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176 accompanied her father five hundred miles on horseback. The wife of another member not only rode fifteen hundred miles on horseback, but passed through several Indian settlements, sleeping for many nights in a tent in the woods. Mrs. Madison herself had travelled from her Virginia home by easy stages, cumbered with household furniture, and stopping on the road to visit relatives; occupying what seems to us at this day an incredible length of time to perform such a journey. Her house, after the President's, was the resort of most company, and the cordial manners of the hostess lent a peculiar charm to the frequent parties there assembled.

Political feuds ran high, and party spirit was more virulent than ever before experienced. Washington's administration had been a success, and in the eyes of the public, he was not included in any party, but was above them all. Yet he placed himself, when the question was of a political order, under the banner of the federal party, and was the declared advocate of the unity and force of the central power. He insured its triumph during his two terms, and let his mantle descend upon one of his most attached friends. The democratic party, desiring the rule of the majority, opposed to the preponderance of the higher classes, and to aristocratic tendencies, overcame the successor of Washington, who was defeated by Mr. Jefferson, the leader of the opposition. At the commencement of this era, Mrs. Madison appeared upon the scene, and gave to her husband that support which enhanced his popularity as a public man.