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Rh had adorned. It was a spectacle of wonder to Europeans to see this great man calmly resigning the power which had been committed to his hands and returning with delight to his agricultural pursuits. His wife could justly claim her share in the admiration, for she quitted without regret the elevated scenes in which she had shone so conspicuously to enter with the same active interest as before upon her domestic employments. Her advanced age did not impair her ability nor her inclination to discharge housewifely duties. But she was not long permitted to enjoy the happiness she had anticipated. It was hers too soon to join in the grief of a mourning nation for the death of Washington—its great Chief and President—her husband. From all quarters came tributes of sympathy and sorrow, and many visits of condolence were paid by the President and others to her in her bereavement, but in less than two years she was attacked by a fever that proved fatal. When aware that her hour was approaching, she called her grandchildren to her bedside, discoursed to them on their respective duties; spoke of the happy influence of religion, and then, surrounded by her weeping family, died as she had lived—bravely and without regret. Her death took place on the 22nd of May, 1802. Her remains rest in the same vault with those of Washington in the family tomb at Mount Vernon.

Among the intimate friends of "Nellie Custis" was Mary A. Sitgreaves, the second daughter of Colonel Daniel Kemper of the Revolutionary Army. She was born in New York, April 1774. During the occupation of New York by the British, her father removed to Morristown, New Jersey. The headquarters of General Washington were in the neighborhood and through her frequent visits to the camp Miss Kemper became an intimate friend of Mrs. Washington. During a visit to her uncle, Dr. David Jackson of Philadelphia, she met in the drawing-room of the President Honorable Samuel Sitgreaves, a member of Congress, and they were married June, 1796.