Spangled Banner” was rendered with impressive effect. The steamer then came to a standstill, and boats were lowered. Into the first the Queen entered; and the whole party disembarked, occupying in all five boats in their transportation ashore. There was but one vehicle at the boat-landing, into which those of us who wished to ride entered, and the party was conveyed to the mansion house.
On arriving we were requested to register our names in the book kept for that purpose in the great central hall; from there we were conducted to the banquet hall, passing through a smaller room where there was a little, old-fashioned square piano, said to have been the property of General Washington.
The rooms which had been used by General Washington, General Lafayette, and by Martha Washington were opened to us; and we were permitted to enter, and, further, to pause in the lady’s bedroom to listen to the story of her constancy to the memory of her husband, whose grave she watched, as she sat daily at her window, from the day of his interment to. that of her own death. This story, with the scene of its happening around me as I listened, was most touching to my heart; the simple four-posted, old-fashioned bedstead, with its chintz curtains, the arm-chair with valance and chintz-covering, the well-worn steps descending to a lower floor,—these homely souvenirs all spoke to me of the sister woman who had sat and reflected over the loss of that heroic life which it was her privilege to share, and rendered the visit almost too sadly interesting for the accompaniment of a pleasure tour. Why
