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262 Among the noted women of Kentucky, whose beauty and influence became world-wide, none was more entitled to distinction than Miss Sallie Ward, of Louisville, Kentucky. The high position of her family, her marvelous personal beauty and fascination of manner, placed her even in her youth among the conspicuously observed wherever she went. Her ancestors came of old Huguenot stock who had fled from France, bringing to the southern states some of the best blood which was infused into our young nation. Major Mattheus Flournoy served with distinction in the war of the revolution. Afterwards he purchased a country seat in Scot County, Kentucky, where Sallie Ward was born. Her father, Honorable Robert J. Ward, was a man possessed of the highest intellectual qualities and of that high standard of justice and moral integrity which secured for him lasting friendships. At twenty-eight he was elected speaker of the Kentucky Assembly. Mrs. Ward was one of the most remarkable women of the day, distinguished for her personal loveliness and intellectual gifts. To their daughter, Sallie, they gave every advantage of education and moral training, and while reared in the lap of luxury, enjoying everything which wealth could bestow, receiving from society the most flattering homage, Sallie Ward was unspoiled by adulation and grew up an amiable, gracious, attractive woman, well developed in mind and principles. She possessed a remarkable memory and quick perception, which enabled her to acquire foreign languages with readiness. A talented musician and possessing every accomplishment which could add to her natural charms. Every one in Kentucky seemed to take a pride in her loveliness and the fact that she was a native of their state. She was always interested in the various enterprises, patriotic and municipal. White Sulphur Springs, the noted resort of Virginia, has many legends of her beauty and charm. Statesmen, soldiers, foreign diplomats followed in her train but she gave her hand to Dr. Hart, of New Orleans, and in this city she and her husband established a magnificent home, where her sway continued. In her domestic life Mrs. Hart displayed the noble gifts of her true nature. She had but one child—a son—and after her husband's death she devoted herself to the education and rearing of this boy. Perhaps in the United States there has been no woman so flattered and courted, and the fact that she retained the pure simplicity of her haracter unimpaired, argues a truly elevated mind.

One of the most distinguished and charming women, who gave dignity elegance and grace to the social circles of Washington City, was the wife of General Van Ness. She was the daughter of David Burns of excellent family who had inherited a fine estate near the Potomac in the District of Columbia and held the office of civil magistrate. The building now owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the building of the American Republics are now situated where was once the magnificent home and estate of General Van Ness. The seat of National Government was removed to Washington, in May, 1802. Miss Burns had returned home from school in 1800, not long before her father's