in a very angry tone that it was not his place,
a young and inexperienced Frenchman, to criticize
a veteran American commander. Monsieur de La
Fayette could do nothing but send a messenger to
General Washington to inform him of what was
happening. Meanwhile, our troops fell back un-
der the impression that they were to retreat and
abandon resistance to the British attack.

All that time General Washington supposed
that Lee was victorious. You may imagine his dis-
may when he heard from Monsieur de La Fayette
that, far from this being the case, the army was
retreating. He immediately realized that his pres-
ence and personal effort alone could stop it; he ad-
vanced to the bridge and allowed neither officers
nor men to pass him. The mere fact of his presence
saved the day and stopped the retreat; he alone ral-
lied the frightened army. He then started to
reform the flying columns and entrusted Monsieur
de La Fayette with the organization of a new line
of defense and enjoined him to hold it until the en-
tire army could be rallied to his support. His in-
fluence was such that column after column sprang
into fresh formation as soon as they felt his pres-
ence and his valor.

82
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

Just at this moment General Lee appeared
upon the scene and to his surprise saw that the
troops had reformed. He appeared quite discon-
certed by the spectacle; General Washington did
not give him time to recover from his amazement
but threw himself upon him cursing and swearing
as only a thoroughly angry man can. General Lee
tried to explain that the enemy was so superior in
numbers that it was impossible to try to oppose
him. “And your orders, sir, what were they?’ cried
General Washington. “Whatever your opinion
was, your duty was to obey the orders you had re-
ceived!” And Lee, quite subdued, found no word
to answer.

The battle then began in real earnest and the
British were repulsed at every point.

That same evening General Washington or-
dered the army forward for a general attack on the
British lines, but General Clinton did not wait for
it. He silently broke his camp under cover of dark-
ness and departed, reaching New York three days
later. He was reported to have said that it was
impossible to fight troops led by “that devil,”
General Washington.

From Monmouth, our Commander-in-Chief
marched to Brunswick and established his summer

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

headquarters here at White Plains where I'm now
writing you.

T’ll now say good-by, dear Brother, as a mes-
senger is waiting to take our letters. Keep well
and let me hear from you soon.

Dz MaussIon,

WHITE PLAINS
25th August, 1778
My pEAR MOTHER:

I received your letter of May sixth in which you
ask me how the news of the Treaty of Alliance be-
tween France and this country was received here.
I’ve already written you about it and told you how
much it revived the courage of those who had begun
to lose heart after the terrible experiences of the
winter spent in that horrible camp at Valley Forge,
for a more disgusting place never existed. I told
you that when Monsieur de La Iayette heard the
French fleet had reached Delaware Bay he ex-
claimed that now he could sing his Nunc Dimattis.

But he was not the only one who said it. All
the French officers were overjoyed, and no one
more than General Washington, for it was a vin-
dication of his conduct and policy. He immedi-
ately had the event celebrated in the Camp with a

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LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

big dinner and a ball which he opened with Mrs.
Knox, wife of the general.

I must here tell you something which perhaps
will surprise and amuse you. The General is ex-
ceedingly fond of dancing and never misses an
opportunity to indulge. People tell me that some-
times when he is alone with Mistress Washington
at his country house of Mount Vernon, he dances
with her for lack of other partner, to music played
by a negro orchestra, and delights in it. Truly he
is an extraordinary mixture of childlike guileless-
ness and genius of the highest order—a rare and
curious combination of great qualities.

Furthermore he admires pretty women and
even notices their gowns and how their hair is
dressed. He does it quite openly and before his
wife, who does not seem to mind at all. She is, in
her way, also a strong character and a woman you
would admire. I sometimes think that but for her
and her constant encouragement the General might
at times have broken down under that well-nigh
unbearable burden of responsibility which he car-
ries with steadfast and indomitable courage.

What a strange man he is at times! For in-
stance, I heard, though I do not vouch for the truth
of the story, that last year at the gates of Philadel-

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

phia he kept his army in the suburb of Germantown
and forbade soldiers as well as officers to enter the
city for fear they might succumb to its temptations.
I was told also that when General Greene asked for
a special recognition of the work of his division,
Washington refused because most of them were
Southerners and consequently his fellow country-
men, while Greene was regarded as his favorite
officer; he would not give people an excuse to ac-
cuse him of any favoritism. Yet he insisted on the
appointment of Monsieur de La Fayette as Ma jor-
General because he believed he deserved it. Now
isn’t this wonderful in every way?

My dear Mother, I ask you not to forget me in
your prayers and to believe me always

Your most dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz MAUSSION.

10th October, 1778
My DEAR MOTHER:

You are right in saying that it is unbelievable
how any country to which a man has rendered the
services General Washington has rendered to this
land, could prove so ungrateful as not to worship
him forever after. Yet unfortunately this is the
case, probably because men are so wicked by nature

86
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

that they can only return evil for good and must
attack everything which is above them.

You ask me how it is possible, if Monsieur de
La Fayette really is such a friend of the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the American army, that he has
not been able to unmask the pernicious persons who
are doing their best to sully his fair name. He has
done all he could, my dear Mother, and, I am
happy to say, has proved a true friend of the Gen-
eral’s; but you must not forget that he is a for-
eigner, and that foreigners are not looked upon
with very kind eyes here. There are indeed some
who say that it was quite unnecessary for French-
men to come over in order to teach the Americans
a lesson they did not need to learn. Then again
this cabal which has arisen against General Wash-
ington dates from before the time the French vol-
unteers landed, and Monsieur de La Fayette found
it already well-started and running full tilt before
he could realize all the harm it was doing.

The ringleader is a certain General Conway,
who thought himself slighted by General Washing-
ton, and another general by the name of Gates who
had been refused a command for which he had a
craving. They are the ones who tried to hurt the
reputation of the Commander-in-Chief, by spread-

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

ing the vilest calumnies against him, even calumnies
touching on his private life; and I have heard that
they even tried to alienate Monsieur de La Fayette
from him by telling the Marquis he ought to have
been the one Congress entrusted with the command
of the army. If this is true, they must have been
sorely disappointed in their hopes, because I am
absolutely certain that Monsieur de La Fayette
would never lend himself to anything so base as an
intrigue against his General, the man to whom he
owes his rank and command. Whatever the fail-
ings of Monsieur de La Fayette may be, treachery
is not among them, and he is much too honorable to
be led into anything that is not perfectly fair and
square in every way. As you can see from what I
am writing, people are no better here than in
France, and the intrigues which go on at Versailles
are no worse than those which in this country strive
to destroy the reputation of one of the noblest men
that ever trod on earth.

Another accusation they make against General
Washington, and one that touches us Frenchmen
personally, is his acceptance of help from foreign-
ers whose reputation is not of the best. But
please take into consideration that it was not Gen-
eral Washington who enrolled the volunteers in

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LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

France who followed Monsieur de La Fayette and
his immediate friends, but the American represen-
tatives in France, who did not show the least dis-
crimination in the choice of the persons whom they
accepted.

It is true that foreign officers have poured into
this country from almost every Huropean state,
but certainly General Washington is not respon-
sible for this, because he had never promised them
the commissions which they imagined would be
granted to them immediately after they landed.
On the contrary, if one is to believe those who know
him well, if one is to believe Monsieur de La Fay-
ette who spoke of it to Monsieur de Mauroy who
repeated it to me, he did not care at all for this un-
sought help, because he realized from the first that
it was inadequate and that most of these volunteers
were quite inexperienced. But what could he do
when told from all sides that to refuse their services
would be to affront France and the other Euro-
pean countries from which they came? How could
he act otherwise or explain all the reasons which
caused his anxiety for the result of this experiment?
He could not lay bare the fact that he lived in con-
stant dread of seeing his own soldiers panic-
stricken and in shameful flight. He could not dis-

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

close the number of daily desertions from the army,
nor how difficult it was to prevent his men wrong-
ing the inhabitants of the localities through which
they passed. The whole thing is horrible, abso-
lutely horrible, and sometimes I feel quite sick
when I think of all these base and shameless in-
trigues going on at a time of great national danger.
But men everywhere are the same, I suppose, and
what is going on in France just now is not encour-
aging either, with so many people trying to get the
best of our young King and Queen.*

My dear Mother, it is such a consolation for me
to be able to write you all that is in my heart and
mind, and it is so good of you to be interested in
what I and others do in this country, where my love
of adventure and thirst for Freedom have brought
me. I shall keep on writing you as you wish, and,
commending myself to your kindness, I remain

Your dutiful and devoted son,
Dx MaussioN.

[ Not Dated]
My DEAR MOTHER:

I am glad to inform you that Monsieur de La
Fayette returned safely to this country in May,

 

*Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
90
 

LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

and he, or rather Cyprien, brought me the letters
and packages you entrusted to him, for which I
humbly kiss your hands and thank you with my
whole heart.

We were all so happy when we heard that a
new French contingent had landed. It is to be
hoped it is better than the first. Certainly the of-
ficers who have arrived with our Marquis are dif-
ferent from those first volunteers who gave every-
body so much trouble. We were happy also to see
Monsieur de La Fayette back. General Washing-
ton must have missed him. His tact is something
wonderful. When the squadron commanded by
Count d’Estaing arrived here two years ago, 1
don’t know what would have happened had it not
been for Monsieur de La Fayette’s diplomacy in
smoothing over several painful incidents due to
misunderstandings that arose between American
and French officers.

One thing certain, Monsieur de La Fayette will
find sincere and congenial supporters in Monsieur
le Vicomte de Noailles, Messieurs de Chastellux
and de Damas. They will be faithful and true to
him as well as to General Washington. If only
this war might come to an end! Every one is be-

ginning to be weary of it, and in moments of de-
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

pression like the present, it would be easy for an
alert enemy to take advantage and strike a hard
blow. Happily the English are even more de-
pressed than we, so I am not afraid they will
attempt anything against us.

Meanwhile General Washington keeps very
quiet. No one can guess what is going on in his
mind. He is a curious person. Here is an in-
stance: All last winter he was quartered in the
house of a Mistress Ford, near a place named Mor-
ristown. Before he took possession he made a
careful inventory of all the articles of which he
was given the use, and before leaving in the spring
he asked Mistress Ford if all her things had been
returned. She replied that only one silver spoon
was missing. He immediately entered the fact in
his note-book, and will you believe it, sent her a
spoon to replace the one that had been mislaid,
but instead of her initials he had his own engraved
on it. She was so overcome by this proof of his
thoughtfulness that she burst into tears and said
that this spoon would forever be considered the
most precious of all her possessions.

Since we are on the subject of spoons, I must
relate another anecdote: One of General Wash-
ington’s few weaknesses is his love of tea which he

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LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

insists on drinking every day, no matter where he
is or what he is doing. All through that horrible
winter at Valley Forge he had a cup brought
to him every afternoon. Now it happened that he
once was visiting at the house of a French friend in
Philadelphia, where of course his favorite beverage
was offered him. But no one had any idea how to
make it, as no one, it seems, had ever tasted it, nor
did they know how to serve it; so, instead of bring-
ing it in a tea-pot, they triumphantly carried it into
the dining-room in a large silver soup-tureen with
a silver soup-ladle to pour it into soup-plates. At
first the General didn’t know what was being of-
fered him, but when he realized what had happened,
he enquired whether a cup couldn’t be found; when
one was forthcoming, he smilingly remarked that
“tea is such a good thing, it should be partaken of

>

sparingly.” And not by one word did he reveal
how much he must have been amused by his host’s
ignorance.
My dear Mother, I commend myself to your
kindness and remain forever
Your dutiful and affectionate son,

DE MAussioN.

93
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Boston
[Not dated]
My pEAR MOTHER:

I thank you and dear Hélene for the letters sent
me by Monsieur de La Fayette’s servant who faith-
fully delivered them into my hands. You may im-
agine what joy flooded my heart when I read them.
I have had a quiet time just attending to my
military duties while Monsieur de La Fayette was
in France. Of course we were all very anxious to
learn the result of his trip home as so many rumors
about it were in the air, and people even said that
he would never return. Certainly no one dared
hope that he would come back with a French expe-
ditionary force. And when we saw what influen-
tial and important people had been appointed by
the King to take part in this expedition, even the
bitterest enemies of Monsieur de La Fayette and
General Washington were silenced.

Monsieur de Rochambeau must be known to
you, my dear Mother, so you will be better able
than I, who have not seen him yet, to judge whether
he is worthy of the important position to which he
has been appointed. Monsieur le Marquis de
Chastellux has an excellent reputation, and so has
Monsieur le Marquis de Saint-Simon, and the

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LA FAYETTE AND CHARLES LEE

 

young Count Fersen, who is said to be the Queen’s
friend and to have embarked for America because
of his hopeless passion for her. Some of the offi-
cers who came with Monsieur de Rochambeau and
with whom I have spoken, have told me that it was
due to the influence of Count Fersen that Monsieur
de La Fayette was successful in his mission and
obtained this French help which General Washing-
ton had sent him to procure.

The King was opposed to Monsieur de Ro-
chambeau’s appointment, but the Queen persuaded
him to give his consent because Count Fersen had
implored her to help him win the laurels he wanted
to lay at her feet. This would hardly have been
possible if a French expedition which he could join
had not been sent to the help of America. It seems
that the Queen wept bitter tears when saying good-
by to this handsome officer, so distinguished in
every respect. But probably you have heard even
more of this gossip than I, so I shall say good-by to
you, my dear Mother. I pray you always to think
of me as

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
DE MAussion.
CHAPTER V

ARNOLD WOULD BETRAY HIS COMMANDER BUT YORK-
TOWN REWARDS THE CONSTANCY OF
WASHINGTON

Boston
15th October, 1780
My pEAR MOTHER:

I have a story to tell you as pitiful as it is hor-
rible. There are times when one feels ashamed to
belong to the human race. To have to admit that
creatures exist so low as to be treacherous to their
own land and their own people, is terrible. Yet
they live and even prosper at times, if one can pros-
per with a burdened conscience.

After all General Washington has done for his
people; after all his sacrifices so joyfully made to
win their independence and to rescue them from
the talons of tyranny, one would think all would
acclaim him the hero he is. Yet how have they re-
paid him! Or rather how have some men repaid his
tireless devotion! I have already told you about
the conduct of General Lee at Monmouth, but even

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ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

his sin is nothing in comparison with the crime
which I’m about to relate and is but a trifle so far
as the consequences went—or might have gone—if
successful.

You'll refuse to believe me when you hear that
one of the men whom Washington trusted the most,
one whom, he once said, he loved as a brother, en-
tered into a secret agreement with the English
Commander-in-chief, Lord Burgoyne,* to deliver
~ the whole Hudson Valley including West Point, a
strategical base of the utmost importance. Major
André, an English officer, was the man through
whom the negotiations were conducted. The trea-
son almost succeeded, but God’s mercy and Divine
Providence must have been watching over General
Washington.

~ Colonel Arnold, the traitor, had been the re-
cipient of many kindnesses at the hands of General
Washington, and Washington had faithfully de-
fended him more than once when he had been found
at fault. But Arnold was a disappointed, embit-
tered, jealous man who never could bear to see
another succeed. He had previously been sum-
moned before Congress for various offenses, but

.. *8ir Henry Clinton.
tArnold was not a colonel but a general.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

acquitted,* due partly to the efforts of General
Washington. One can imagine the pain and hor-
ror of General Washington when given proof of
the treason of this trusted friend. This crime was
discovered quite by accident through a mistake of
Major André. When the letter revealing the whole
hideous plot was brought to General Washington,
he fell in a chair and covering his face with his
hands sobbed aloud. And yet how great he ap-
peared, even at such a terrible moment!

When he learned that Colonel Arnold had suc-
ceeded in making his escape to a British ship
waiting for him in the bay, his first care was for
Mistress Arnold, a charming woman, loved and
respected by all, and entirely ignorant of her hus-
band’s infamy. Washington sent one of his aides-
de-camp to the unfortunate creature, who had
been seized with violent convulsions when she
learned what had happened, to tell her that,
although his duty required him to do all that was
possible to arrest Colonel Arnold, he was glad to
inform her that he had found safety on board a

*A mistake, Arnold was tried by a court-martial and was
convicted on two trivial charges. The sentence was that he should
be reprimanded by the Commander-in-Chief. Washington turned
the reprimand into a eulogy, but the harm was done. Had Arnold
remained loyal he would stand next after Washington among our
soldiers of the Revolution.

98
 

ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

British ship. Noble words, which only a noble
nature could have uttered!

Major André was tried by court-martial pre-
sided over by Monsieur de La Fayette and, of
course, sentenced to be hanged. Great efforts
+ were made to induce General Washington to com-
mute the sentence to shooting, but he refused,
saying it would not be right, because such a traitor
and a spy deserved a traitor’s death. Yet this is the
man who showed such sympathy to Mistress Ar-
nold, the wife of a traitor even more sinister than
Major André! This is the man who, on the night
following the discovery of Colonel Arnold’s treach-
ery, walked up and down his room for hours
together, sobbing like a child in his despair! Does
this not prove anew the nobility of a character that
never fails to perform a duty even if it means
moral suffering and personal agony?

Major André was executed on October second,
in spite of the efforts of Monsieur de La Fayette,
who, after presiding at the court-martial which
sentenced him, wanted him to escape the gallows,
face a firing squad and die a soldier’s death. He
pleaded that, after all, André was a British subject
and a brave man who should be spared the ig-
nominy of the rope. But General Washington

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

remained firm and nothing could move him from
his decision that justice should be done. I think he
was right, and I can not understand the motives
which led Monsieur de La Fayette to plead for
him,

However, nothing came of it, and justice took
its course. You can imagine how all this has upset
us, and how we feel for General Washington in
this sad occurrence. It has again brought his noble
qualities to the front and proved how great a man
he is.

My dear Mother, I'll write you more fully at
the next opportunity, and in the meantime I com-
mend myself to your tender regard and sign my-
self

Your affectionate son,
DE Maussion.

WILLIAMSBURG

4th November, 1781

THE war is at an end, dear Brother, and it

closed upon another instance of the genius and

foresight of General Washington to whom alone

his country will be indebted for its independence
and the overthrow of the British yoke.

York Town has fallen and the proud Lord

100
ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

Cornwallis has had to capitulate and hand it over
to the American Commander-in-Chief.* I have
written you regularly accounts of all that has been
going on lately in the way of military movements,
as well as the part played by our French officers
in the last act of the great historical drama in which
it has been my luck to participate. So you know
everything, and there is no need for me to go over
the old ground with you.

To-day then I'll speak merely of what took
place the last month or so, when we have all been
playing a game of hide-and-seek and when (I must
unfortunately admit it) serious differences of
opinion arose between General Washington and
Monsieur de Rochambeau. Although his staunch
friend and admirer, Monsieur de Rochambeau has
not a mind broad enough to grasp the greatness of
conceptions to which a genius alone can give birth.
But the fact of the matter is, that while we all
wanted the same thing, every one had a different
plan as to the best way of bringing it about. No
one gave a thought to what was passing in the mind
of Lord Cornwallis and his Generals, faced with
the necessity of destroying the division commanded
by Monsieur de La Fayette if they were to remain

 

~ *Cornwallis surrendered on October nineteenth.

101
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

in possession of the province of Virginia. If our
own chiefs had called to mind the position in which
the British were placed, perhaps they would not
have been so eager to look for obstacles that did
not exist.

Monsieur de Rochambeau, as well as the Count
de Grasse, did not wish to attempt an attack
on New York for fear it might result in the capture
of the French fleet by the British squadron, and
insisted on the necessity of France keeping its
naval base in the West Indies, declaring that they
were responsible to the King for the safety of their
ships.

Here Monsieur de La Fayette gave proof of
very remarkable tact. I don’t know what would
have happened without him, and most certainly it
was due to his efforts that General Washington
and Monsieur de Rochambeau stopped short of a
serious quarrel. Monsieur de Rochambeau, much
to his disgust, was compelled by Monsieur de La
Fayette to produce secret instructions which the
King had given him before he sailed, instructions
that made him subordinate to General Washington
in the use of the French auxiliary forces. This
settled the matter, but I don’t think Monsieur de
Rochambeau or the Count de Grasse will readily

102
 

ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

forgive the authoritative manner he displayed on
this memorable occasion, and I hear that they have
both written to France complaining of the
Marquis.

To return to York Town. This fortress was
completely surrounded during the first and second
weeks in October and the siege pushed actively.
By orders of General Washington, two British
redoubts were stormed by Monsieur de La Fayette
and the Baron de Vioménil, and here again our
French inclination to quarrel came to the surface,
because these two beaux seigneurs wasted any
amount of time discussing whose troops were the
better, instead of letting them prove it on the bat-
tle-field.

As it turned out it was Monsieur de La Fay-
ette’s column that succeeded first, and very gal-
lantly he afterward led it to the assistance of
Monsieur de Vioménil and his men. It was during
this attack that I was slightly wounded, but don’t
worry about it, for it’s only a joke of a wound.

All this time Lord Cornwallis was sending
frantic messages to General Clinton imploring him
to come to his rescue. When he saw that this was
useless he attempted to cross the river and reach
New York by land, but here again he failed, thanks

103
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

to the foresight of General Washington. At last
seeing his position absolutely desperate this proud
English nobleman had to submit to the inevitable
and send a messenger to our Commander-in-Chief
to offer the surrender of the fortress. Here again
we had an example of quiet dignity displayed in
circumstances which might well have turned the
head of any ordinary man. But in prosperity as in
disaster, General Washington remained true to
himself and had sufficient strength of character
not to show his joy otherwise than in an expression
of gratitude to God.

The conditions for the surrender of York Town
were soon settled, and by a delicate turn which I
hope our officers appreciated, the Commander-in-
Chief asked the Vicomte de Noailles as a French
officer to draw up the terms of capitulation.
These were signed by Lord Cornwallis, Monsieur
de Rochambeau and General Washington.

The next day the forts and redoubts of York
Town were surrendered to our infantry, and the
garrison laid down its arms. Lord Cornwallis fell
ill, I suppose from grief and despair; it was his
aide-de-camp, General O’Hara, who brought his
sword, which he was going to tender to Monsieur
de Rochambeau, when Monsieur de La Fayette,

104
 

ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

perceiving his intention, went up to Monsieur de
Rochambeau and whispered that it was not for him
but for General Washington to receive it. At this
Monsieur de Rochambeau simply pointed out Gen-
eral Washington to General O'Hara, who ap-
proached the Commander-in-Chief but was of
course directed to return the sword to Lord Corn-
wallis. The next day General Washington offered
a sumptuous dinner to the defeated British Gener-
als and officers, and all through those trying
moments treated them with the utmost courtesy.

The war is now over, and we are looking for-
ward to peace negotiations in the next few days.
What will follow them, I do not know as yet, nor
if I shall return to France with Monsieur de La
Fayette. He is sailing shortly for Lorient with
letters for the King from General Washington.

Three days after the capitulation of York Town
General Washington issued an army order in
which he announced that divine service would be
held on the next day in the different brigades and
divisions and that he hoped the troops not on duty
would also attend it with the gratitude of heart due
to the Almighty who had watched over them in
such a wonderful manner all through these years of
trial, now happily at an end.

105
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

I also feel thankful to Divine Providence, my
dear Brother, to have been granted the opportuni-
ty of being a part of what history will consider one
of its most brilliant achievements. The war that
has come to an end was in so many respects a holy
war that one feels sanctified by participation.

Good-by for the present. I must write to
Hélene and to Madame our Mother by this mes-
senger and so must put off until my next letter
other details in which you may be interested. Keep
well, and remember that I'm always eager to hear
from you and to learn what you are doing.

: Dz MAUSSION.

WILLIAMSBURG
bth November, 1781
My pEAR MOTHER:

At last, at last! No doubt youll rejoice just
as we do here when you learn of the brilliant feat
of arms that has finally put an end to the war and
definitely freed America from the British yoke.
The capitulation of York Town was a fit ending to
the valor displayed by our French troops as well as
by the American army. Both behaved magnif-
icently. History will render even more justice
than their contemporaries to the courage, fortitude

106
ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

and heroism of both Monsieur de La Fayette and
General Washington. The latter, throughout this
fierce struggle, has never despaired of the final
triumph of his steadfast efforts or of the valor of
his troops. Now he gave a new instance of his
modesty, constantly effacing himself, and he even
went so far as to say it was due to our French con-
tingent and the military skill of Monsieur de La
Fayette that the English were finally beaten.

This was the more remarkable in that when he
believed Monsieur de La Fayette was not quite up
to the demands of the situation, as happened after
the battle of Monmouth, he did not hesitate for an
instant to deprive him of his command and put him
under the orders of General Greene. And although
he did it in a most kind and considerate way, I
think, nevertheless, that for some time Monsieur
de La Fayette was very much annoyed. Now,
however, General Washington is the first one to
tell how wonderfully well the Marquis fulfilled the
task set for him and what a help he had been.

Monsieur de La Fayette for his part showed
the utmost deference to General Washington and
when, after the capitulation of York Town, Gen-
eral O'Hara wanted to give his sword to Monsieur
de Rochambeau and the latter was on the point of

107
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

accepting it, it was Monsieur de La Fayette who
whispered that it ought to be surrendered to Gen-
eral Washington as Commander-in-Chief of both
the French and American armies, whereupon
Monsieur de Rochambeau, without a word (which
some of us thought rather ungracious) pointed
with his finger to General Washington. The Eng-
lish officer then went up to him and asked for his
orders, which were that Lord Cornwallis’ sword,
which General O’Hara was presenting, should be
immediately returned to him. Lord Cornwallis
himself was ill, so it was O'Hara who represented
him on this memorable occasion.

You may imagine, my dear Mother, the min-
gled feelings of joy, contentment and gratitude to
the Almighty which fill our hearts. We all feel
that we have not fought in vain. Any regret I may
have had through all these years because I did not
enjoy the privileges of an officer, but remained a
simple volunteer, have vanished and trouble me no
more. I know now that I have been an actor in
events which the world and history will never for-
get. Surely this is sufficient reward, apart from
the fact that my joining this expedition has given
me the honor and privilege of seeing the deeds of
two such men as General Washington and Mon-

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ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

sieur de La Fayette. The latter, though, is so in-
finitely beneath the former that perhaps I ought
not name them together, despite the fact that at
times our Marquis behaved like a hero.
~My dear Mother, the messenger is waiting and
I must end this letter.
Believe me always
Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dx MAUSSION.

Boston
12th December, 1781
My Dear MOTHER:

This is to wish you a very happy New Year and
to tell you that the reason why I have not written
longer letters is that I was slightly wounded at
York Town. I didn’t want you to hear of it until
I was quite recovered, because, when people are far
apart, it is cruel to let them worry needlessly and
imagine God knows what horrible things.

I’m glad to say that I'm now myself again and
more than ever filled with admiration for the con-
duct of General Washington! There’s a hero for
you! And what a brave man! I wish those who
dared accuse him of pusillanimity could have seen
his calmness under fire during the storming of

109
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

York Town. At one time he was entreated to step
back a little; it only brought from him a rather
sharp retort to Colonel Cobb, the officer who had
implored him to be more careful of his person. And
this is the man so many accuse of lacking courage!
Indeed, there’s no justice in this world!

After the enemy surrendered York Town, the
General entertained the chief English officers at
dinner and treated them with such courtesy that
they must have conceived the greatest respect for
him. One of our officers who was present tells me
an incident of the toasts: The first toast was pro-
posed by Monsieur de Rochambeau who gave, “The
United States!” General Washington responded
with, “The King of France!” Thereupon Lord
Cornwallis raised his glass and said simply, “The
King!”

“—of England,” said General Washington
in an undertone, “and let him stay there forever!”

Of course I can’t vouch for the truth of this lit-
tle story, although to those who know the Com-
mander-in-Chief it sounds very much like him.

In regard to this new assertion of the inde-
pendence of the United States, I was very glad to
read in the newspapers you sent me that you in
France were much impressed by the dignity dis-

110
 

ARNOLD AND WASHINGTON

 

played by General Washington when he refused
to accept an English dispatch from the British
Commander-in-Chief, Sir Henry Clinton, ad-
dressed simply to “Mister Washington” and not to
“His Excellency, General Washington.” This
produced an immense effect here. Congress even
sent him its thanks for having thus maintained the
dignity of his high position.*

My dear Mother, the messenger is waiting, so 1
must close this letter but not before I have com-
mended myself to your kindness and subscribed
myself

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz MAUSSION.

 

*It was not after his refusal to accept Sir Henry Clinton’s
letter that Congress thanked General Washington, but after he
declined a message from Lord Howe addressed to “G. Washington,
Esq.”
CHAPTER VI
GASTON FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

Boston
21st December, 1781
My Dear HELENE:

I'm entrusting this letter to Monsieur de La
Fayette’s valet, who has promised me he’ll see it
reaches you safely and as quickly as possible. They
are sailing day after to-morrow for France* and
Monsieur de La Fayette is taking with him dis-
patches from General Washington and a message
from Congress to the King. It is with a heavy
heart that we Frenchmen who remain in America
bid good-by to our hero whose presence among us
has so often been a source of encouragement. Most
of my companions are also thinking of returning
home, and our future, yours, my dear Hélene, our
children’s and mine, has already given me cause for
much concern. You know how much I love you
and how much I have suffered from our cruel sep-
aration.

 

*La Fayette sailed for Lorient on December 22, 1781.
112
 

FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

 

But apart from the sense of duty which has
compelled me to stay in this country until its fate
was decided, I have had to give thought to our
financial position. So long as my Mother lives,
our income must perforce remain a very limited
one, and she may live another thirty years or more,
so that we must try to save something for the day
when our little girl will marry. Now I'm con-
vinced that there is a great future here for a man
willing to work as a planter in South Carolina, and
I’d like to acquire a plantation which has been of-
fered to me at a very moderate price. We might
spend a few years in improving it while our chil-
dren are little and in trying to make it pay well as
others have done. I have looked it over and I think
you would like the life here and feel more inde-
pendent than you do now.

But before taking a definite step, I want you
to tell me quite frankly if you approve of my plan,
and if you will not feel too unhappy away from
France and your people. Write me quite frankly
on the subject, but do not mention it to my Mother
for the present.

If you approve, I shall take the necessary steps
to secure the property and then sail for France to

get you and the children and break the news to my
113
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Mother and so spare you this ordeal. If you do
not approve, I shall go back to France anyhow to
settle there for good. You know the situation, and
you realize as well as I do that both of us may have
an unpleasant time of it with my Mother. I fear
that in my absence you have suffered more from
her masterful temper than you have acknowledged.
So please think over carefully all that I've just
written you and write me as soon as you can, so that
I may make the necessary arrangements either to
bring you over here or to return to stay.

You know, my dear Hélene, that you have al-
ways been in my thoughts and that I am anxiously
looking forward to the day when we shall again be
together. Never doubt my affection for you and
for our children.*

Your affectionate husband,
DE MAUSSION.

2nd July, 1783

My pEAR MOTHER:
This is to let you know that I landed safely at
Boston last week and found that things were go-

 

*This is the only letter which we possess from De Maussion to
his wife. The allusion to the former’s mother proves that she must
have been somewhat of a tyrant and explains the reasons he had to
wish to settle in America with his family,

114
 

FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

 

ing from bad to worse in this country. I'm wonder-
ing whether I ought to bring Héléne and the chil-
dren over here, or liquidate my business and re-
turn to France for good.

In this land there is but one great man, Gen-
eral Washington, and no one seems to appreciate
all that he has done for his country. You will never
believe it, but they tell me that at the beginning of
this year there was a strong movement in Congress
not to pay the army in case its services were no
longer needed after the month of June. You can
imagine the impression such a thing must have pro-
duced on the mind of General Washington who has
always had the welfare of his men so much at
heart.

On the other hand, any number of efforts have
been made to compromise him. These went so far
as a movement to turn this country into an Elective
Monarchy, with the General at its head in the ca-
pacity of King. It seems that there were people
who even went to him with this beautiful proposi-
tion, to which he replied that nothing in the world
had ever given him such pain because he failed to
understand how anything in his conduct could have
given encouragement to so mad a scheme.

Of course the source of such an attempt to com-
115
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

promise a man whom even his worst enemies have
acknowledged to be a hero, is to be sought among
the very same people who for years have been un-
dermining him, the men who formed the Cabal, as
it was called. I’m afraid that as long as these men
are alive, the General will have trouble with them.
There are some newspapers that are quite shame-
fully and shamelessly attacking him. After being
in Europe where people admire and appreciate un-
reservedly the great work accomplished by the
Commander-in-Chief of the American Republican
Armies, it is dreadful for me to find on my return
that his own countrymen, or a great part of them,
stand arrayed against him, determined to do every-
thing in their power to compromise, harm and de-
stroy him.

You'll hardly believe it, but before I sailed for
France I was approached by emissaries from the
General's enemies and asked whether I couldn’t get
our French newspapers to stop praising him and
his deeds. I don’t need to tell you what reply I
gave to these disgusting overtures. But I can’t
help fearing that in the end these unscrupulous
fellows will succeed in harming our great man, and
then, if he retires to private life, what will become
of this country, for it is not yet organized nor put

116
FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

 

properly on its feet? I am not alone in this
opinion, because I find prevailing everywhere a
general feeling of uneasiness and apprehension.

I had a very good passage. The only thing that
troubles me is the thought that I have again left
you, my good Mother, and Héléne and the children.
I hope, however, to return to you next year, either
to bring them back with me or to remain with you.

My dear Mother, I kiss your hands, and re-
main

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz MAUSSION.

PHILADELPHIA
4th January, 1784
My pEAR MOTHER:

This letter is written to express my best wishes
for the New Year, during the course of which I
hope to see you once more. I am getting my af-
fairs settled, and I think Hélene will like the plan-
tation where I intend to bring her to live. The
house may be made very pretty, when trimmed up
and furnished more in the French style than we
generally see here. I am almost certain she will
like it. As for the children, they will find it a
wonderfully healthy life, passed almost entirely in

117
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

the open air. Believe me, I shall do all that I can
to brighten Héléne’s exile and try to make her for-
get the sorrows she has had to undergo on my ac-
count. Please favor me by telling her so.

I must tell you that I went to Annapolis to wit-
ness the ceremony of General Washington resign-
ing his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the
Army. It took place a day or two before Christ-
mas* and was one of the most touching sights I've
ever seen. You must know that Congress has sat
in Annapolis ever since it was compelled to leave
Philadelphia. It mustered in full force to receive
the General. Also present at the ceremony were
the Governor and the Legislature of Maryland and
many men and women of Annapolis. The Mem-
bers of Congress wore their hats but the spectators
were bareheaded.

When the General entered the room he was
ceremoniously led to a chair by some one I didn’t
know. The President of Congress, Thomas Mif-
flin, made a very nice speech in which he informed
the General that Congress was awaiting the com-
munication he had to make.

The General then arose, and, much moved, made
a simple but beautiful address in which he ex-

*On December 23, 1783.
118
 

FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

 

pressed his gratitude to the Army he had led to vie-
tory. He delivered back to Congress the commis-
sion which he had held up to that day and returned
to his place, whereupon Congress thanked him, -
and so forth. It was a very simple, quiet ceremony,
but every one who witnessed it had wet eyes and
some women were sobbing audibly. One could see
that the General, too, was deeply moved. . . .

We have lost a great and good leader. It is
only to be hoped that means will be found to use his
services and his experience in the future. He has
gone to his estate at Mount Vernon now, but all to
whom the future of their country and its fate are
dear, hope that it will not be for long.

My dear Mother, do not forget me in your
prayers, and believe me

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
De MAUSSION.

Boston
6th May, 1784
My Dear MOTHER: §

I shall be with you almost as soon as this
letter. Please prepare Hélene for my arrival. I
hope to stay with you for two or three months,
after which TI shall bring her and the children over
here.

119
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

I am leaving this country with a heavy heart
because I fear that many dangers will assail it be-
fore it is fairly launched on the way to prosperity.
But so long as General Washington is alive there
is hope for it, for should a new danger threaten,
he would not hesitate a moment to leave his peace-
ful home at Mount Vernon and to rush to its
rescue.

Work is now beginning on the elaboration of a
Constitution.* Let us hope that people will not
quarrel too much over it, as they generally do over
everything in this land. Every one seems to think
he ought to have his own way regardless of conse-
quences.

My dear Mother, I shall not write more, but
shall relate to you de vive voix everything that I
think may be of interest.

In the meantime believe me, as always,

Your very dutiful and affectionate son,
DE Maussion.

*A mistake. The Constitution was not made until 1787. There
was talk of a convention in 1784, but nothing came of it.

120
FETCHES HIS FAMILY TO AMERICA

3rd August, 1785
My pEAR MOTHER:

Hélene is writing you a description of our voy-
age and her first impressions of America. I am
glad to say she bears up wonderfully well and does
not complain of the many discomforts she has to
submit to. I imagine that everything is so new and
of such interest that she does not notice these dis-
comforts as she otherwise would. And then all my
friends here have been wonderfully kind to her and
have done their best to help her in every way. I'll
tell you something, and that is, people have found
her very beautiful and charming; she has been quite
a success in Philadelphia.

The children, too, have been petted so much I
am afraid they will be quite spoiled before we are
sufficiently settled to begin giving them the atten-
tion that must be bestowed upon young things of
their tender ages.

Hélene is extremely interested in the details of
housekeeping here, which, of course, are entirely
different from our custom in France. On the
whole, she takes things good humoredly and has
been a great help to me in every way.

I'll now say good-by, my dear Mother, and in a
later letter I'll tell you more about the changes I

121
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

found here on my return. To-day I only repeat to
you that I shall always remain
Your most dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz Maussion.
CHAPTER VII

HELENE RECORDS HER FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF A
QUEER COUNTRY

5th August, 1785
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Forgive me with your usual kindness for not
having written to you before this. I wanted to
write long ago, but we were kept so busy trying
to get settled that I really could not find time for
it, not to mention that it is not always easy to find
ink and paper in this country. Indeed nothing
seems easy, and I sometimes wish I had not left
France and you. On the other hand, the joy of
being with Gaston, and the knowledge that he has
at last found some interesting work to do, are great
comforts.

I don’t know whether he wrote you or not, but
he has rented a large plot of land which he
means to farm, and we hope that the cotton
and tobacco which we shall raise will help us
get along without applying to you again for help,
as we both feel you have already done so much for

123
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

us in paying Gaston’s debts. But enough on this
sub ject.

I must first of all do as you asked and write
you my impressions of this country and details
about our voyage, which, on the whole, was very
uneventful, although the two children were ill most
of the time. When we landed, a friend of Gas-
ton’s, named Monsieur Clark, met us and accom-
panied us to Philadelphia, the first place we
stopped. We spent two weeks there in which I
tried to get acquainted with things. The journey
was very hard and the inns where we put up for the
night as bad as they could be.

In one place we had to sleep in a small room
parted from the kitchen by a single board partition,
so that the slightest noise we made could be heard
by those working in it. The bed was pretty hard,
but handsomer than one would expect to find,
though neither the children nor we could sleep on
account of a dispute that was going on all night
long between some other travelers who had been
unable to obtain as good accommodations as we
had and consequently spent their time playing
cards and fighting over the game instead of going
to sleep.

When we reached Philadelphia, another friend

124
 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

of Gaston’s met us in a very handsome coach and
accompanied us to his house, where we were to stay
until settled in one of our own. I must say here
that you can depend upon hearing from me at
every possible opportunity, but it must be by per-
sonal messenger, such as one of our officers going
back to France, as I do not intend to put you to the
expense of the postage.*

People have queer customs here. For instance,
the way they spend their Sundays. It would seem
as if this day were intended for penance all round.
Only imagine it, they do not even cook meals and
are not allowed to visit one another. Of course,
entertainments on a large or small scale are out of
the question, and all one is permitted to do is stay
in church as many hours as one can endure.

One is not allowed to travel except when this
means getting to a distant church; even the city
boats are not used except to transport people to
their different places of worship. No horse or car-
riage is used if church happens to be within a rea-
sonable distance, and this word “reasonable” is very
elastic, because some people think nothing of walk-
ing ten miles and even more to hear a favorite
preacher. Can you imagine such a thing! One

*Postage was then paid for by the person receiving the letter.

125
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

does not dare smoke tobacco near any church or
house of prayer.

You will want to know about the food they give
us to eat. I can not say that it is good, although
most abundant, too abundant in fact, and without
any variety whatsoever. Fricassees of chicken,
such as we like in France, are absolutely different
from those served here and sauces are unknown.
Everything is covered with a thick and most un-
appetizing gravy.

People generally breakfast on a glass of hot
water colored with tea or coffee, but just colored,
and quite tasteless, and on hot bread, half-baked
and soaked in melted butter which they all seem
to like and to swallow without chewing. To this
they add cheese, pickled pork and fish, all served
together, most of the time on the same plate.

At dinner they devour, literally devour, boiled
pasties called puddings, and seem to be particularly
fond of turnips and other vegetables which we
would scorn to eat in France.

But with it all, they are most hospitable, and I
have been told that in the country even more so
than in towns, because it seems to be a fixed rule
among the planters in Virginia and North Carolina
to help one another as much as possible and to en-

126
 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

tertain one another as much as possible. But I
shall tell you more about that after I have become
better acquainted with conditions of life on
plantations.

The houses where I have been taken in Phil-
adelphia are very well and even richly furnished,
but very stiffly and uncomfortably. Carpets are
mostly of local make or else Turkish; I have not
seen one single Aubusson, such as we love to have
in our French homes. The carpets are as a rule
small and seem to be designed only for the middle
of a room, and chairs are set symmetrically around
the edges, with a table in the middle. It seems that
it is quite a recent innovation to have carpets at all,
or wall-paper either, because only a few years ago
the floors were simply strewn with sand which was
renewed every morning, and the walls of a room
were just white-washed. |

I shall try to write more later on. For the pres-
ent I have told you all that I have observed so far,
except the fact that I have found a very warm wel-
come among Gaston’s old friends, and that
everybody I have met seems pleased that he has
come back and brought his family with him. The
children are well but worry me much by insisting

on playing with some little negroes whose parents
127
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

are servants in the house where we are living. I
am always afraid that these darkies may do them
some harm. But Marie has grown quite fond of
them, and Pierre too, though Pierre, I am happy to
say, has struck up a friendship with some very nice
little boys—white boys, whom he has met and who
try to explain to him the way people live in this
strange country.

I commend myself to your kindness, my dear
Mother-in-law; Gaston also is writing you to-day.
I subscribe myself

Your very dutiful daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.*

15th September, 1785
My pEAR MoTHER-IN-LAW:

Before everything else, I must thank you for
your letter and the packages you sent us which
Monsieur Gilliard faithfully delivered as soon as he
arrived. We all humbly express our thanks for
your kind thought of us. The clothes were very
welcome, and the lovely stuffs and dress materials
have been admired by all our friends, the more so

 

*This was the way a woman of the nobility in France signed
her name, using her maiden name before the surname of her hus-
band. Hé¢lene always omits the “de.”

128
 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

because it is only the well-to-do here who can afford
such things.

Since the war there is such an anti-British feel-
ing prevalent everywhere that even rich people
make or buy coarse American cloth. There is an
Association of women who have agreed among
themselves to drink no tea and to wear no garment
of foreign make. It is quite the usual thing to see
women carrying their spinning wheels under their
arms through the streets on their way to Assem-
blies where they spend their time spinning and gos-
siping. I have heard that on the plantations this
is done on an even larger scale and that, among
others, Madame de Washington, the wife of Gen-
eral Washington, sometimes has sixteen or seven-
teen spinning wheels going at the same time in her
house. She even made herself two dresses of cotton
striped with silk from the ravelings of her hus-
band’s brown silk stockings and some old erimson-
damask chair covers. But all the same your
beautiful stuffs were handled with great interest
and curiosity and ever so much admired.

I begin a bit to understand the people here.
What strikes me most is their patience under
difficulties that would drive us crazy in France
within five minutes. I am surprised to find that

129
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

everything seems to be submerged in remem-
brance of the war, and I understand now why Gas-
ton never could talk of anything else the first time
he came back to see us. Everywhere I go I hear
stories and anecdotes of war days and all that the
people did to circumvent the English and make
fools of them,—but in that they were not always
successful.

A Mistress Abel James, who had a house in the
neighborhood of Philadelphia, at the beginning of
the war arranged a dinner for some ill-fed soldiers
of the Revolution. They were just beginning to
eat when a sentry, who had been placed outside to
see that the feast was not disturbed, raised the cry:
“The red-coats are upon us!” The invited guests
took to their heels in a hurry, while unbidden ones
entered by another door, and taking their places,
devoured all the good cheer intended for others.

This Mistress James seems to be a character,
and I'm hoping to be introduced to her soon be-
cause I have heard anecdotes without number
about her. She is what they call here a Quaker, a
member of a religious sect famous for dignity of
deportment. During the British occupation when
it was forbidden to smuggle food into the city, she

frequently carried a little pig under the seat of her
130
 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

chaise to some of her friends in Philadelphia sorely
in need of food. The British sentinels never mo-
lested her, as no one suspected so fine and dignified
a lady would dare do such a thing.

Here's another story I heard about her. When
he was in Philadelphia, Prince de Broglie, whom
you know, was invited to a tea party at her house.
It was noticed that he accepted one cup after
another of the beverage, as fast as they were of-
fered to him by the lovely ladies present. After he
had drained his twelfth cup, some one charitably
informed him that he must put his spoon across the
cup when he wished to conclude this strange meal.
It was much to his relief because, as he said later,
“he might have gone on forever deluging himself
with this tinted warm water.”

I very nearly did the same thing, my dear
Mother-in-Law, and like Monsieur the Prince
might have gone on drinking tea until dead had not
Gaston told me of this curious custom of crossing
the cup with the spoon. Just imagine what would
be thought in France of such a practise! And im-
agine drinking a concoction of raspberry leaves
instead of tea! That is what they are doing in
North Carolina since the war as a protest against
using anything favored by the British!

131
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

As TI have said, Philadelphia is full of stories
about the days of the Revolution and how the Eng-
lish troops were constantly outwitted. I only wish
I could remember them all, for I know they would
interest and amuse you. Most of them prove that
the British are naive, to say the least. For instance,
there was a widow who, when British officers were
quartered in her house and complained of the but-
ter she gave them, replied that she could get some
much better if she only had a horse to ride out into
the country. She got the horse at once. After hid-
ing her valuables and jewels in her dress, she rode
off and never came back until Philadelphia was
again in the possession of the American troops.

I am in hopes we shall soon be able to move to
the plantation which Gaston is going to work. The
owner will leave him absolutely free to do what he
likes in the way of improvements, and everybody
says that we’ll grow fond of the life there. The
children are looking forward to it with great eager-
ness. I hope I shall be able to keep them under my
eye more than I can here. Of course there’s the
question of their education, but about that I shall
write you another time.

My dear Mother-in-Law, believe me always

Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION,
132
CHAPTER VIII

THEY START LIFE ON A PLANTATION
2
AND ADELAIDE-ROSALIE IS BORN

6th November, 1785
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

You will be wondering at my silence, but till
to-day I've had no opportunity to send you a letter,
and I don’t like to let you pay postage for news of
us. Then I must confess that my first days on this
plantation, probably to be our home for several
years, were anything but pleasant.

You know Gaston and how he rushes into
things without thinking them over sufficiently.
When he brought me over here with the children
he did not consider the position in which I should
be placed. He accepted the offer to work on this
plantation without any money in his pocket, and we
have been through most difficult moments, so dif-
ficult in fact, that once or twice I have felt as if I
must write to you and to my father and ask you to
send me enough money to return to France. But I
love Gaston, and so I thought that perhaps, if I

133
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

helped him surmount the many obstacles which this
lack of money puts in our path, he might settle
down to something serious. He can not well go
home as things are now. With all the unpaid
debts hanging over his head, which you and my
father are so generously trying to settle, the best
thing for him to do is to work here in a new world
where his carelessness in money matters is not
known. I should not be doing my duty if I did not
stand by him.

But oh, it’s a dreary work at times! Our ar-
rival here! I wish I could describe it to you! Be-
fore we started, we were told ever so many stories
about people who, before they began a journey,
made their wills and bade good-by to their friends
as though for the last time. In fact, traveling is
anything but a laughing matter because of the bad
roads, which are sometimes made quite impassable
by the falling of huge trees. Mistress Nance
Allen accompanied us,—a dear lady who has been
ever so kind to me and the little ones and is going
to be one of our neighbors. Her husband has ac-
cepted the position of overseer on a plantation
about two-hours’ ride from where we live. She had
warned us that our Philadelphia friends would ex-
pect us to bid them a solemn good-by, and that this

134
 

LIFE ON A PLANTATION

 

meant we were to offer them a dinner party, which
we could not well afford in the sad condition of our
purse. So we slipped away early one morning, be-
fore anybody was up and only left little notes be-
hind us to express our sorrow at having to leave a
place where people had been so kind.

We started on horseback, which the children
thought amusing but for me was torture in my fear
that they’d be thrown. They took with relish, how-
ever, to this mode of travel and were not half so
afraid as I. It is curious how everybody goes
about on horseback and thinks nothing of it. You
often meet ladies going to balls and parties in their
best clothes with their hoops arranged in front and
behind them on their saddles. It is too funny for
words, but nobody seems to notice how ridiculous
they are.

We were almost a whole week on the way, and
when at last we reached our destination—ah! my
dear Mother-in-Law, it was indeed a bitter mo-
ment! Just fancy, a bare house, with a few hard
chairs and hardly any other furniture! Not a bed
such as we have in France, just a thing they call by
that name and is nothing more than bare boards
and a long thin pillow for mattress. Everybody is
supposed to have his own blankets. We had

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

brought some with us, of course, but it took a long
time to unpack what we needed and in the mean-
time the children kept crying till I thought I should
go crazy. I didn’t know where to begin, there
seemed so much to do. I just stood in despair,
when an old negress suddenly appeared on the
scene. I don’t know where she came from. She
offered to cook for us and also to take care of the
children. I was only too glad to accept. But tak-
ing care of the children did not prove an easy
matter, because they wouldn’t go near her till they
saw two little darkies she had brought along. Re-
membering the darkies they had played with in
Philadelphia, they made friends at once. The old
woman baked them a cake, and this completed the
conquest.

Meanwhile, Gaston was trying to make the
place habitable. Ie found a carpenter, and the
two together worked wonders. So now things ap-
pear a little brighter. Beds are the big question.
There are no wide beds such as we have in France,
and the carpenter, with Gaston’s help, had to make
some for us, but where are we to get mattresses fit
to sleep on? "This is our problem.

Mistress Nance Allen has been an angel and
I’m sure I don’t know what I'd have done without

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LIFE ON 4 PLANTATION

 

her. But now that these first terrible days are
over, I think we shall get on. Please do not worry
about us too much. We shall pull through with
God’s help.
Believe me, dear Mother-in-Law,
Always your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION,

7th December, 1785
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Your gracious letter gave us all great joy. I
feel flattered to think mine interested you, and that
you like to have me to write you all my impressions
of the people and the things I see.

You ask after General Washington. I have
not seen him yet, but Gaston says that after our
little one is born, he will introduce me to this great
and good man. Meanwhile I have met a few neigh-
bors and they have all shown themselves kind to
me. I ought by this time to have become used to
my life here, but, although it has many beautiful
sides, I often feel homesick and wish myself back
with you in France.

You ask me about schools and how children are
educated. It is quite a different education from
ours. Girls are taught almost the same things as

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in France, but they are also trained in all kinds of
beautiful needlework, especially in Virginia and
the two Carolinas.

Sewing is considered far more important for
girls than science or literature and is taught them
from earliest infancy. I have seen a little girl of
four or five at most, who could knit mittens and
stockings. I have seen a wonderful pair of white-
silk stockings with an open-work design made by a
girl of thirteen. And I have been shown wonderful
birds and animals worked in silk and wool embroi-
dery by small children.

They are taught to mend their own clothes. A
spinning wheel is often the most important piece of
furniture in a country house where maids and mis-
tress sit together on winter evenings spinning and
weaving. Since the Revolution, women in
America have become very independent, and on
some plantations everything required by the family
is produced at home, even candles, which are made
once a year. When the time for candle-making
comes, people get very unhappy, because it is a
most disgusting operation on account of the smell.
Wax candles, such as we have in France, I haven't
seen, and tallow ones appear to satisfy everybody
in spite of their odor. But there is also a candle

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LIFE ON 4 PLANTATION

 

made of green myrtleberry wax which is never
greasy to the touch and never melts even in the
hottest weather. When extinguished, it yields a
pleasant fragrance; and people often put it out
just to enjoy its incense.

In the best families of Virginia and the two
Carolinas, girls receive regular instruction not only
in music, drawing, dancing, etiquette and so forth,
but also in household duties and the supervision of
their numerous servants. Most of them are trained
to be excellent housekeepers, and they need to be,
because intendants, such as we have in France to
look after the daily wants of their masters, do not
exist. The mistress of the house must look after
everything from the cutting up of the slaughtered
animals to the moment when sausage and a piece
of pastry called mince-pie are brought on the table.

In Southern homes women take particular
pride and pleasure in their housekeeping and the
state of their larder. Some of them are excellent
cooks, as good as any we have in France. The food
they serve is infinitely better than that about which
I complained in one of my letters, my dear Mother-
in-Law.

Speaking of food, I heard a story which will
amuse you. When women invaded the Camp at

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Valley Forge during the war, General Washington
issued an order that officers’ wives should all leave
the camp. A Mistress Clement Biddle made up
her mind to stay with her husband in spite of it.
She insisted upon preparing a dinner which was
offered to General Washington. After he had
praised its excellence, she remarked that she felt
sure his order for women to be turned out of camp
would not apply to ker.

The General is said to have replied, to the sur-
prise of everybody and with a very low bow, “Cer-
tainly not to you!”

The children are growing fast. You would not
recognize Marie. Since we've been in the country
she has grown into quite a stout girl and looks the
picture of health. Pierre is always climbing trees,
much to my sorrow, as it ruins his breeches and I
have so much to do that any extra mending is de-
testable, as it takes time from my domestic duties.

You will want to know what kind of a house we
live in. It is built like all the other plantation
houses. They seem to have adopted a uniform style
of architecture with columns in front in the Greek
style. A large hall runs through the whole house
and serves as dining-room and parlor. We all sleep
up-stairs. I am happy to tell you that I succeeded

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in having nice mattresses made—Ilike our French
ones—so that our beds are quite comfortable, not
hard like those one finds in this country, and we
also have nice blankets. We have curtains at our
windows, which is an innovation, as people here use
them only in town houses. But I felt 1 could not
stand these large bare windows, with the sun shin-
ing through them and turning the rooms into a hot
house. So, to the general amazement, I have had
two pair of curtains hung in every room, white
ones underneath and brocade over them. We have
nice easy chairs arranged in the French way. I
think you would like our house.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I must close, but not
before assuring you of my respectful affection.

Your devoted daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

1st January, 1786
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I must begin the new year by wishing you all
the blessings of the Almighty and expressing the
hope that it will prove a prosperous year for you.
I want to assure you again of my devotion and my

gratitude for all your kindness and generosity, for
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

the love which you show Gaston and for the help
you have been to him in his various misfortunes. He
might have avoided them, had he taken your ad-
vice.

And I want you to be convinced that I am
bringing up our children to revere you and that
night and morning we include your name in our
prayers. Once more, may this be a happy year for
you!

My last letter but one must have made you un-
happy, but it was written under painful impres-
sions and in an attack of homesickness. Now I
am beginning to get accustomed to our life and its
difficulties. Mistress Nance has been an Angel to
the children and me. She helped me to fix up the
house and put it in order. As I wrote you, we have
overcome the mattress difficulty; I have had cur-
tains put up as we have them in France and ar-
ranged the rooms in the French way. I begin to
love this place, and the children adore the life,
which is so much freer than anything they’ve ever
had before. When my baby is born, I hope I may
be better able to attend to my household duties and
to the education of Pierre and Marie.

Your very obedient daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.
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LIFE ON 4 PLANTATION

 

PHILADELPHIA
20th March, 1786
My pEAR MOTHER:

This is just to tell you that on the seventh of
this month God blessed us with the gift of another
daughter, whom we have named Adélaide-Rosalie
in memory of Madame de Chastenay. Thank God,
everything went off well.

We came to Philadelphia for the event where
I thought Hélene would have better care than we
could obtain in the wilderness. She has had an
excellent surgeon and a skilful nurse to minister
to her wants. The nurse was lent to Hélene by
one of our friends here, Mistress Weldon, for
whose children she had always cared from their
birth.

~The little girl who has been added to our fami-
ly in this foreign land is a healthy child with large
blue eyes that sometimes remind me of yours. She
is very good and hardly ever cries. Héléne simply
dotes on her and will hardly let her out of her
sight.

We intend to go back home in a few days and
shall have the baby baptized there, rather than here
in town, because in our own home we can arrange
quite a little festivity in honor of the occasion.

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You may be sure, my dear Mother, that we shall
be thinking of you the whole time and wishing you
were with us, to see this new granddaughter and
love her with all your heart.

Hélene will write to you as soon as she is able.
We commend ourselves and our little ones to your
affection.

I remain, my dear Mother, always

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dx MAUSSION.

20th June, 1786
My pear MoTHER-IN-LAW:

Forgive my long silence. Ever since the little
one was born, I have not had time for anything.
She is a sweet girlie, and Gaston and I hope she
will take after you. Thank God her health is ex-
cellent and she hardly ever cries. I know you'd
love her dearly. We had Monsieur le Curé from
Philadelphia to baptize her. Our neighbors were
so kind, and when they heard the ceremony was
going to take place, set about baking nice cakes
and other dainties, so I would not get tired.

We had a real reception after the christening.
All our friends came in to congratulate us.
You should have seen the table when the dining-

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LIFE ON A PLANTATION

 

room doors were opened. It was covered with
game, fruits, preserves and cakes. And of course
there was plenty of wine and beer and punch.
Punch is so popular here that no festivity can go
on without its being brought to the guests on their

"arrival and handed to them continually afterward.

Two days after our little one had been made a
real child of God, Gaston and 1 were asked to
spend an afternoon on a neighboring plantation,
the owners of which are great friends of ours. We
took little Adélaide-Rosalie with us, and a nice
negro woman took care of her while I went down
to the drawing-room, where our hosts and their
guests were assembled. Soon we were asked into
the dining-room and there was spread the most
sumptuous repast I have ever seen. You can not
imagine all there was on the table: ducks, hams,
roasted chickens, roast beef, roast pork, custards,
jellies, sweetmeats of various kinds, twenty dif-
ferent sorts of tarts and cakes, Parmesan cheese,
wine, porter, beer, punch, of course, and two bot-
tles of old French brandy for which the men could
not find enough praise! Jean would have stared
had he seen all this magnificence, but no one but
me seemed to be impressed. Kvidently this pro-
fusion of goodies is quite the usual thing here.

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There were none of the horrible things I had to
swallow in other places when I first arrived in this
country, and to my joy, I didn’t see a trace of this
hot bread deluged with melted butter which dis-
gusts me so terribly, as I think I have written you.

We got home all right. Little Adélaide-
Rosalie was good the whole way. We found the
other children well, although Marie had a big bump
on her forehead, having fallen out of a tree, which
she had climbed in imitation of her brother. Our
old bonne (or Mammy, as they call them here), im-
mediately gave her a strong purge, so we hope she
will not feel any bad effects from her fall.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I commend myself to
your bounty and please, when you make your
annual novena to Sainte Anne d’Auray, don’t for-
get to implore her protection for us in this strange
land.

Your devoted daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

10th August, 1786
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

A friend of ours is leaving for France so I am
going to give him this letter to let you know that
we are all in good health, including Adélaide-

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‘4

 

LIFE ON 4 PLANTATION

 

Rosalie. She is such a good child, hardly ever
cries and gives so little trouble. I feel I can trust
her to the black nurse Mistress Nance has found
for her and so give a little more of my time to
Pierre and Marie and see a little of the country
and our neighbors. They would hardly be called
by that name in France, where everything is so
near at hand and you don’t have to make your
calls on horseback.

It is true the horses are far finer than ours.
Everybody seems to think of nothing but taking
care of them and hunting foxes.

This hunting is something wonderful. You,
who are so fond of dogs, would enjoy looking at
the big handsome ones we have here. They are
called hounds. It is most interesting to watch
them and their doings. When the hunt begins the
huntsmen urge them to find the fox with cries of
“Yoicks, Youckes, Yockie,” or something of the
kind—I never could catch the sound properly—
and when they strike the trail, they are urged to
chase with another cry which is something like
“Tallylop,” or “Tallyhop.” (These English words
are too terrible to remember and pronounce.) The
hunt generally lasts an hour or two, but some-
times, if the fox is old and knows the country well,

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

a whole day may be spent trying to catch him.
When the huntsmen get home, the first thing they
do is to examine the dogs’ feet. If they find thorns,
they are carefully taken out and the wound is
washed with warm water. Peasant children in
France are not so well cared for as these dogs.

The other day we went with Gaston to spend
twenty-four hours with friends who live about
fifteen miles from here. Of course I took Adé-
laide-Rosalie along. People here are very kind
and never object if you bring your children; it is
quite a usual thing to find a woman arriving with
seven or eight of them!

Well, we were very hospitably received by
these neighbors of ours, Weldon by name, and
they appeared to be quite rich. Imagine my
surprise when Mistress Weldon offered to show
me her linen closet (of which she evidently is inor-
dinately proud) and I saw what a poor display
she had. It was all coarse linen, mostly homespun,
and no damask linen to speak of, only one dozen
damask napkins, which she seemed to think an
enormous quantity, only two dozen homespun
sheets—and only six fine ones—and just sixteen
table-cloths! Compare this with your big linen
cupboards and the dozens and dozens of things you

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have! When I told Mistress Weldon that we had
only two big washdays* a year she evidently did
not believe me, although she was far too polite to
say so. She asked me how many times a year we
changed our bed-linen. When I replied that this
varied but as a rule was once a week, she nearly
screamed out and remarked that we must have
innumerable closets and cupboards to hoard such
an immense amount of linen.

The laundry is all done by negroes, and very
well done, I must say, especially the white muslin
gowns all the women wear in summer and often in
winter at home. I wish they might just see one of
our French lessives, and how we all enjoy them.

Mistress Weldon raises all the food her family
requires on her plantation. They get their meat
from their own cattle. Flour is also a home prod-
uct. During the fruit season they spend weeks
making preserves to an amount which would ap-
pear incredible to any one not familiar with our
planters’ hospitality.

It was my turn to stare when she assured me
that she did not feel satisfied if she did not have at
least two thousand jars of preserved or dried fruit
in her larder at the beginning of the winter season.

 

*French, lessives.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Just think if we had to have, and especially if we
had to make, such an amount! Why, even the poor
of Monsieur le Curé couldn’t eat all that!

You must be worn out reading this tattle, so I
shall end it by craving your blessing and begging
you to believe me always

Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.,
+1

CHAPTER IX

7 \
HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON AND
TO A WEDDING PARTY ON THE JAMES

14th October, 1786
My DEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I know how eager you've been to learn that
I've met General Washington. Well, Mistress
Nance has taken me to Mount Vernon for a visit.

This is the country chateau of the General and
quite a famous place. I should have liked Gaston
to come with us, but it was thought advisable for
him to defer his visit until the miserable story of
his disagreement with Monsieur de La Fayette
has been cleared up. So I went without him. Mis-
tress Nance, when asking permission to bring me,
was careful to say that I had been Mademoiselle
de Chastenay and was the niece of Monsieur le
Duc de Lorge. We were in return invited to
spend the day at Mount Vernon, and such an in-
teresting day it turned out to be!

The house is beautiful and has lately been very

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

much enlarged, a banquet hall having been built at
one end, and a library, adjoining the dining-room
used on ordinary occasions, at the other. The
grounds are laid out with great taste and skill.
They remind me so much of some of our old
French gardens and parterres.

The General himself met us in the hall and
greeted us most cordially. I don’t know why, but
I had expected to find him a severe-looking man,
but he was far from that; nothing could have been
kinder than his welcome. His eyes have such a
pleasant expression in them that they attract you
at once. The disagreeable feature is the mouth,
which, so far as I could see, is devoid of teeth, these
having been replaced by clumsy-looking things
which give it a pinched ugly look, and also prevent
him from speaking distinctly—at least, distinctly
to a person so deficient in English as I am.

Mistress Washington, whom we found in the
salon, seems the kindest of human beings, and the
most affectionate too. It is easy to see that she
simply worships her husband, which, considering
his eminent qualities, is not surprising. She was
dressed in a puce-colored silk, with white lace
trimming the bodice, black mittens and an immense
cap such as no one wears in France. The cap com-

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

pletely covered her hair and looked more like a
nightcap than one worn by day.

Dinner was served almost immediately after we
arrived, and I sat on the left of the General, an-
other lady, whose name I didn’t catch, on his right.
She must have been some one of importance, judg-
ing by the manner in which he treated her and
helped her to the things she wanted to eat.

The General wore a dark-brown coat and
breeches of a different material, something silky
and shiny. He had a nice cravat and lace jabot
and his hair was powdered and gathered behind in
a silk bag, the whole very neat.

The dinner was good but plain. We had lamb
and fowl. The fowl was tough but the lamb was
good. Then beef and artichokes served together,
which rather surprised me, and any number of dif-
ferent desserts, such as the terrible things they call
puddings, tarts, pastries, fruit, ices, nuts and pre-
serves.

The wine was Port and Madeira, of which the
General partook very sparingly, it seemed to me.
Healths were drunk solemnly and in a curious
manner. When one wanted to honor a person,
one raised one’s glass and said, “Health, sir,” or
“Health, madam,” and the person thus addressed

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

made a solemn bow and replied, “Thank you, sir,”
or “Thank you, madam.”

Mistress Washington retired with the ladies a
little ahead of the General and the gentlemen and
talked to us in the salon. When her husband re-
joined us he asked his guests whether they would
like to visit his stables. He took us himself,
Mistress Washington remaining behind. They
are beautiful stables, exceedingly well-kept, and
they hold a large number of horses, among them
one which carried the General all through the war
and of which he is particularly fond.

The visit to the stables lasted about half an
hour, after which we were taken for a stroll over
the grounds and then back to the house, where
Mistress Nance and I took leave of the General
and Mistress Washington. It was a wonderful
visit which I shall never forget.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! The General
enquired after Monsieur de La Fayette and a few
of our friends, among them Monsieur de Voigny
and Monsieur de Mauroy, both of whom he seems
to like very much.

He also seemed interested to learn that we were
living on a plantation and expressed the hope that
I did not think the life too hard, adding that he

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

would be glad if a few more Frenchmen had the
idea of settling here.

“We want them,” he remarked. “They would
bring some of their French civilization to our
native population.”

He then wished us luck, and Mistress Wash-
ington, before letting us go, made us a present of
several pots of preserves, and hers are famous for
their excellence. She is stiffer than her husband,
but also kind and affable. She seems very fond
of Mount Vernon.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I commend myself to
your kindness, and remain now and always

Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

10th December, 1786
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Monsieur de Nasian is leaving for France and
I want to give him this letter for you and a few
trifles, which please accept for the New Year, to-
gether with my devotion and the assurance of my
filial love.

I have just heard that you have again shown
yourself the tender Mother and settled for Gaston
the claim of that miller who always made himself

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

so unpleasant. How can I show my gratitude for
your constant affection, so little deserved? It
would be quite beyond me, were it not that I can
repay you in some small part by bringing up your
grandchildren as you would have them. They, I
hope, will entirely satisfy you by their conduct
when you see them again. I tell them how good
you are and how constantly you think of us, and
they always mention their Bonne Maman in their
prayers night and morning. They are such good
children and give me so little trouble that some-
times I don’t even know when they are in the room.
And even when they are naughty and wild, which
sometimes happens, they still are charming babies.

Our life is very quiet, though we see some of
our neighbors from time to time. Visits here last
days instead of hours, owing to the distances, and
this makes them trying affairs at times, especially
when the larder is low.

People eat so much here! Indeed they seem to
be doing nothing else, and it is all such heavy food
that one wonders how they can digest it. Yet it is
rare that sickness is heard of and then it is gener-
ally treated and cured with home remedies. I
once had the most horrible megrim you can
imagine,—could hardly lift my head from my pil-

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

low. Mistress Nance, who happened to be in the
house, instantly gave me a medicine called “An-
gelic snuff,” which is pleasant to take and smells
sweet. Will you believe it, my head felt better at
once and by evening I was quite well again! It
is a remedy much used in this country and taken
for all kinds of ailments. For gout it is said to be
miraculous in its effects. &

So, knowing how you suffer from that painful
complaint, I am sending you some of this “Angelic
snuff,” hoping that it will, if the need for it arises,
do you as much good as it did me. Of course in
any case of serious sickness, they do here as they do
in France,—bleed you at once. But they do some-
thing else, too: they forbid you to wash when you
have a fever, and I don’t think I could ever get
used to that, because I'm always unhappy when
my face is not washed in the morning. And I
always insist that the children wash themselves at
least every other day.

I must own to you that the long winter even-
ings are hard to bear. We generally sit by the fire
in the kitchen when we are alone, and Gaston tells
us what he did during the day or reads aloud the
papers or a book, while I sew. But it is not at all
cheerful because the light is so bad. *

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

When we have visitors or go visiting ourselves,
the evenings after supper are generally spent play-
ing cards for small stakes. All the women seem
born gamblers, though they would never risk more
than a few sous. It is the skill of the game they
care for, and they play it so seriously that some-
times you can hear a pin fall, they are so quiet.

When it isn’t cards, it’s music. In nearly every
house where I've been, there was a harpsichord,
and the ladies, in turn, played a soft music, differ-
ent from anything we hear in France, but very
beautiful and sad. They play mostly without the
score, but when it is used, large yellow wax candles
are placed on the harpsichord without which it
would be difficult to decipher the notes, the rooms
are so dark.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I hope this letter
finds you in good health and that you will like the
little things I’m sending you. The big book filled
with dried flowers and leaves will interest you, I
am sure, as it will show you the different kinds that
grow in this country and some of which we do not
have in France. The stockings and shawl were
knitted by Marie without any one’s help. She is
proud to be able to send something she has made
with her own hands to her Bonne Maman.

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

I should have liked to send you more valuable
things than these trifles, but we live far from shops
and I am reduced to using my wits when trying to
please you. But I know you'll like the album. I
am sending you also a bag filled with a kind of red
berry, called Cranberry. It is very good for pre-
serves. Also a jar of these preserves so you may
know how they taste and how they are made. If
you like them, you can put up those in the bag.

I must say good-by for the present, and after
commending myself and the little ones to your
good heart, I remain

Your dutiful and affectionate daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

6th February, 1787
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I am afraid you want to punish me for leaving
you without news for months. But time flies when
one is busy the whole day long. Everything goes
so smoothly in our French households that it is dif-
ficult to imagine the condition of things which pre-
vails here where a housewife must literally be
everywhere and superintend everything herself.
We have servants, it is true, but they are all colored
people who must be literally driven to work.

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This place is far from a town. We get supplies
only when we send for our mail, three times a
month, when a list must be given to the messenger,
embracing everything from the material of a dress
for me and a coat for Gaston to medicines and
garden utensils.

We are almost self-supporting, but there are
certain things which we can not produce and have
to import and use sparingly. We raise our cattle
and poultry. I wish you might have a look at my
chickens, ducks and geese; they are really beauti-
ful. Sometimes when they are cooked and brought
to the dinner-table, I am reminded of our French
volailles. 1 have a cook who is a marvel for her
pastry and her “pies,” as they call them here,—
like our French patés with the difference that they
are stuffed with fruit instead of meat, are really
wonderful and melt in one’s mouth.

But the fruit itself is not good, in my opinion,
although I suppose that people would be awfully
angry to hear me say so. They are so proud of
their peaches and grapes, but I can’t feel enthusi-
astic about either, because in my opinion they have
no taste and aren’t to be compared with ours. This
is particularly true of the cherries. So far I have
not seen anything resembling the large bigareaus*

 

*Large cherries with a red and white heart.

160
ot

 

HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

we love so much. Generally speaking, the fruit
here is much tastier when preserved than when
fresh. You should just see how busy every one
gets when the preserving season is at hand! I have
received many compliments on the recipes you
gave me, which I passed on to my neighbors. They
all declare that preserves made according to them
are an infinite improvement.

The apple cheese you taught me how to make
has also been a great success. The children espe-
cially are quite too wild over it. I am sorry to say
they never miss an opportunity to steal a slice,
especially your goddaughter who has a fatal taste
for every kind of goody. Of course I keep all 1
can under lock and key as you taught me to do.

Our garden takes a great deal of my time, and
I am glad to tell you that the roses we brought
with us from France have grown very well, and
that I have quite a parterre of them under my win-
dows. The children and I water them and by
turns take care of all the flowers, as I do not quite
trust the colored gardeners when it comes to such
precious things.

Gaston and I are invited to a wedding next
month, the first I've been asked to. I am very
curious about it. I’ll send you a detailed descrip-

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tion of the dresses worn by the bride and the
guests. Just think! wedding festivities last three
days and sometimes longer. A crowd invades the
house of the bride’s parents and afterward her
own and stays all that time eating and drinking
with the newly wedded pair. Punch is handed
round to them the entire time! Quakers do things
in a more sedate way; but with the Virginia and
Carolina planters everything must be on a grand
scale.

I am having some new clothes made for this
occasion and have ordered a frock and hat in Phil-
adelphia. Gaston said this was a fearfully ex-
travagant thing to do, but, then, my dear Mother-
in-Law, I still have the five louis you so kindly
gave me when we bade good-by and I used them
with the feeling that you would approve my wish
to show people here how Frenchwomen can dress
on solemn occasions. So I shall wear a gown and
coat of white Chambéry gauze striped with pink,
and a pink waist trimmed with the lace you gave
me when I was married, and pink ribbons in bows
over crépe flounces and wreaths of pink roses
across the gauze sleeves and the pinafore in front.
With it I shall wear a coiffure composed of one
large pink bow, held in place by a steel buckle,

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

and a wreath of roses around my head and on top
of the bow. My hair will, of course, be powdered,
with curls falling on my neck.

Gaston saw me try the dress on and said I re-
minded him of the lovely ladies at Versailles on
their way to make their cour to the Queen. The
dressmaker I went to is a little French girl patron-
ized by all the élégantes of Philadelphia. She
was recommended to me by Mistress Abel James.

My dear Mother-in-Law, the messenger is
waiting, and I must close this letter, so I commend
myself to your kind heart and your remembrance,
and remain always

Your devoted and dutiful daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

30th March, 1787
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Please excuse me for not having written to
you immediately after we got back home from the
wedding of which I spoke in my last letter. I
found so many household matters to attend to I
couldn’t think of doing anything else; the children
have taken a great deal of my time; and we had
no messenger we could trust with our letters. But

now Monsieur Renaud is leaving for France next
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

week, and I am going to give him this letter for
you. Please be kind to him, as he has promised me
to deliver it to you himself. He is one of Gas-
ton’s great friends and can tell you anything you
may wish to learn about us and our way of living.

Now for my story: We traveled to Philadel-
phia and back very comfortably and had a few
days there to try on our wedding finery. Then
we returned by slow stages straight to the planta-
tion of our friends whose daughter was to be mar-
ried. We generally stopped for the night on some
plantation or other. People are very kind and
hospitable to travelers and like to invite them into
their homes. A stranger has only to ask on the
road where a good housekeeper lives and he may
count on being received hospitably. This is such
a general thing that planters going on a journey
order their servants to entertain all visitors just
as if they were at home. Very different from
our ways in France, isn’t it?

While on our journey we stopped at a famous
place called Carter Grove, near James River, one
of the most elegant habitations in Virginia. It is
really a beautiful house. I have tried to make a
little sketch of it, which I here enclose for you to
see how well-to-do people live over here. It is close

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

to the plantation we were bound for. Mr. Carter
lent us his coach and advised me to dress in his
house, as he feared it would be difficult for me to
do it at the home of the wedding, the place would
be so full of guests. I was afterward very grateful
to him for this good advice.

Weddings are very elaborate occasions, the fes-
tivities lasting for days. The custom is to keep
open house for a week or more after a marriage,
which makes them expensive affairs, but even the
Quakers keep the custom. The bride’s home is
filled with company two or three days before, as
well, and these guests come to dinner and usually
stay for tea and supper. Punch is served in quan-
tity at the meals and between them.

After the young couple are husband and wife
and have left for their own house, all the guests,
their ranks now swollen by the friends of the bride-
groom, call at the new home to drink punch again
and kiss the bride, which, it seems, is their privi-
lege. And after that for a week or even longer the
newly married pair give large tea parties at their
home every evening. And the bridesmaids and
groomsmen are always in attendance just as they
were at the wedding.

In country places and small towns, weddings

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

offer a delightful opportunity for meeting all the
neighbors. Finally coaches or stages bring the
guests to the ceremony, many of whom remain
overnight and are huddled together, five or six to
a room. They don’t seem to mind it in the least.
Any amount of gossip goes on, as you may
imagine, and any quantity of punch is drunk by
young and old alike, and any number of flirtations
are started, which often lead to other weddings.

But now to return to the one we attended. The
ceremony took place about six in the evening.
The bride was led by her father to an altar in the
drawing-room, very prettily decorated with flow-
ers, and “was given away,” as they call it here.
The ceremony itself was of the simplest, consisting
of only a few words by the clergyman. The bride
looked very happy and did not weep at all, so dif-
ferent from France where a girl is expected to shed
tears.

She wore white silk covered with white crépe
and white satin bows. Pearls were strung in her
hair, and she wore a pearl necklace and bracelets.

The four bridesmaids were in white muslin em-
broidered in front with pink flowers. Each carried
a fan, a present from the bridegroom.

The groom’s coat was of a light color, and he

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HELENE GOES TO MOUNT VERNON

 

had on flesh-colored stockings and a white vest.
The other gentlemen guests were dressed the same
way and all looked very grand.

The ladies were more or less gorgeously at-
tired, and Gaston, who had blamed me for extrav-
agance, told me later he felt very glad I was so
beautifully dressed and didn’t put him to shame.

One lady, in my opinion, was the best gowned
in the whole assembly. She had on a white bro-
cade trimmed profusely with silver and a light
pink sash tied on the left side. With a small hat
covered with white tulle and trimmed with a long
white ostrich feather, she looked bewitching.
Another wore a sapphire-blue silk with a satin
stripe trimmed with rare white lace, and a crépe
flounce, at the top of which was a garland of red
roses, really lovely! And I noticed particularly a
pale-green satin profusely embroidered with steel
beads and trimmed with a quantity of black lace
and pink flowers.

After the ceremony lots of refreshments were
served by colored waiters, and in the dining-room
below, on a side-table, was spread a supper for the
elderly people. The groomsmen all drank a few
bottles of old wine before separating and every-
thing came to an end at midnight.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

We drove back to Carter Grove and I was glad
to get into bed. But the next day we had to go
again to the house of the bride’s parents to dine
and then with them to pay a call on the young
couple. More punch and good things to eat. The
bride was dressed in pink and looked very pretty.

I think this is all I remember, and when I add
that I enjoyed it hugely, you will know all there is
to write. I shall therefore end this letter by com-
mending myself to your grace and favor.

Your ever dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION,
CHAPTER X

A CONSTITUTION IS MADE AND A PRESIDENT
INAUGURATED

PHILADELPHIA
20th September, 1787
My pEaAR MOTHER:

I came to this place just to see what would hap-
pen and whether the Constitution, on which so
many have been at work, would finally be adopted.
I am glad to say that it was passed on the 17th of
this month by the Convention called for the pur-
pose.

For once people have shown common sense.
They asked General Washington to preside, and
even the State of Pennsylvania, which was sup-
posed to be for Doctor Franklin, voted for the
General, putting an end to any opposition. He
presided over the deliberations with the serenity
and poise which never forsake him. He hardly
ever interfered in the debates. He is said to have
told his friends that a man wanting to command

public attention in a parliamentary debate ought
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

to speak but seldom and then only upon important
subjects with which he is absolutely familiar.

Some of those busybodies who always criticize
everything, remarked upon the “coldness” and
“aloofness” of the General, saying that he did not
go about it the right way to make himself popular
with the masses. But General Washington has
never cared for the masses and is far too great a
character to seek cheap popularity.

That he looked gloomy can not be denied, but
I think his sadness came from regret at seeing the
Convention waste time in futile discussions. The
look on his face reminded me of its expression
during the terrible months we were in Valley
Forge Camp.

When at last the work was brought to a close,
Gouverneur Morris wrote out the motion to adopt
and sign, but it was Doctor Franklin who pre-
sented it to the Assembly. Of course he supported
it, and in a/very clever manner; he acknowledged
that there were several points in this Constitution
to which he objected, but said that age had taught
him people may change their minds as things are
better explained to them.

But in spite of Doctor Franklins support and
the backing of men like Hamilton and Morris,

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4 CONSTITUTION IS MADE

 

several members of the Convention, among them
men of weight and eminence, refused to sign the
document. ‘

At last, however, the required number of sig-
natures was obtained, and when General Wash-
ington affixed his to this memorable sheet, one
could see that he was deeply moved. There is no
doubt that he will be chosen the first President of
the United States of America, for there is not in
the whole land another personage worthy to hold
the office so long as he is alive. For us who have
watched him on the battle-field, it seems that this
1s the only reward the country can offer for all he
has done for it.

My dear Mother, it’s time to close this letter.
Hélene and the children are quite well, but at
times she is sad to be so far away from her family
and friends in France. She feels the separation
more than I like. I am always anxious for her
health, which, as you know, has never been sound.
But she is wonderful in many ways and a great
help to me.

I remain, my dear Mother,

Your dutiful and devoted son,
DE Maussion.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

2nd April, 1788
My pEsAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I’ve thought of you much of late and regretted
you were not with me. I have gone through dread-
ful anxiety over your goddaughter, who has been
seriously ill. We did not know at first what it
was. She kept coughing and coughing without
stopping. It was such a rough sort of cough, re-
minding me of nothing so much as the war whoop
of a Redskin, such as I have heard from time to
time when one of them comes to pay us a visit and
gives his whoop at Gaston’s request.

There are hardly any doctors here and the peo-
ple, when sick, mostly use home remedies abso-
lutely different from those in France. When
Adélaide and Pierre began to cough in turn, I
nearly went out of my mind from fear and anx-
iety. We called an old woman supposed to know
something about medicine, and she swore that she
had recipes for medicines made out of herbs which
had come to her from a great-grandmother and
ought to cure our little ones. We tried them all
and also strong purges and a medicament called
“bark,” which the children hated so much that we
almost had to resort to force to get them to swal-
low it.

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4 CONSTITUTION IS MADE

 

This same old woman, seeing that I was
freckled, advised me to take a plant called “sage,”
but I didn’t care to do it and told her so. There
was another abominable concoction called “snake
root,” which she wanted me to give Marie, but by
that time I had lost every bit of confidence I ever
had in her. I was frantic.

At this juncture, Monsieur Gilliard happened
to arrive on his way to Philadelphia from his plan-
tation. He suggested that the children had whoop-
ing-cough and advised us to let them alone, keep
them in the open air as much as possible and not
dose them with physic, saying they would recover
in six or eight weeks if we allowed nature to take
its course. And this is what we did, and I am
happy to say that the children are now almost
well.

I shall never forget the fright I had. It made
me positively ill with regret that I had taken them
so far from any medical help. I am sure that if I
had been able to procure some camomile and give
them camomile tea as you used to do when we were
ill, they would have been cured in no time. But
camomile is unknown here, like so many other
good things.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

My dear Mother-in-Law, I commend myself
to your love and kindness, and am as always
Your very dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

New York
5th May, 1789
My pear MOTHER:

I came to this city for the inauguration of Gen-
eral Washington as First President of the
United States and want to write you some details
of this great event.

It was a fitting reward for a whole life spent
in the service of his country, for it proved that
sometimes people understand the meaning of the
word “gratitude.” They show wisdom in handing
over their welfare to a man without whom they
would never have won their freedom and inde-
pendence. My only regret is that Monsieur de La
Fayette could not be here to see his comrade in
battle and hardship raised to the highest position
his native land can offer.

You should have seen the enthusiasm with
which General Washington was greeted when he
entered New York after a journey that was one
long triumphant march. The roads were crowded,

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A CONSTITUTION IS MADE

 

and he was acclaimed almost as a god in all the
towns through which he passed.

And you should have seen him a few days later
when he took the oath of office. The reverence
with which he pronounced the words, his head
bowed over an open Bible, was something so strik-
ing that none who witnessed it can ever forget it.
Standing on a balcony so that the crowds could see
him clearly, he remained with figure erect but head
bowed, his lips moving in silent prayer. He looked
the perfect picture of duty and strength. The
very way in which he repeated the words of the
solemn oath inspired confidence.

We all knew that there before our eyes was the
man who through many a dark hour had never al-
lowed despair to enter his heart or discouragement
creep into his soul; the man who without fear and
without reproach had led his people to victory and
freedom, almost in spite of them. For how few
among them really supported him in those weary
years of struggle!

There before our eyes was General Washing-
ton, and, my dear Mother, only those who have
served under him can really understand or prop-
erly appreciate the moral grandeur of this flower
of mankind.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Next to me an old woman, poor and ill-clad,
kept muttering, “God bless him! O God, bless
him! Bless him, O God!” during the whole
ceremony. The very monotony of her words
stirred my heart and soul. In the immense crowd
of people there was hardly a dry eye and many
were sobbing aloud. When General Washington
turned and saluted the crowd, you should just
have heard the thundering cheer that greeted him!
Why, the sound of it must have roused the King
of England in his Palace!

Héléne and the children are quite well. Your
goddaughter is running about in our garden. She
is a general favorite and a most winsome child.

My dear Mother, I hope that when this
reaches you, you will have quite recovered from
your recent indisposition. Please let us hear from
you as soon as possible, and believe me

Your affectionate son,
DE MAUSSION.

NEw YORK,
10th May, 1789

My pear MOTHER-IN-LAW:
I am writing from New York where we came

for the inauguration of General Washington as
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A CONSTITUTION IS MADE

 

first President of the United States. Gaston
wanted to see the ceremony and also to give me a
glimpse of New York, which I had hardly seen as
it is always so difficult for me to leave the chil-
dren for any length of time.

Gaston has written you a description of the
ceremony, but I want to tell you about the Inaugu-
ral Ball. It was a magnificent affair, and I don’t
think I have ever seen so many beautiful women
gathered together. The dresses were lovely and
the refreshments excellent and in sufficient quan-
tity.

I wore a dress made by the French dressmaker
I told you about, who makes the gowns for all the
¢légantes of Philadelphia. It was pale-green
brocade with a thread of gold in it, over a white-
satin petticoat looped up with bunches of feathers.
My hair was dressed in curls and was well pow-
dered, and I wore the necklace you gave me when
Gaston and I were married.

It was a brave show. Gaston told me he heard
flattering things about me and my frock. But
when all’s said, it was very simple compared with
many others. I wish you could have seen one cos-
tume of celestial blue with pink bows and long
streamers of blue-satin ribbon falling to the edge

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

of the skirt, something quite new. The head-dress
was of satin arranged in a large puff surrounded
with a garland of roses.

Then there was a dress worn by a brunette
whose name I couldn’t get, which created a great
sensation. It was of orange-colored satin trimmed
with white crépe and flowers. The petticoat was
of lemon-colored silk, with a wreath of white flow-
ers across it, caught up here and there with silver
braid—quite a lovely garment, which would have
been admired even at Versailles.

I danced a little and admired some Virginian
girls who were really too graceful for words. In
the Southern Colonies people attach great impor-
tance to dancing and proper carriage. They have
certainly succeeded in obtaining grace and charm
in their women. I particularly noticed three Vir-
ginian girls who moved about like veritable fairies,
dressed in clouds of some light diaphanous ma-
terial, all white for one, all pink for another, all
pale celestial blue for the third. Nothing lovelier
could be imagined.

‘My dear Mother-in-Law, we are thinking a
great deal about you. We have been told that the
King has convened the States-General in Ver-

sailles this month, and I pray that God’s blessing
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A CONSTITUTION IS MADE

 

attend their meeting and deliberations. Please
write and tell us who is to represent our provinee
and what you hear about the work done by the
States.
I remain as always, my dear Mother-in-Law,
Your devoted and dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.
CHAPTER XI
HELENE ENJOYS SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

15th February, 1790
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Your favor of December sixth was duly re-
ceived and I ought to have thanked you for it long
ago and for the presents lovingly sent the children,
Gaston and myself. I wish you might give us the
greatest present of all and the one we should prize
the most,—your dear presence here among us.
That would complete our happiness and yours as
well, I'm sure.

We are anxious about you, as every one who
arrives from France says that things there are go-
ing from bad to worse and that ever so many peo-
ple are leaving the country to seek refuge abroad.
Dear Mother-in-Law, if you only had the courage
to undertake the long perilous journey and join
us, you would be conferring on us the greatest of
favors. The children ask me to tell you the same
thing. Don’t forget that Adélaide-Rosalie is still

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SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

a stranger to you, though you are not one to her,
because we continually tell her how her dear Bonne
Maman would love and pet her if she were with us.

Now to reply to your questions about the
black slaves we all own in this country, and about
whom you are so excited in France: It is true
that their lot is rather a sad one, but I am con-
vinced they are not aware of it and that if they
were free they would be much more miserable. Of
course on some plantations they are very badly
treated, but where the master is humane, their life
is not so dreadful as you seem to think.

The best proof of this is that when their day’s
work is done they all sit in front of their huts play-
ing upon an instrument called “Banjo” and en-
Jjoying themselves.

On some plantations the master and mistress
themselves see after the welfare of their slaves.
That is the case with General and Mistress Wash-
ington who are as mindful of their slaves as of any
other persons placed under their care. At Mount
Vernon Mistress Washington has organized classes
for her female slaves. They are taught to sew and
do all kinds of domestic work. When any of them
are ill she goes herself to see them and calls in a

doctor to attend them. You mustn’t believe all
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

you hear from people who have never been in this
country and know nothing at all about it.

We also have a few slaves and I assure you
that we never beat or ill-treat them. But I'll not
deny that on some plantations cruel things are
done,—haven’t we seen in France, also, servants
brutalized by their masters?

My dear Mother-in-Law, the messenger is
waiting for this letter. A friend of ours, Mon-
sieur Delpasse, is taking it to France with him
when he sails next week. So I shall close and com-
mend myself once more to your kindness and love,
in which the children join me. I remain, my dear
Mother-in-Law,

Your very dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION

My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I want to write before leaving Philadelphia to
return home, because I know that you'll be inter-
ested in all I have to tell you about this place.

I have found society in Philadelphia ever so
much nicer than in New York. Here they set more
store by birth than by social standing at a given
moment. As Gaston did not obtain a commission in

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SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

the army, some people looked down on him. But
when a few ladies here in Philadelphia heard that
I was born a Chastenay and was related to your
uncle, they immediately adopted me as one of
them and I was invited everywhere, although, of
course, I could not afford fine clothes or follow
them in expenditure.

I must tell you about a lady here whose name
is Mistress Bingham. She has been in Europe,—
France, Germany, and, I think, Italy. She was
presented at our Court and has come back enthusi-
astic over the beauty of our Queen.* She raves
about it. Her house is beautiful and full of lovely
French furniture. It has French wall-paper in
the principal rooms. Some people say she is too
much of a formalist and particularly object to her
insisting on every guest, when she gives a party,
being announced as he enters the room. They do
it in Paris, but, until she started it, no one thought
of doing it here. Mistress Bingham is very hand-
some and at the Assemblies (as they call balls) is
the center of attraction.

Then there are the Misses Chew, very clever
and entertaining, whom I like very much, and a
Mistress Oswald, who was also most kind to me

 

*Queen Marie-Antoinette.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

and invited me to her house, which is considered a
great honor,

We went to the ball given in honor of General
Washington’s birthday, in her coach, which our
dresses nearly filled. It was a splendid enter-
tainment which surpassed anything I have seen
here. In the ballroom seats were arranged on a
platform, leaving the middle of the floor free for
dancing. General Washington was there, of course,
and so was Mistress Washington. She was very

“nicely but very simply dressed in gray brocade with
beautiful lace and an immense head-dress, which
was half a hat and half a cap and might have been
taken for either.

Those who know her say—and I agree with
them—that Mistress Washington is far happier
here than anywhere else and that the Philadel-
phians are congenial to her. But she’s always talk-
ing of Mount Vernon and how she wishes herself
back there. She must at times fret at the pomp and
ceremony which surround her, though she never
says anything about it. It’s a fact that she and
her husband enjoy enormous prestige because of
the dignity and simplicity of their lives.

What Mistress Washington appreciates in
Philadelphia is, I think, the fact that it is so much

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SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

nearer than New York to her beloved Virginia,
and many Southerners come over and pay their
respects. She always enquires whether they have
heard how things are going at Mount Vernon and
whether the house is kept as tidy as she used to in-
sist on. Mistress Washington herself is the picture
of neatness. Her dress is never disarranged or
spotted or mended, and she looks so clean, which,
I am sorry to say, every one does not, even among
the rich.

I was horrified the other day to hear that tooth-
brushes were a recent innovation and that some
people still think their use by men effeminate!
Now Mistress Washington, I am convinced, cleans
her teeth every day, because her breath is always
sweet. :

We had a lovely time in Philadelphia, but I
shall be glad to be home again with the little ones.
Marie has written me a letter which pleased me
so much that I am sending it to you for you to
see how well she can use her pen.

I almost forgot to tell you that our friend and
neighbor, Mistress Nance Allen, whose relatives
live in Philadelphia, is taking care of the children
while we are away. She asked me to send them to
her house and I was very grateful for the offer.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

She writes that Pierre is a good boy, that Marie
has grown quieter and more submissive, while
Adélaide-Rosalie is a very naughty little girl and
at four gives as much trouble as if she were twenty.
My dear Mother-in-Law, don’t forget us in
your prayers and always believe in the affection of
Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION

[Date undecipherable]

My pear MoTHER-IN-LAW:

I see that my letters describing the people here
amuse you, so I am going to write you more about
our society.

General and Mistress Washington have the
handsomest house in town. It stands at the cor-
ner of Cherry Street,* the property of Sir Walter
Franklin who married a Miss Hannah Bowne.
They belong to the Quaker sect which has such
strange habits and customs. For instance they
say “thee” and “thou” to every one. We should
not mind it at all in France, but in English it
sounds funny and people do not care for it. They

 

*French, Rue de Cerises. This refers to the President’s
house in New York, at the corner of Cherry and Pearl Streets.
Franklin was dead and the house was owned by Samuel Osgood who
had married Franklin's widow. Authority for the “Sir” has not been
found. Washington’s Philadelphia house belonged to Robert Morris.

186
 

SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

dress in a particular way, the men wearing long
brown coats, and the women gray gowns with nice
white crépe or gauze “fichus” draped across their
bosoms. They are good people for all their queer
ways, far more conscientious than other folk, and
very charitable and generous in their alms.

But in spite of this they are not liked, I do not
really know why. I fancy, however, that General
Washington does not share the prejudice against
them or he would hardly have gone to live in the
house of a Quaker. I have thought sometimes
that the extraordinary neatness of the Quakers is
what has drawn General Washington to them, for
he is himself so neat in his dress and manner.

In fact, one of the criticisms I have heard
directed against him is that he takes too much care
of his person and is too fond of fine clothes. It is
all too true that every one does not admire this
great man as he deserves. It makes Gaston furious
to hear people disparage him after all he’s done for
his country and the devotion with which he has
served it and serves it still.

But probably General Washington does not
mind, although I've heard that sometimes it exas-
perates him to think that his most insignificant ac-
tions are criticized and all he does is pulled to

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

pieces, even to the manner in which he bows and
greets or takes leave of his visitors.

What people would like him to do is to become
familiar with them, and he will not do it, thinking
that as President of a great country he ought to
keep up the dignity of his position. No one seems
to understand this and he is maligned and accused
of conducting himself like a King, or trying to. I
wondered whether this had something to do with
the General deciding to move into another house.

They also criticize in Philadelphia the cere-
monious way in which General and Mistress Wash-
ington attend divine service in Christ Church.
They enter preceded by a footman and followed
by Miss Nellie Custis, the granddaughter or niece
(I don’t know exactly what she is) of Mistress
Washington. Then they take their places solemn-
ly in a pew reserved for them, between the pews of
Bishop White and another distinguished gentle-
man of Philadelphia. You will hardly believe it,
but some bad-mannered persons have sneered as
the General passed and whispered loud enough for
him to hear:

“Here comes the King!”—which must have
been painful for the victim of the unseemly jest.

On the other hand, the President and his lady

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SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

have warm friends, and the President has among
the fair sex more than just sincere admirers.

Among the several women who have lost their
hearts to him, is a certain Mistress Warren, who
thinks herself a great poetess. She is dead in love
with him and makes herself ridiculous by her ef-
forts to attract his attention.

One evening at a reception held by Mistress
Washington, this enterprising lady appeared won-
derfully arrayed in pink silk covered with gauze de
Chambéry and with an enormous pink ostrich
feather towering above her head. She actually
went up to the President and asked him whether
he liked her coiffure. He looked embarrassed,
and at last replied that the feather was very beau-
tiful.

“I knew you would like it,” exclaimed Mistress
Warren (or is the name Warden? Something like
that. I never can remember names in this coun-
try, or pronounce them, or write them). “I
bought it specially for this occasion!”

The poor President looked hopelessly embar-
rassed. No wonder! Mistress Washington mere-
ly smiled and seemed amused as she well might be.

There are, however, a number of other visitors at
the President’s House whose society the General

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and Mistress Washington must find more con-
genial. Among them is a lawyer named Mister
William Lewis, whose wife is a beauty and one of
the most charming women I've met. You would
love her, my dear Mother-in-Law, because she has
a courtly manner and resembles our great French
ladies in everything she does or says. Mistress
Washington likes her very much and has her with
her constantly. And she is always so well-dressed
that it’s a pleasure to see her. One particular even-
ing, at a reception at Mistress Bingham’s, she ap-
peared in a cerise-satin petticoat with a dress of
white damask brocaded with cerise flowers, and
with just a few roses in her coiffure. It was an
elegant costume and attracted much attention, al-
though there were some women who thought it was
far too simple for the occasion. But then Mistress
Lewis is Irish, the daughter of Sir John Esmonde,
a rich Irish landowner, has been presented at the
English Court, does pretty much as she likes and
ignores etiquette.

There is another lawyer here named Mister
Charles Carroll, who, it seems, was a very promi-
nent personage in the First Revolutionary Con-
vention in Maryland (one of the Colonies that
rose against British rule at the outset of the Revo-

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SOCIETY IN PHILADELPHIA

 

lution). He is descended from a famous lady,
Anna Neale by name, who came to this country
after the execution of King Charles I. You have
often spoken to me of her sister as one of your
grandmother’s friends. This Mister Carroll and
I have become great friends, and he has promised
to show me some relics of the King which are still
in his possession. If he does so, I'll not fail to de-
scribe them to you.

By the way, do you know who is here, or was
here? The famous Flora Macdonald who helped
Prince Charles Stuart to escape when his army
was defeated by the English. She came to this
country a few years ago and during the Revolu-
tion did her best to prevent the many Scots in
South Carolina from joining the rebellion. This,
when one remembers that she was very nearly
sentenced to death by the Hanoverian King, is
rather strange. She had a husband, her romance
with the Stuart Pretender not having prevented
her from marrying. They were both taken prison-
ers by the American troops, and he, at least, was
sent back to England.

I have been told that she did not accompany
him but was allowed to remain in a house she had
bought near the city of Wilmington. You have

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THEY ENEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

told us so many stories about her and the clever
manner in which she saved Prince Charles that I
should dearly love to meet this remarkable woman,
though every one speaks of her with contempt and
thinks her a ridiculous sort of person.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I hope this long and
chatty letter will not bore you too much. If it does,
please say so, and I shall try to avoid doing it
again. Believe me always

Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION
CHAPTER XII

THERE IS TROUBLE TO FACE IN FRANCE AND
ON THE PLANTATION

9th June, 1790
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I was so glad to hear that my small presents
proved acceptable and particularly that you liked
the Cranberries* and have made preserves out of
them which proved popular with your neighbors
and friends. I shall not fail to send you some
more, as you ask me to do, next winter. They are
hardly ripe before early November and it’s some-
times even later. I'm fond of them too, though
the first time they were offered to me I took them
reluctantly, as I could not imagine a berry of that
kind being eatable. I see by your letter that you
are not such a coward as I was, but bravely at-
tacked the jar of preserves I sent you and liked it.

*See the letter of December 10, 1786, page 155. Monsieur de
Nasian must have been a long time delivering the cranberries to
Madame de Maussion in Paris, or, what is likely, the acknowledg-
ment took even longer to reach the remote plantation. News trav-
eled slowly. In July, 1796, Gaston rejoices over the death of Robes-
pierre, which had occurred two years before, See page 229,

193
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Your questions amused me and when you in-
quired whether children here are taught good man-
ners, I had to smile. Indeed they are, and in the
South, in Virginia and the Carolinas, girls as a
rule are given very severe precepts by their moth-
ers. On a plantation I visited, I found hanging on
the wall of the daughter’s bedroom a sheet of paper
in a picture frame on which were written the fol-
lowing injuctions. They gave me so much amuse-
ment I copied them for you:

Never sit down before your elders unless
told to do so.

Bite not our bread, but break it.

Never speak in the presence of your elders
except to reply to a question.

Take salt with a clean knife.

Hold not your knife upright, but sloping;
and lay it down at the right hand of
your plate.

Make no noise with your tongue, mouth or
lips while eating or drinking.

You can see from this example that American
mothers are just as careful of their children’s edu-
cation as we are in France. But I am sorry to say
that at times girls do not pay sufficient heed to the
advice of their elders, and I am always frightened
lest my little ones get contaminated by the spirit

194
 

TROUBLE TO FACE

 

of independence that everywhere prevails. It even
goes so far that children do not try to please their
parents in the choice of a career, as they generally
do in France. I am always telling my little ones
that when they are grown up, they will have to
take into consideration, not only their father and
mother, but you, too, who have always been so kind
to them and their parents.

Marie and Pierre, however, have not yet given
me reason to fear they will ever treat their elders
with anything but respect. They are good chil-
dren and learn their lessons well. Marie knows by
heart most of the fables of Monsieur de La Fon-
taine. Pierre takes after his father in a general
lack of perseverance, but he tries hard to please
me. Adélaide-Rosalie is a lovely little girl with
fair hair and blue eyes. I think she will be like you
when she grows up.

My dear Mother-in-Law, I commend myself
and the little ones to your affection and remain
always :

Your very dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION

195
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

15th August, 1790
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

You will have been disappointed, saddened
and distressed by Gaston’s last letter asking you
again for money. Yet this time it is not because
he has made debts which he could have avoided or
indulged in his old passion for cards. If such were
the case, believe me I should not plead his cause be-
fore you. But he is careless, and when he took on
himself the management of this plantation he did
not calculate at all the initial expense he would
have to meet. I can assure you that if I had not
been here by his side, able to judge for myself, I
should have been extremely pained by this apparent
waste of money. In reality it was not—or rather,
will not be—wasted, because it is sure to give good
returns in two or three years.

Yet, if you find that you can not afford to help
us, please do not try to do it. We shall get along
by ourselves some way or other. We would not
wish, for all the world, to have you stint yourself
in anything you need, especially now that times are
so hard in France and when your income has prob-
ably been reduced.

People arriving here recently say that France
is on the brink of a Revolution, and that since so

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TROUBLE TO FACE

 

many of our youth have returned from America
inspired by the new ideas, they all dream of estab-
lishing the same kind of government in our coun-
try that we have here. But Gaston says it would
be madness to try, because to succeed we should
have to have men like General Washington with
his quiet superiority and immense authority over
the masses. Gaston does not think Monsieur de
La Fayette could successfully establish a Republic
in France; because, he says, people there are so
restless they would never let him have a fair trial.
We hear that the sessions of the States-Gen-
eral have been very stormy and that the Queen is
more unpopular than ever, being reproached for
her extravagance and the money she wastes upon
her favorite. If this is true, it is sad indeed. But
then you know yourself she has never been liked,
and there is no doubt but that the people have been
miserable since the King succeeded to his grand-
father’s Throne. Those who know him say he is a
good man and that he would like to be a good King,
too, but that there are so many evil influences
around him he can’t even attempt to execute what-
ever good intentions he may have. Gaston is afraid
that Monsieur de La Fayette, always enthusiastic,
may allow himself to be carried away by his illu-
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

sions and imagine he can save France as General
Washington saved America.

But the two cases are very different, and even
here public opinion is far from being absolutely
favorable to the President, the first President of
these States. They seem to forget all he has done
for his country and how he has never spared him-
self in its service. God alone knows what they
don’t reproach him for! In this land where so
many are strict on the subject of morals to a de-
gree that would surprise everybody in France,
there have been attempts to stir up public opinion
against him by representing him as too much in-
clined to yield to the influence of the fair sex. The
people engaged in this vile canard are aided and
abetted by the British and their sympathizers of
whom, alas, there all too many in this country.
Just after the American Colonies proclaimed their
independence, there was printed and circulated an
ignominious pamphlet in which the Generals rep-
utation was dragged into the mire. Ie was rep-
resented as having a secret intrigue with a girl in
New York, or near New York,—he a married
man. Of course this made all our Puritans rise up
in arms against him.

But Gaston says that it is all nothing but a fear-

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ful calumny, and that, in his private life as well as
in his public conduct, General Washington is above
reproach. But if things like that can happen here
and to a man as renowned as the President, what
wouldn’t happen in France if some one tried to
raise himself on others’ shoulders?

All this has taken me far from what I meant to
write you, my dear Mother-in-Law. Before I seal
this letter I want to tell you that we are very
anxious for you and should like nothing better
than to have you make up your mind to join us
here. You would be safe from the disturbances
that may break out in France at any moment and
would see for yourself our manner of life and the
noble way Gaston puts his hand to the plough
and works all day long. That his work has not al-
ways been as successful as it should have been, is
his misfortune, but believe me, my dear Mother-
in-Law, he is not to blame at all—not at all.

The children are quite well, but little Adélaide-
Rosalie makes me despair by persistently refusing
to learn French. She chatters all day long in Eng-
lish. Though her father and I have made it a rule
always to talk I'rench with the children, the per-
verse little girl answers us in English. She speaks
it far better than I. Sometimes I don’t under-

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stand her, and then she laughs at my ignorance.
When I recall that she is but four years old, it
makes me fear what she may do when she is older.
I commend myself to your kindness, my dear
Mother-in-Law, and entreat you once more not to
be angry with Gaston. Believe me always
Your devoted and dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

16th October, 1790
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Your fine letter arrived the other day. We are
distressed to hear of all the abominable things you
have had to undergo. Don’t you think it would
be a wise thing for you to remove to Paris and
abandon the chateau for the present, taking with
you its most precious treasure? You would be
safer in town than in the country, where peasants
are so excited and are burning and plundering the
chateaux of their former masters. Please think it
over and write us as soon as you have decided what
you are going to do. We are so anxious about you,
~ knowing you within reach of these monsters who
seem to stop at nothing in their blind rage for
destruction.

I quite understand that, in view of all that is

200
 

TROUBLE TO FACE

 

taking place, your resources are constantly dimin-
ishing, and therefore we are more grateful to you
than you can imagine for the help you sent us. It
came just in time to permit Gaston to make some
improvements in the management of this planta-
tion.

Farming here is indeed a difficult matter.
Even General Washington, with all his experi-
ence, finds it a problem on his estate at Mount
Vernon. It is a very large property, divided into
several smaller ones, each under the control of an
intendant or “Overseer,” as they call them here,
over whom is another “Intendant” to whom they
report all that they do, and who, in his turn, re-
ports it to the General.

The greatest difficulty is the antiquated sys-
tem of agriculture which Gaston, for one, would
like to change on our plantation. With us, as
everywhere else, the land has been kept under con-
stant cultivation until it has become quite ex-
hausted, comtrary to the French practice of
allowing it a year’s rest between crops.

Tobacco, the principal source of revenue, ex-
hausts the soil very quickly, and probably this ac-
counts for the stretches of waste land seen
everywhere. Gaston would like to cultivate wheat

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

on our property, but everybody laughs at him for
thinking such a thing possible. Yet he has made
up his mind to give up growing Tobacco, over
which he has lost far too much money not to want
to try something else.

The tragic side of plantation life is that prac-
tically everything needed for farming and every-
thing the farm does not produce has to be ordered
once a year from Europe. After the order has
been received no other outside help can be locked
for. The result is that on every plantation, large
or small, you have to keep a whole army of work-
men,—carpenters, blacksmiths, locksmiths, join-
ers and so forth, which, of course, costs an
enormous amount of money. One has also to keep
a resident mason and of course one or several
gardeners. So you may form an idea of our re-
sponsibilities of which, to be sure, Gaston had no
idea when we settled here, but which now we’ve got
to face in the best spirit possible.

My dear Mother-in-Law, please do not forget
us in your prayers. As for us, we are constantly
imploring the Almighty to guard you in your
present danger. I remain always

Your dutiful and affectionate daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.
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TROUBLE TO FACE

 

8th December, 1790
My pEAR MoTHER-IN-LAW:

Since I last wrote you, we have been to Phil-
adelphia for a visit, a diversion in the monotony of
our lives. I have such confidence in the dear old
Negress who is our children’s nurse, that I thought
I might leave them for a while. Besides, Mistress
Nance is always within call in case of need. Pierre
and Marie are now old enough to understand they
must behave, and Adélaide-Rosalie is still too
small to come to any harm in my absence.

I'm glad I can tell you that both Pierre and
Marie write French well. If it is possible in these
troublous times for you to send us anything at all,
I'll deeply appreciate a few French books for
them,—the Fables of Monsieur de La Fontaine
and the works of Bossuet, and some volumes on
French history, in which I'd like to see them bet-
ter instructed than in anything else. I was so glad
you sent me the little book of poems by Monsieur
le Duc Nivernais; I am not surprised that it has
been the delight of our Paris drawing-rooms.

What you write about politics makes Gaston
and me most unhappy. Confidentially, I think he
would like to return to France and get rid of this
plantation, but how can he with things as they are?

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

I tell him he must apply all his energy toward
making it pay instead of going on about the task
in the unpractical way he does almost everything.
I often wish you here to instill some energy into
Gaston and encourage him in the routine duties
which make up our life.

Gaston was made for nothing but to fight and
be a soldier, and this simply for the pleasure of the
thing, because he has never cared for advancement
of any kind. If he had, and had shown himself
more attentive to what he was told to do, I'm sure
Monsieur de Washington would have done some-
thing for him. As things have turned out, Gaston
made the best of soldiers, and one of the bravest,
but it was all for the sake of adventure. I am glad
he was not put into any responsible position, be-
cause he could not have filled it.

Don’t think, my dear Mother-in-Law, that it is
lack of affection for Gaston which makes me write
in this strain. With all his faults, I love him so
much that I’ve never for a moment been sorry I
married him. But all the same I see things as they
are, and they have been such as to try me many a
time since I landed in this country.

On the other hand, we’ve been leading a whole-

some life, and this means much, especially where
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TROUBLE TO FACE

 

the children are concerned. Perhaps it is just as
well they’re not in France now, where they would
have so many bad examples set before them. Here
they see only Christians, for, whatever these
people may be in other respects, no one can accuse
them of being godless. They sincerely believe in
their Bible. The Quakers I find particularly sym-
pathetic and fail to understand why they were per-
secuted with such ire in the days gone by, and why
there still exists a prejudice against them. I have
a few Quaker friends I like exceedingly, and I'm
sure you would like them, too. There are lots of
them in Philadelphia and most of them are rich.
Once, a few months ago, when your remittance
was late and I literally did not know what to do, it
was a Quaker friend of mine who lent me enough
money to get along. Indeed they are good people
in every respect.

I found Philadelphia somewhat changed in the
few months I'd been away. It seemed to me
France had lost some of the sympathy it formerly
enjoyed, among the society people at least—1I had
no opportunity to mingle with other classes. It
grieves me that Gaston generally finds some pre-
text or other for not accompanying me to the din-

ners and receptions to which we are invited. The
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

fact of the matter is, he resents a certain differ-
ence in the treatment accorded us and can not
understand why people do not make the same fuss
over him they do over me. I could write a lot on
this subject, but you know it all better than I do.
So why trouble you?

Here’s something will amuse you: Since the
War of Independence between this country and
England, you in France seem smitten with an af-
fectation of simplicity in all you do and the way
you dress. Here in America it is quite the con-
trary. In New York and Philadelphia, and espe-
cially in New York, both men and women give a
great deal of care to their dress, and anything
more sumptuous than the balls in these two cities
can not well be imagined. Everybody seems to
have forgotten the war and its privations, and
sumptuary laws, if enacted, would never be
obeyed.

At the last Assembly I attended in Philadel-
phia, handsome gowns were the rule and not the
exception. It would be difficult to describe to you
all IT admired. I shall always remember one of
lilac satin with red stripes, of a red deepening to
violet, trimmed with flounces of pale mauve crépe
with white lilies to relieve them,—truly a lovely

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sight. That same evening Mistress Bingham was
dressed all in pink with rare point lace and a
wreath of roses in her hair. She looked regal. I
had had to go again to that little French dress-
maker, and she had made me a blue dress, quite
plain, but with your lace scarf arranged as a trim-
ming on the bodice. I had a few roses in my hair
with some gauze—silver gauze—twisted in and out
of it. One of the Misses Chew—I believe I've told
you about them—was dressed all in white, which
suited her to perfection.

These gatherings are most interesting. One
meets all the nice people, not only of Philadelphia,
but also of New York and of other places, and
especially Southerners. I've quite enjoyed those
I attended.

I shall now say good-by, my dear Mother-in-
Law, and shall write another time what I heard in
Philadelphia about politics. But this letter is al-
ready too long, and I shall not task your patience
any further,—only commend myself to your tender
affection and subscribe myself

Your ever dutiful and devoted daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

10th January, 1791
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I must begin this letter by wishing you a hap-
py New Year, as happy at least as you can have in
these troubled times. I am always so anxious
whenever I think of you. Gaston and I were very
glad indeed when we heard you had gone to Paris.
1 feel sure you'll be safer there than in the coun-
try, where the population is so incensed against the
nobles.

We have heard here that Parisians are angry
at the Queen, who is accused of appropriating
public funds to enrich her favorites; and that Mon-
sieur de La Fayette is not as popular as he was at
the beginning of the Revolution, for what takes
place in France to-day is nothing short of Revolu-
tion. Some people who arrived here the other day
from Paris say that Monsieur le Duc d’Orleans
is behind all this mischief and is spreading all kinds
of calumnies about the poor Queen and her friends.
They say he was busy at it even before the horrible
days of October, when our unfortunate Sovereigns
were dragged to Paris by an angry mob that ought
to have been dispersed long before it could realize
its own strength.

All this troubles us much. I should not have ex-

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TROUBLE TO FACE

 

pected Monsieur de La Fayette to go over to the
side of those who are plotting against the King and
Queen. Gaston is most unhappy, but then he never
quite believed in Monsieur de La Fayette after
his return to France. He always said that even
here he had tried to glorify himself at the expense
of General Washington, who, in his modesty, al-
lowed our young Marquis to get the benefit of his
own wisdom. Gaston often compares the conduct
of these two men, the straightforwardness of the
President of the United States and the frank and
open way in which he came to the protection of his
country against the King of England, and what he
calls the underhanded manner of Monsieur de La
Fayette. I can not, of course, judge whether he
is right or wrong but I somehow think he may be
right; he had plenty of chances to size up Monsieur
de La Fayette during the war when they both
fought under General Washington.

I must here tell you an incident in Philadelphia
during a short visit by Monsieur de La Fayette in
1780, when he returned from France for the first
time. Ie was invited to a tea party at a Mistress
Shippen’s or Shippan’s (something like that, I
can’t remember these proper names). KEverybody
made a great fuss over him, and he took it with

209
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

relish, for he always has loved adulation and flat-
tery. When asked to relate some of his experiences
in the war, he did so with great willingness, but
never once did he mention the name of General
Washington. A lady noted for her sharp tongue,
whose name I can’t remember (it is difficult
enough to pronounce, let alone to write) was an-
noyed by this persistent omission. She suddenly
asked him what General Washington was doing
“all that time.” Then our Marquis remembered
where he was, and with great presence of mind re-
plied:

“General Washington, Madam, was issuing the
orders which we were all obeying.”

A clever answer if ever there was one.

In spite of the gaieties I enjoyed while in Phil-
adelphia, and about which I wrote you in detail in
my last letter, I was glad to get home again. Thank
Providence, I found the children well, but was
grieved to learn that one of our neighbors of whom
we all were extremely fond, Mister Woodman,
had died during our absence. We attended his
funeral. Here I must tell you, shocking as this
may seem, that funerals are an occasion for people
to get together and are considered more in the

light of pleasure and recreation than grief and sor-
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TROUBLE TO FACE

 

row. People laugh and chat before and after the
deceased has been lowered into the grave. The
meals which follow the interment are sumptuous
affairs, during which the guests flirt and make
open love and talk endless scandal of their neigh-
bor. It is all very shocking, especially when one
remembers with what pomp and decorum such
ceremonies are conducted in France.

But then it must be said that, where planta-
tions are so far apart, people have but few oppor-
tunities to gather in large numbers, except for
weddings and funerals, and so they must make the
best of every chance to amuse themselves. It is a
fact that every funeral leads to several engage-
ments and romances.

I again send you our best wishes for the New
Year, my dear Mother-in-Law. Pierre and Marie
are also writing you to the same end. You will
see from their letters that both have made good
progress in their studies. I have not corrected their
spelling so you may judge exactly what they can
do. Commending myself again to your affection,
I remain, my dear Mother-in-Law,

Ever your dutiful and devoted daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.
CHAPTER XIII
DETRACTION IS DIRECTED AT THE PRESIDENT

23rd April, 1791
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

We received your letters and the presents you
sent us and the children and can not thank you
enough for them. To think that, in the midst of
all your troubles and agitations and all the horri-
ble things that are going on in Paris and through-
out France, you have found time to try and please
us, brings the tears to my eyes.

I only wish I might express all I feel at this
new proof of your tenderness. You warn me that
it will probably be the last time you will be able to
send us anything because of the lack of money and
the ever-increasing difficulties of communication,
but, believe me, all that we want from you is your
love, and this we know we possess and more we do
not desire.

You are kind enough to say that all I write you
about our life here interests you, especially all that
concerns General Washington. I think that Gas-

212
DETRACTION

 

ton is writing you about him to-day. All I can say
is that you are mistaken when you think that every
one in this country is on his knees before him. Un-
fortunately, this is far from the case. He has an
infinite number of detractors at his heels,—people
who envy him and who would like to pull him down
from his high position and drive him out of the
hearts of the nation he saved.

This world is indeed a dreadfully wicked place
where true greatness is never appreciated. You
should just have heard all the criticisms that have
been leveled at the President since the war came to
an end, and while it lasted it seems they were even
worse. Everything that was venomous was said
against him, and although he was well aware of the
intrigues, he never lost his patience or his dignity,
but ignored all the evil gossip. I wish we had men
like him in France; then our country would not be
in such a plight.

Perhaps some of your friends to whom you
may care to show this letter will think that Gaston
and I are far too enthusiastic about Monsieur de
Washington. But how can one help being enthusi-
astic about a man who has always sacrificed him-
self for others? I have not often seen the Presi-

dent, but the few times I have seen him have been
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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

sufficient to impress me with his wonderful per-
sonality. I mean to bring up my children to rever-
ence the very sound of his name. Just contrast
his conduct with that of our politicians at home
who seem to create nothing but confusion and dis-
aster, while here one man (for it was all the work
of one man) has created an entire nation. If you
examine his public career in all its details, you will
find no spot on his credit.

I must here relate an impressive instance of the
strong common sense which General Washington
brings to bear on every possible question.

Since the war a vigorous movement has been
started in favor of freeing the negro slaves, of
whom there are so many. Well, the General had
the strength of character to remain neutral on this
grave question. While he sympathized with the
abolition of slavery, he did not think it proper to
bring it about except by legislation and with the
cooperation of the Assembly of the Deputies of the
Nation, and among these there was a violent feel-
ing against any such reform.

The General once told a friend that personally
he did not approve of slavery, though he owned
slaves himself, and said that if the Assembly took
into consideration the many petitions it was con-

214
 

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stantly receiving on the subject, he would approve
with all his heart. But, he said, as Head of the
‘country, he could not take the first step in ruining
many people whose interests it was his duty to de-
fend; it would be oppression to cause a man to
lose his property simply because he lacked the
means to defend it. It seems he has written the
same opinion to Monsieur de La Fayette who had
urged him to free the Negroes by proclamation, in-
stead of letting the Assembly decide the question.
No man more respectful of the rights of others ever
lived. You will not wonder after this that we who
know him and who have seen him at work, simply
worship him. Why don’t our French politicians
come to this country to study his methods with a
view to applying them, as far as possible, to our
own needs’?

Proof of the President’s high moral character
is in the serenity with which even at critical mo-
ments he listens to the diverse opinions that are
showered on him. This was especially the case
while the Constitution was being framed, when he
found himself hampered at every step by an oppo-
sition which was as silly as it was futile. But as he
said at the time, the work being done would be ap-
preciated in the future, because it was laying down

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

the first principles of true liberty as a reasonable
man ought to understand them.

It is a real miracle that he succeeded in bring-
ing the work to a happy end. Can you imagine it,
there were actually people who said they feared
that if elected President he would enjoy too much
power under this Constitution! They even wrote
to Monsieur de La Fayette and asked him to tell
the General so, and he actually complied with this
unseemly request, which must, in all probability,
have hurt the President terribly, because he had
the right to expect that Monsieur de La Fayette,
at least, his old comrade in arms, would not echo
a ridiculous calumny.

But enough of this. I mustn’t intrude on Gas-
ton’s ground, his privilege of telling all the political

news that reaches us in our solitude. So I shall

merely say that the children are well. And, will
you believe it, Adélaide-Rosalie has actually com-
mitted to memory the fable of Monsieur de La
Fontaine about the ant that worked the whole
summer gathering its winter provisions, and the
one about the fox that flattered the crow to get its
cheese. Isn’t it wonderful for a child of her age?
She is now studying hard to learn how to write,
because she wants to send a nice letter to her
216
 

DETRACTION

 

Bonne Maman for next year. Iast Christmas she
was quite envious of Pierre and Marie because
they could do it without outside help.

I commend myself to your tenderness, my dear
Mother-in-Law, and beg you to to think of me al-
ways as

Your most dutiful and loving daughter-in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION,

27th August, 1791
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Your affectionate letter, in spite of the good
news it brought us from you personally, came like
a thunderbolt upon us, with its description of
our unfortunate King’s flight and arrest at Va-
rennes, What a misfortune! Who could have
advised him so badly? Gaston says he and the
Queen ought to have made friends with Monsieur
de La Fayette and not wounded him. with a dis-
play of bad temper, which could lead to nothing.
But I am rather inclined to believe with you that
events have become too important for our fine
Marquis to be able to keep them in check.

With your letter came one from our aunt de
Créqui telling us that the Noailles are much in-
censed against Monsieur de La Fayette. She says

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

also Madame de La Fayette, who has always taken
his part and like him was converted to what they
call in France the “New Ideas” has grown anxious
for the future and since her husband was made
Commander of the National Guard has not had
one quiet night. Better than Monsieur de La
Fayette she seems to see where this revolt may lead
and to have no illusions about its issues.

But you might just as well try to stop a tor-
rent in its course as attempt to convince Monsieur
de La Fayette. He is doing in France just what
he did more than once in this country, although,
thanks to the generosity, kindness and affection of
General Washington, the public was not allowed
to find it out. He is far too sanguine of his
strength and his own resources and has far too
much assurance that he can do what he wants,
never reckoning with possible failure. If he would
only take the President here as an example, it
would be better for France and for him, for
France now looks at him through rose-colored
spectacles.

I can well realize, my dear Mother-in-Law,
how sad and discouraged you must feel, and I wish
you were here with us, where at least you would
find peace and could go to bed without the sound

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DETRACTION

 

of the tocsin to disturb your rest as it does in Paris.
Please consider it, and see if you can’t arrange it.
Where indeed would you be safer and happier than
with your children?

I must now reply to a few of your questions. I
was glad to find that in spite of your anxieties and
the terror in which your days must be spent, you
still have interest in this far-away country and
want to know more and more about it.

Your enquiry as to the manner in which elder-
ly ladies dress, amused me immensely. I shall an-
swer it by telling you that women here seem to give
up their youth far more willingly and far earlier
than in France. At forty they assume quite mid-
dle-aged garments and wear caps with lace borders
and streamers falling over their shoulders. Mis-
tress Washington always wears very .high caps,
which sometimes suit her and sometimes do not,
according to where she buys them. The caps she
gets from New York suit her better than those she
orders in Philadelphia, which are generally much
too high and clumsy, like a tower worn on the
head; but she seems to prefer them.

Women here like bright-colored stockings, but
don’t know how to wash them, and stockings some-
times lose their freshness after one laundering.

219
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Slippers always have extremely high heels, so
high indeed that it is a wonder women can walk
in them. Xerchiefs are generally bordered with
fine lace of a width that varies with the occasion.
The fashion of wearing a white fichu over the dress
bodice must have come from the Quakers. This
looks pretty, especially on a black silk or black
damask dress such as Mistress Washington is
fond of wearing.

Patches on the face are not seen as frequently
as in France. Young women seem to have aban-
doned rouge as well as powder, but the elderly still
cling to it. General Washington likes powder, and
his hair is always well and neatly dressed.

I ought to have answered your questions about
religion first. Please forgive me for not having
done so. Yes, people here are religious, really and
truly religious, and the Bible is read in most house-
holds every morning and evening. There are
innumerable religious sects—for example, the
Quakers, or Friends, as they are sometimes
called—but there is a prevailing idea (due, I sup-
pose, to the fact that England ruled here for so
long a time) that a man ought to belong to the
Church of England if he is a gentleman. Catholics
are not as numerous as I should like to see, but we

220
 

DETRACTION

 

can still fulfill our religious duties, and I have
come to know a few very kind and good priests,
whose advice and spiritual help I much appreciate.
So, if you were here, you would not suffer from
lack of religious opportunities.

I am now preparing Pierre and Marie for their
first communion, They are longing for it and in
view of it have made a real effort to be good chil-
dren. I wish you could see them at this very
moment,

But this is enough for one day, so I shall end
this letter by imploring you, my dear Mother-in-
Law, to keep us all in your heart and thoughts and
to believe me always

Your dutiful and devoted daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

25th December, 1792
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

We are ending this terrible year in fear and
trembling for your safety and are wondering what
kind of a New Year’s Day you will have amid
scenes of horror, Oh, what a pity you did not ac-
cede to our prayers to come over to this country
before it was too late! Now, of course, it would
be impossible without your being put on the list of

221
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

émigrés, to which you rightly object. We must,
therefore, trust to God’s mercy and go on hoping
He knows what is best for us all.

We had a suspicion of what was taking place
from letters written by the American Ambassador,
Gouverneur Morris, to his friends in Philadelphia.
He said that from the moment he was appointed
envoy to Paris and became acquainted with things
as they really were, he realized that Monsieur de
La Fayette had quite lost popularity—a great
pity. He attributed this to his lack of understand-
ing of the masses, which we knew was one of his
principal failings. For instance, in spite of his
sincere affection for General Washington, he did
not realize the real greatness of his character, nor
how he towers above all other mortals. This lack
of judgment was sure to bring about dire conse-
quences when he found himself confronted with a
Revolution he had neither the strength nor energy
to control.

Then again, he is far too sensitive to other peo-
ple’s judgments of his personality and actions, to
which, in complete contrast, General Washington
is supremely indifferent. In fact, my dear Mother-
in-Law, the difference between these two men is
the difference between a truly superior being and

222
 

DETRACTION

 

an ordinary mortal. Alas, alas, for our poor coun-
try, that it is not the superior being who is
entrusted with its destinies!

We are continually hearing praises of our
President from those who know him well, but there
are others who do not leave off criticizing him
right and left. Many do not approve his policy,
find him too strict and severe, think he refuses
favors too easily. I do not know why, but they
upbraid him for refusing to be made King, though
the refusal is absolutely consistent with his char-
acter, his convictions and his love of freedom. Gas-
ton, who through all these years has always clung
to General Washington, says that he alone has a
proper idea of this country’s resources and what it
is bound to become in the course of time, and that
he dreams real dreams, not the nonsense dreamed
by so many of those about him. Men of worth
like Mister Adams and Mister Jay favor a Mon-
archy, but after all what do they know.* One may
well ask whether they have as much at heart the
welfare of the American people as General Wash-
ington.

My dear Mother-in-Law, the children are writ-

*Rather an aristocracy. Adams said that “the rich, the well-
born and the able ought to rule.”

223
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

ing to you also. Please take particular notice of
Adélaide-Rosalie’s letter, which she has written
and composed without help. Mistress Nance,
whose favorite she is, always says that she’s a most
remarkable child, and indeed when we remember
that she is but six years old, we do feel proud of
her. She is an independent little creature, far
more American than French. Pierre and Marie
are also very good, but not as endearing as their
sister. You couldn’t help loving her. We all wish
you a better year than this has been. I hope you
will remember us in your daily prayers and will be-
lieve me always

Your very dutiful and affectionate daughter-

in-law, CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

5th April, 1793
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Monsieur Guillard is returning to France
(what courage!) and will try to deliver this letter
to you. We are afraid to write to you by other
means for fear of compromising you. We are al-
ways thinking of you, and you may imagine how
we felt when we heard of the terrible crime of
January twenty-first.* Poor King! What a fate!

 

¥The execution of Louis XVI.
224
 

DETRACTION

 

and yet perhaps it was a mercy for him to be de-
livered from the awful Spuvity. in which the de-
mons kept him.

But what he must have suffered thinking of the
Queen and of their children! The Queen is never
out of our thoughts. What a martyrdom is hers!
And what she must endure! To lose everything in
the world! What a fate, and how did she ever sur- .
vive the terrible day when she was shown the head
of her best friend!* 1 assure you that I have not
left off weeping since the dreadful news arrived!

The children are well and are my greatest con-
solation in these troubled days when I am in con-
stant fear for you. Monsieur de La Fayette must
by now see where his dreams of freedom have led
and how foolish it was for him to imagine he might
become a French Washington! As if two such
men could be born in one century!

I shall not write more. I fear even these lines
will never reach you, because Monsieur Guillard
says he will destroy them if he sees the slightest
danger of their being discovered on his person.
So in this uncertainty I can only assure you, my
dear Mother-in-Law, that we are praying for you

 

*The Princess de Lamballe, murdered during the Seplmmber
massacres in L Paris,

225
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

and for your welfare every day. I subscribe
myself.
Your always dutiful and affectionate daughter-
in-law,

CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

PHILADELPHIA
15th January, 1794
My pEAR MOTHER:

I am writing this without knowing whether it
will ever reach you. But one of our friends goes
to France on an official visit and has faithfully
promised to seek you out in Paris and deliver this
message. What times these are when one can not
even write to one’s parents without fear of compro-
mising them.

It passes my imagination what you must have
been suffering alone in that terrible Paris, where
horrible assassinations stain each day with blood.
Those Jacobins who have poisoned our country
and brought it to ruin, are even trying to ply their
nefarious trade over here. You will never believe
it, but they have organized public manifestations
against General Washington, because he would
not, as President of the United States, declare war
against England in support of France.

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DETRACTION

Monsieur Genét, the official representative of
the monstrous murderers of our poor King, has
spent enormous sums to force the President’s
hand. Crowds of more than ten thousand people
daily have filled the streets of Philadelphia, threat-
ening to drag him out of his house, so as to effect
a change of government and compel this country
to take the side of the French Revolution.* These
manifestations continued for days and days, but
only served to bring out once more the marvelous
character and disposition of the President.

He again showed himself the same man who,
during the war, was the only one to preserve his
calmness and presence of mind amid the general
turmoil. He serenely went his way, refusing to be
intimidated by the riotous mob. He is having
Monsieur Genét recalled in spite of the opposition
which such a step gives rise to. If only we had a
man like him in our country during these years!

But neither our poor King (who has paid so
cruelly for his sins of weakness) nor any one of
his ministers was a man of courage and determina-
tion. I assure you, my dear Mother, that in this
country these sinister Jacobins would have suc-
ceeded in bringing in a Revolution if General

*Much exaggerated.
227
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Washington had not been at the head of the gov-
ernment. The more you see him, the more en-
thusiastically you must admire him. Men like him
are born once in a century, . . . if that often!

I shall not write more. Letters are too uncer-
tain, and the less one touches upon public matters,
the wiser one is. I shall, therefore, only assure
you, my dear Mother, of our deep affection, and
commend ourselves, parents and children, to your
affection.

Ever your dutiful and devoted son,

DE MAussioN.,
CHAPTER XIV
GASTON GOES HOME

PHILADELPHIA
1st July, 1796
My pEAR MOTHER:

Your letter of March fifteenth came to our
hands the other day. It was such a relief to know
that you are alive and in good health amid the
scenes of horror you witness every day. If only
you had listened to our prayers and joined us here
while you had the chance! However, I suppose it
was God’s will you should have to undergo such
trials and we ought to submit to His judgments!
I hope, however, that now things will gradually
settle down. It is at least one mercy that this fiend
in human shape, Monsieur de Robespierre, has
met with the fate he so richly deserved.*

I do not wonder that your thoughts run toward
America, and I can understand how everything

*Robespierre belonged to the nobility of the Province of Artois,
and his contemporaries always added the de¢ to his name when talk-
ing of him.

229
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

connected with it and its glorious and heroic Pres-
ident interests you. But he has his trials, and the
spirits of evil are doing their work even across the
sea. You can form no idea of the opposition he
had to fight in regard to the Treaty which has just
been concluded with Great Britain. It gave rise
to shouts of rage and fury such as you never heard
in all your life.

And now the whole country is ablaze, since a
stupid creature named Mason,* who is Senator
from Virginia, divulged its contents to the pub-
lic—out of pure spite against General Washing-
ton, because there could have been no other motive
for his action. All this is sad and makes one very
apprehensive.

Now that France it getting over her troubles,
I seriously contemplate returning. There will be
no peace here after General Washington relin-
quishes the Presidency, and this he has declared he
will do when his second term comes to an end, no
matter how much he may be implored to run for
office a third time. Perhaps after all it will be in
France that we shall feel safer, if there is any
corner of the earth where safety now exists.

*Stevens Thomson Mason, a Republican. The treaty was nego-
tiated by John Jay. The Senate ratified it and enjoined secrecy
upon the members, but Mason disregarded the injunction.

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GASTON GOES HOME

 

Humanity is everywhere the same, base and
ungrateful. I have lived to see harsh proof of
mankind’s ingratitude. The great man without
whom America would not be a free country has
outlived the day when the voice of the nation is
unanimously in his favor. He must listen to crit-
icism devoid of common sense but still capable of
wounding deeply.

My dear Mother, we pray for you night and
morning, and I hope that you also remember us in
your daily orisons. Please believe in our deep love
and attachment. Remember that whatever may
happen, and however long we may be separated, I
shall always remain

Your dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz MAUSSION,

10th September, 1796
My pEAR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

I have an opportunity to send a letter through
one of our American friends who is going to
Paris. He has promised he would seek you out
and give us news of you. It is months since we
heard from you, and months since I wrote to you,
yet you have never been out of my thoughts.

All of us, you in Paris and we here, have gone

231
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

through bitter and terrible times and have lived
through days of horror we shall never forget. If
only we might hope that a better future awaits us
and that the day of reunion will come! God may
work this miracle, since He brought you miracu-
lously through all that you've endured without one
hair of your head being touched. Believe me, I
never felt so much relieved in my whole life as on
the day when I heard that fiend in human shape,
Monsieur de Robespierre, had at last met with the
fate he so richly deserved.

We have been living very quietly, but unfor-
tunately our financial affairs went from bad to
worse until at last we lost the plantation. Since
then I have been living with Mistress Nance. She
has been a second mother to our children and an
angel to us through all our misfortunes.

Gaston has been going about from one place to
another. He still has an interest in another plan-
tation but wants to sell it and return to France,
which perhaps is a wise thing, although it will pain
me to bid good-by to these shores where I have had
many happy days.

He is going to write you, but I think does not
want to tell you that the plantation is already lost.
So if he doesn’t mention it, please don’t let him

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GASTON GOES HOME

 

suspect that you are advised. He only wants to
spare you pain and anxiety by keeping silent.
Another reason why he wants to return to France
is, that he does not believe in the future of this
country when General Washington is no longer
President. He has seen so much of the intrigues
of political life he is convinced this fair land will
go to ruin when it is deprived of the guidance of
one of the best and greatest men that ever lived.
So I think you will see Gaston arriving in Paris
toward the close of the year, but I shall wait here
with the children until he writes that it will be safe
for us to join him. Mistress Nance has kindly
said that we may live with her as long as we like,
even to the end of our days, if we can not get back
to France. But all the same it is rather a bitter
thing to have failed in what we wanted to do after
nearly twelve years of hard work!

My dear Mother-in-Law, may the Almighty
watch over you and keep you in good health for
the happiness of us all! Please, please, be kind to
Gaston and do not reproach him. It was not en-
tirely his fault that he failed. Circumstances
have been against him all the time. He has worked
hard and feels keenly his misfortune, having ac-
complished nothing of his hope and expectation.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

But I tell him that after all we have much to be
thankful for. If he had remained in France, he
would probably have been guillotined by this time.
It is better to be ruined than killed.

I commend myself to your tenderness, my good
Mother-in-Law. Please believe me always

Your dutiful daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

Boston
5th October, 1796
My DEAR MOTHER:

I am giving this letter to a friend of mine,
Monsieur Gillier, who is sailing for France, to ac-
quaint you with the fact that I have decided to
return home to look after you and our property
there. Your last letter made us very uneasy,
especially Hélene. We had already reproached
ourselves for leaving you alone all through these
long and dreadful years during which you must
have suffered so much and been in such fearful
and constant danger. Thank God, however, you
have escaped the fury of these monsters and been
saved by the mercy of Providence and the love
which people bear you!

You may imagine with what a sigh of relief

234
 

GASTON GOES HOME

 

we heard of the just punishment of that fiend in
human shape, Monsieur de Robespierre. He de-
served indeed to perish on the same scaffold to
which his cruel lust of blood had driven so many!
Perhaps now there will be peace in our unhappy
country!

I am making arrangements to sell our planta-
tion. Somehow I do not care to remain in Amer-
ica after General Washington ceases to be its
President. I feel sure that many difficulties await
it after he goes. There is no one like him, no one
worthy to succeed him. And yet to what unjust
and cruel attacks has he not been subjected! And
how disgusted he must feel at times with the world
and with his countrymen! He sacrificed himself
for them, and in spite of it what abuse have they
not heaped upon his head, since he became their
President! Sometimes it makes me so angry to
read of all these attacks that I feel like getting up
and doing a little attacking on my own account
and killing with my sword these hounds who will
not leave him alone,—the same sword I carried
through all the years of the war which America
would undoubtedly have lost had it not been for
the genius of General Washington.

I hope to sail for France in about six weeks.

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

After I have seen how matters stand there, I shall
send for Hélene and the little ones. I don’t care
to take them with me until things are more settled.
They will be well cared for and have plenty of
friends with whom they may stay during my ab-
sence. They will be perfectly safe until I can send
for them without fear, and then at last we shall
all be reunited, my dear Mother, I hope for ever.

Awaiting the happy moment when I may ask
your blessing in person, I remain, my dear Mother,
always

Your very dutiful and affectionate son,
Dz MAuUssION,
CHAPTER XV

Li
ADELAIDE-ROSALIE SEES MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WED

12th November, 1798
REVERED GRANDMOTHER:

Your gracious letter reached me safely. The
messenger who brought it said that he had left you
in good health and spirits which we were all so glad
to learn and for which we humbly thank God.

I wish I might fulfill your commands and tell
you all you desire to know about our life here and
especially about Monsieur de Washington. But
so far I have seen him only from a distance, riding
a fine brown horse. He was away for a little while,
and during his absence we were taken to Mount
Vernon, his country chateau, to look at the
grounds. They are very beautiful, and it is said
that he wants to make them even more beautiful
than they are and takes great pleasure in improv-
ing them.

I begged Mistress Nance to take me to see the
house some day, when this good man is in it, But

237
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

she said that just now it would not do, because
Monsieur le Général, as she calls him, is angry
with the French people, who, he thinks, are not be-
having well toward his country. I asked Mistress
Nance to tell me what the French had done, but
she said she did not know, only it must be so, be-
cause Monsieur le Général says it is. But I think
if he knew a little French girl wanted to see him so
~ she could write her grandmother about it, he would
permit it.

I have seen Madame de Washington once
walking in her park. She looked very beautiful
and very well-dressed. They all say she is very
kind, particularly to the poor Negroes, who all
seem to love her. But I think it is a great pity she
keeps slaves. We do not do it in France, do we?

I humbly commend myself to your kindness,
Revered Grandmother, and remain

Your humble and obedient granddaughter,

ApfiLATDE-ROSALIE.

28th November, 1798

REVERED GRANDMOTHER:
Monsieur de Chevrieéres is starting back to
France and told us he would take with pleasure

any letters we might care to entrust to him, so we
238
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

might get them to you in a safer way than through
the mails. I am therefore writing to wish you a
happy New Year, with all the blessings of Our
Lord Jesus Christ and His Holy Mother. I am
praying especially to Sainte Anne d’Auray, your
Holy Patroness, to watch over you and keep you
in good health for the happiness of your whole
family.

I should like to be able to tell you that your
wish has been granted and that I have at last been
able to see and speak with Monsieur de Washing-
ton. But alas, alas! so far I have not succeeded.
However, we have a friend who sees him occasion-
ally and who has promised that he will ask his
permission to take me to Mount Vernon sometime.
This friend does not believe the fact that Monsieur
le Général thinks the French have been behaving
badly toward his country would make him refuse
to see a little French girl, especially if he knew
this would make her grandmother so happy over
there in France. He says that Monsieur le Gén-
éral is too just a man to let himself be influenced
by considerations of that kind.

I must tell you, Revered Grandmother, that
everybody in this country speaks almost with ado-
ration of Monsieur de Washington. They say he

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THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

is so just and kind and is always thinking of other
people, especially of the poor Negroes. And so is
Madame de Washington. I must have been quite
wrong when I wrote you that it was a great pity
she kept slaves, because it appears that both she
and Monsieur le Général would have freed their
slaves long ago if it had not been for something
which I don’t understand in their contrat de mar-
riage (‘‘settlement,” they call it in this country,
something arranged when people marry). But
whenever one of these poor Negroes gets sick, both
Monsieur le Général and Madame de Washington
do all they can for him and send their own doctor
to him. In general they treat their slaves as if
they were their children and never allow them to
be beaten or ill-treated by their iniendants or
“overseers,” as they call them.

I am sure that you will be glad to know all
these details, and I shall add that my Maman is
quite well, and always speaks of you, and writes to
us about you, and tells us how lovely it is there
over in France where you live. And we are all
of us, my sister, brother and myself, praying the
Good God to arrange things so we may be with
you.

240
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

I humbly crave your blessing for the New
Year and remain
Your obedient granddaughter,
ADELATDE-ROSALIE,

oth December, 1798
My pEAR MoTHER-IN-LAW:

Forgive me for not having thanked you before
for your two long and interesting letters, with the
news which they gave me of Gaston and of you.
I am glad to hear that things are getting quieter
with you and that you have hopes for the future of
our poor France.

All that you say about young General Bona-
parte is exciting. I do not wonder at Gaston be-
ing so enthusiastic about him, but to see in him
another Washington is, I think, carrying enthu-
siasm too far. General Washington is so unique
a personality that it will be centuries before
another is born to resemble him, and when he is
born, it will most likely be in this country and not
in France, where political factions are too power-
ful for one man to be able to save the nation.

But just the same, I pray God to bless Gen-
eral Bonaparte, if he is to reestablish order in our
unhappy land. The best way to do it would be to
; 241
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

restore the rightful King to his Throne and, like a
second Joan of Are, take him to Rheims to be
crowned in its Cathedral.

I am grateful to you for writing to our chil-
dren and especially to Adélaide-Rosalie, who is so
proud to be thus favored. I am glad you asked
her to tell you about General Washington. You
see, Mistress Nance has just-bought a plantation
close to Mount Vernon, so the children will have
an opportunity to see the great hero—at least I
hope so. :

I myself should like to pay my respects to him
and to Mistress Washington and shall undertake
to do so as soon as I return from New Orleans. I
am going there in a day or two, to be companion to
an old French lady who requires some one to take
care of her and keep her accounts.

It is dreadful to have to leave the children, but
I know they will be well cared for as Mistress
Nance loves them as if they were her very own.

But she is not rich, and I don’t wish them to be
a burden upon her. So I made up my mind to ac-
cept this chance of earning a little money until
Gaston sends me enough to return to him and to
you.

He promised to do so as soon as he reached

242
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

Paris, but it is already two years, or very nearly,
since he left us, and so far he has sent nothing. I
know, of course, how difficult everything is for
him and for you and I shall wait patiently until I
can join you both.

Meanwhile, I hope you will not be angry with
me for trying to earn something, even in a menial
occupation, to help the children who are dear to
you as well as to me. Send me a word of comfort,
my dear Mother-in-Law, and I shall be so grate-
ful for it. Believe me always

Your dutiful and affectionate daughter-in-law,
CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

12th January, 1799

REVERED GRANDMOTHER:

I am sure you will be glad to hear that at last
I have seen and been spoken to by Monsieur de
Washington. It happened in the following way:
I was walking with Miss Elizabeth when we met
him riding his dark horse as usual. Another gen-
tleman was with him. When I saw him I thought
I would make use of the opportunity and so I
called out in French:

“Bonjour, Monsieur le Général!”

He immediately stopped his horse and made a

243
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

sign to Miss Elizabeth (who was all the time pull-
ing at my skirt to keep me back) and to me to
come up to him, which we did. He then said:

“You are a little French girl, I see. How do
you come to be here?’

Then I told him all about Monsieur mon Pere,
how he had fought with Monsieur de La Fayette
and then gone back to France, and how we were
waiting with my Maman to join him there when
things become more peaceful. I also said that my
Grand’Maman had wanted me to speak with Mon-
sieur le Général, so as to be able later on to say that
I had had this happiness.

Monsieur de Washington smiled, and I could
see the expression in his eyes. It was beautiful,
and he appeared so kind and good. He asked my
name, and when I told him, said that he was very
sorry he did not remember it but he would look in
his papers and see whether there was anything
there to refresh his memory. I then said that my
Papa had been only a soldier, not an officer, but
that he had always told us Monsieur le Général
is the greatest man in the whole world.

And there he interrupted me, saying I must
not talk like that, because he was nothing of the

kind and had only tried to do what he thought
244
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

right. Then he turned to the man who was riding
with him and said:

“What do you think? Shall we ask this little
French girl to Mount Vernon and present her to
Mistress Washington?’

And when I heard him, I almost cried out with
joy and said that my grandmother would be so
happy if she knew I had really been in Monsieur
le Général’s home. |

“Well, then, we shall give her this happiness
and you may write her that you have been to
Mount Vernon,” and he added that he would send
his carriage to fetch Miss Elizabeth and me that
same evening.

Then he bowed to us just as if we were great
ladies, and Miss Elizabeth was so scared she could
not even curtsy as she ought. But I did not for-
get to.

When we got back home we immediately began
to take out our best gowns and dress up all we
could. But when Mistress Nance came in and
heard all we had to tell her, she said we had better
just wear our simple white frocks, because the
General liked everything plain and quiet. She
could not believe that he would send his carriage
for us. But, Revered Grandmother, he did, and

245
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

about sunset a carriage arrived and took Miss
Elizabeth and me to Mount Vernon! It is such a
beautiful house and everything in it is so beautiful.
And just think, Monsieur de Washington met us
himself and took us to Madame de Washington!
Miss Elizabeth could hardly walk for fright.
But I looked at everything and I saw that Mon-
sieur le Général was dressed quite plainly in a
brown coat, but his cravat was very handsome, and
he looked more like a soldier than when he was on
horseback. Madame de Washington was beauti-
fully dressed in a heavy black silk. The kerchief
on her breast was of lace, and her cap suited her to
perfection. The General said that if he had known
a little French girl, and the daughter of a soldier
who had fought with Monsieur de La Fayette, had
been living so near him all this time, he would have
had us come to see him before. And he said that
now he thought he just remembered Monsieur
mon Pere and told me to write home and say so.
And then he asked whether we were in good cir-
cumstances. I said I did not know, because, al-
though our Father sent us money, my Maman
feared that we had lost the property we had in
Picardy. And then Monsieur le Général said that
I must tell Monsieur mon Pere that if ever he was
246
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

in need of anything to write to him, and he would
see what he could do for him.

This does not look as if he were angry with
Frenchmen! But then he is so good, and he looks
so good. Madame de Washington made us sit
close to her easy chair and said we must have some
refreshments. She ordered nice cakes brought to
us, and some kind of bonbons I had never eaten
before, and preserved cherries, and jams, which,
however, were not as good as my Maman makes.

Before we were allowed to go home Monsieur
le Général told us that there would soon be a wed-
ding at Mount Vernon, when his nephew, Mon-
sieur Lewis, would marry Mademoiselle Custis,
and that we must come and see the Bride in her
finery. Madame de Washington said that this
was a very good idea, and that she would send her
carriage to fetch us, and that we might spend the
night in the room next to hers, so she could take
care of us. And she kissed me and Miss Elizabeth,
before sending us home, and Monsieur le Général
said he thought he could kiss me, too, as I was the
daughter of one of his old comrades.

When we got home, we could talk of nothing
but our visit and the wedding which we are to see.
And so, Revered Grandmother, I think you will

247
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

be glad to know that at last I was able to see Mon-
sieur de Washington and write you all about him.

I almost forgot to say that before we left the
salon at Mount Vernon, I made another curtsy to
Madame de Washington, and this time Miss Eliz-
abeth did not forget to drop one, too, so that every-
thing passed off very nicely.

I humbly commend myself to you, Revered
Grandmother, and remain.

Your humble and obedient granddaughter,

ApfLATDE-ROSALIE,

23d February, 1799
REVERED GRANDMOTHER:

I don’t know when this letter will go to you,
but I must write at once all about the wedding of
Monsieur de Washington’s nephew to Mademoi-
selle Custis. It took place yesterday at Mount
Vernon. Madame de Washington did not forget
her promise to send her coach to fetch Miss Eliza-
beth and me. And she assigned us a nice room
where we could sleep quite comfortably and dress
before a large mirror.

The next day (that was yesterday) was a great
day, because it was not only the wedding day of
Mademoiselle Custis, who is, I think, related some-

248
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

how to Madame de Washington, but also the
birthday of Monsieur le Général. And you should
have seen all the congratulations he received!

He seemed quite pleased to think that his
nephew was going to be married on his birthday.
He kissed the Bride affectionately, and there were
tears in his eyes as he did so. She was beautiful
and beautifully dressed in white and silver brocade
with large paniers—Ilarger than I have seen for a
long time. But her eyes, too, were filled with tears,
and Madame de Washington was crying aloud.
She looked magnificent, almost more so than the
Bride, in a soft dove-gray brocaded silk, with pink
bows—at least they looked pink to me, but per-
haps they were mauve—I really had no time to see
because all my attention was given to the Bride
and the Bridegroom. He looked so happy as he
looked at her.

A beautiful sermon was preached by the Curé
who married them. He said they ought to feel
very proud to be married from the house of Mon-
sieur de Washington, whose example they ought
always to follow. But it seemed to me that Mon-
sieur le Général was not pleased to hear himself
praised.

After the wedding ceremony was over, there

249
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

was a banquet. The health of the young couple
was drunk, and then the Bride threw herself first
in the arms of Monsieur le Général and then in the
arms of Madame de Washington. I could see at
once that she looks on them as father and mother.

There were a great variety of cakes and all
kinds of nice bonbons and confitures, and the feast
was very well-planned, and the house was beauti-
fully decorated with evergreens, and there were
big plants in the corners and garlands around the
pictures and mirrors. All this had been arranged
by Madame de Washington herself. She must be
a wonderful woman, and Monsieur le Général is a
wonderful man. It is not surprising that every-
body loves them both so much.

I am so tired that I can not write any more.
So, Revered Grandmother, let me commend my-
self to your kindness and indulgence and remain

Your always dutiful and humble grand-daugh-
ter,

ADRLATDE-ROSALIE.

5th March, 1799
REVERED GRANDMOTHER:
I want to tell you to-day something I think

will interest you very much.
250
 

MISS NELLIE CUSTIS WEDS

 

Last Tuesday as I was walking with Mistress
Nance we met Monsieur de Washington out riding
as usual, and, can you believe it, he recognized us
at once and stopped his horse to call us to him! Of
course I dropped my best curtsy, and he smiled
and said that I was a very polite little girl, to
which I replied that my Maman had taught me
one must always be civil, especially to one’s elders.

This made him smile again, and he asked where
my Maman was, and I replied that she was still
with some friends in Philadelphia, and that I was
staying with Mistress Nance who was very nice to
me, and that I had written my Maman all about
his kindness to me and how I had been present at
the wedding of Monsieur le Général’s nephew. He
then asked if I had enjoyed my stay in Mount
Vernon, and I replied that it had been wonderful
and that I should never forget it nor how happy
the Bride looked.

“And did you think I looked happy?” inquired
Monsieur le Général.

“Yes,” I replied, “and I think Monsieur le
Général is always happy when others are.”

“Oh, what a clever little girl you are!” he said
and, stooping down from his saddle, patted me on
the head. Then he said I must write to my

251
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Maman and tell her that, if she came to join me,
he hoped she would come to Mount Vernon to see
Mistress Washington and him.

And, Revered Grandmother, I was so happy,
and Mistress Nance said that I ought to be very
proud to have been told such nice things by such a
great man as Monsieur de Washington, and so I
thought I would write you all about it at once, for
fear I might forget some part of it.

Your humble and dutiful granddaughter,
ApfLADE-ROSALIE.
CHAPTER XVI
THE HERO PASSES AND THE CURTAIN FALLS

27th December, 1799
REVERED GRANDMOTHER:

It is not so long ago that I wrote to describe
the wedding of Monsieur de Washington's
nephew, and alas, alas, I never thought that so
soon after that happy day 1 would have to tell you
of the death of this good and great man! He
passed away on the 14th of December after an ill-
ness of only a day and a half. We haye all of us
been crying ever since, and at the funeral there
was not one dry eye among the thousands of
people who gathered to render him the last honors.

There were soldiers, but otherwise everything
was quite simple. We all felt as if we had lost a
father. Mistress Nance, Miss Elizabeth and I
have cried our eyes out. It seems impossible he
has left us.

Revered Grandmother, I commend myself to
your kindness and remain

Your dutiful and humble granddaughter,

ADpELAIDE-ROSALIE,
253
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

10th January, 1800
My pear MOTHER-IN-LAW:

Adélaide-Rosalie has written you of the mis-
fortune which has befallen this country in the loss
of General Washington. His end was peaceful,
but we all feel as if we had lost a father, and per-
sonally I have done nothing but cry ever since I
heard that all was over. Mistress Washington
bears up wonderfully under the circumstances,
but what her life will be without him is dreadful to
contemplate.

My everlasting regret will be that I did not see
this great man again, but for more than a year I
have been in New Orleans with the old lady who
hired me as her companion.” She took a liking to
me and would not let me leave. So I remained
with her, though unwillingly, but it enabled me to
send something to Mistress Nance for the main-
tenance of the children—a consolation for me in
my solitude and exile.

But at the beginning of last month, the old
lady, Madame de Thémieres, fell ill and died, and
it turned out that she left me ten thousand livres
in her will (or about that; of course it was in
American Money). I have made up my mind to
use it to return to France, as otherwise I fear I
shall never be able to do so.

254
 

THE CURTAIN FALLS

 

I shall now proceed to liquidate what is left of
Gaston’s business here and start as soon as pos-
sible afterward, hoping nothing will occur to pre-
vent us from landing at Bordeaux.

The children are quite impatient to be gone,
especially Pierre, now twenty-four years old and
eager to fight the enemies of France. He has
been doing good work on a farm here and been a
great help to me. All his earnings he has handed
over to Mistress Nance. She loves him so much
she says she won't know what to do without him,
and without us all, who have lived with her, or near
her, so many years.

But I feel that it is best for us to go home, and

with a grown-up son I think we shall be happier
in our own country. At times I have felt afraid
Pierre would like to settle here permanently, as he
is more like an American than a Frenchman. But
when I confided my anxiety to him, he replied that
he might have preferred America, if General
Washington had not died, but, with him gone, he
too believes that our place is in France near you.

It will be wonderful for you to find a big hand-
some man rushing to embrace you in place of the
little boy from whom you parted fifteen years ago!

And Marie is so pretty! You will be looking
out for a husband for her presently!

255
 

THEY KNEW THE WASHINGTONS

 

Adélaide-Rosalie you have never seen. I am
so glad to hear you liked her letters, which she was
so proud to be allowed to write to you.

I must here confide to you, my dear Mother-
in-Liaw, that I never told the children their father
had not sent me any money since he left us, be-
cause I did not want them to have evil thoughts of
him or believe him neglectful of us.. So what I
have earned myself I have allowed them to think
has been sent us by him, and please don’t ever let
them think anything else.

Please remember us in your prayers, especially
when we are at sea, and never forget, my dear
Mother-in-Law, that I am and always shall remain

Your very dutiful and affectionate daughter-
in-law, CHASTENAY MAUSSION.

P. S. I almost forgot to tell you that on my
way back from New Orleans I stopped at Phil-
adelphia to take leave of all our friends, but alas,
how many have died since the first time I was
there! It was a sad good-by because I knew very
well, and they knew too, we should never see each
other in this world again. Ab, if only I might take
a part of America with me to France, how beau-
tiful it would be!

THE END
 
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