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"'We spend our years as a tale that is told,'" Jack wrote fromPhiladelphia to his wife in Albany on the thirtieth of June, 1787:"Dear Margaret, we thought that the story was ended when Washingtonwon. Five years have passed, as a watch in the night, and the mostimpressive details are just now falling out. You recall our curiosityabout Henry Thornhill? When stopping at Kinderhook I learned that theonly man of that name who had lived there had been lying in his gravethese twenty years. He was one of the first dreamers about Liberty.What think you of that? I, for one, can not believe that the man I sawwas an impostor. Was he an angel like those who visited the prophets?Who shall say? Naturally, I think often of the look of him and of hissudden disappearance in that Highland road. And, looking back atThornhill, this thought comes to me: Who can tell how many angels hehas met in the way of life all unaware of the high commission of hisvisitor?
"On my westward trip I found that the Indians who once dwelt in TheLong House were scattered. Only a tattered remnant remains. Near oldFort Johnson I saw a squaw sitting in her blanket. Her face waswrinkled with age and hardship. Her eyes were nearly blind. She heldin her withered hands the ragged, moth eaten tail of a gray wolf. Iasked her why she kept the shabby thing.
"'Because of the hand that gave it,' she answered in English. 'I shalltake it with me to The Happy Hunting-Grounds. When he sees it he willknow me.'
"So quickly the beautiful Little White Birch had faded.
"At Mount Vernon, Washington was as dignified as ever but not so grave.He almost joked when he spoke of the sculptors and portrait painterswho have been a great bother to him since the war ended.
"'Now no dray horse moves more readily to the thill than I to thepainter's chair," he said.
"When I arrived the family was going in to dinner and they waited untilI could make myself ready to join them. The jocular Light Horse HarryLee was there. His anecdotes delighted the great man. I had neverseen G. W. in better humor. A singularly pleasant smile lighted hiswhole countenance. I can never forget the gentle note in his voice andhis dignified bearing. It was the same whether he were addressing hisguests or his family. The servants watched him closely. A look seemedto be enough to indicate his wishes. The faithful Billy was always athis side. I have never seen a sweeter atmosphere in any home. We satan hour at the table after the family had retired from it. In speakingof his daily life he said:
"'I ride around my farms until it is time to dress for dinner, when Irarely miss seeing strange faces, come, as they say, out of respect forme. Perhaps the word curiosity would better describe the cause of it.The usual time of sitting at table brings me to candle-light when I tryto answer my letters.'
"He had much to say on his favorite theme, viz.: the settling of theimmense interior and bringing its trade to the Atlantic cities.
"I was coughing with a severe cold. He urged me to take some remedieswhich he had in the house, but I refused them.
"He went to his office while Lee and I sat down together. The lattertold me of a movement in the army led by Colonel Nichola to makeWashington king of America. He had seen Washington's answer to theletter of the Colonel. It was as follows:
"'Be assured, sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given mesensations more painful than your information of there being such ideasin the army as those you have imparted to me and I must view them withabhorrence and reprehend them with severity. I am much at a loss toconceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to anaddress which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs which couldbefall my country.'
"Is it not a sublime and wonderful thing, dear Margaret, that all ourleaders, save one, have been men as incorruptible as Stephen and Peterand Paul?
"When I went to bed my cough became more troublesome. After it hadgone on for half an hour or so my door was gently opened and I observedthe glow of a candle. On drawing my bed curtains I saw, to my utterastonishment, Washington standing at my side with a bowl of hot tea inhis hand. It embarrassed me to be thus waited on by a man of hisgreatness.
"We set out next morning for Philadelphia to attend the Convention,Washington riding in his coach drawn by six horses, I riding theblaze-faced mare of destiny, still as sweet and strong as ever. A slowjourney it was over the old road by Calvert's to Annapolis,Chestertown, and so on to the north.
"I found Franklin sitting under a tree in his dooryard, surrounded byhis grandchildren. He looks very white and venerable now. His hair isa crown of glory."
Ben Franklin, surrounded by his grandchildren.]
"'Well, Jack, it has been no small part of my life-work to get youhappily married,' he began in his playful way. 'A celibate is like theodd half of a pair of scissors, fit only to scrape a trencher. Howmany babies have you?'
"'Three,' I answered.
"'It is not half enough,' said he. 'A patriotic American should haveat least ten children. I must not forget to say to you what I say toevery young man. Always treat your wife with respect. It will procurerespect for you not only from her, but from all who observe it. Neveruse a slighting word.'
"My beloved, how little I need this advice you know, but I think thatthe old philosopher never made a wiser observation. I am convincedthat civilization itself depends largely on the respect that men feeland show for women.
"I asked about his health.
"'I am weary and the night is falling and I shall soon lie down tosleep, but I know that I shall awake refreshed in the morning,' he said.
"He told me how, distressed by his infirmity, he came out of France inthe Queen's litter, carried by her magnificent mules. Of England hehad only this to say:
"'She is doing wrong in discouraging emigration to America. Emigrationmultiplies a nation. She should be represented in the growth of theNew World by men who have a voice in its government. By this fairmeans she could repossess it instead of leaving it to foreigners, ofall nations, who may drown and stifle sympathy for the mother land. Itis now a fact that Irish emigrants and their children are in possessionof the government of Pennsylvania.'
"I must not fail to set down here in the hope that my sons may sometime read it, what he said to me of the treason of Arnold.
"'Here is the vindication of Poor Richard. Extravagance is not the wayto self-satisfaction. The man who does not keep his feet in the old,honest way of thrift will some time sell himself, and then he will beready to sell his friends or his country. By and by nothing is so dearto him as thirty pieces of silver.'
"I shall conclude my letter with a beautiful confession of faith bythis master mind of the century. It was made on the motion for dailyprayers in the Convention now drafting a constitution for the States.I shall never forget the look of him as, standing on the lonely summitof his eighty years, he said to us:
"'In the beginning of our contest with Britain when we were sensible ofdanger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Ourprayers, sirs, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of uswho were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instancesof a directing Providence in our affairs. And have we forgotten thatpowerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need Hisassistance? I have lived, sirs, a long time and the longer I live themore convincing proof I see of this truth that God governs in theaffairs of men. And if a sparrow can not fall to the ground withoutHis notice is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? Wehave been assured, sirs, that except the Lord build the house theylabor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this and I also believethat without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this politicalstructure no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided andconfounded and we ourselves become a reproach and a byword down tofuture ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter despair ofestablishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war andconquest.'
"Dear Margaret, you and I who have been a part of the great story knowfull well that in these words of our noble friend is the conc
lusion ofthe whole matter."
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