MEMOIRS

OF THE

MOTHER AND WIFE

OF

WASHINGTON.

BY

MARGARET C. CONKLING,

AUTHOR OF HARPERS' TRANSLATION OF "FLORIAN'S HISTORY OF THE
MOORS OF SPAIN;" "ISABEL, OR TRIALS OF THE HEART;"

ETC., ETC.

"Of differing themes the veering song was mix'd"

"To teach us how divine a thing,

A woman may be made."

TOR LIBRAR

NEW-YORK

NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.

AUBURN AND BUFFALO:

MILLER, ORTON & MULLIGAN.
1854.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by

DERBY, MILLER, AND COMPANY,

in the Clerk's Office for the Northern District of New York.

ΤΟ

MRS. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO HER MANY VIRTUES,

AND

IN TOKEN OF HIGH REGARD,

THIS VOLUME

IS VERY RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

THANKS for the picture of thy daily life-
Thy bright example, Daughter, Mother, Wife!
The watchful care that cheers thy sire's decline,
As a lone shaft's long shielded by a vine,
A gentle, holy lesson, graven deep,

Thy daughter, cherished in her heart, will keep;
Thy couch of suffering she'll bend above,

And soothe thee, ever, with devoted love.
Constant to thee, thy sons will crown thy days
With reverence, heart-felt blessings, fondest praise;
And HE, still proving the truest of friends,
The homage of whose faith on thee attends,
Wherever tossed 'mid life's tumultuous jar,
E'er turn to thee, his fixed, his guiding star,
And in thy smile benign, confiding seek
The peace, the happiness, thy prayers bespeak!—
When thou in Heaven dost fold thy spirit-wing,
Around thy name will sweetest memories cling,
Eoft as the balmy breath of fragrance cast
On earthly bowers, where Peri's wing has pass'd,

Or radiance ling'ring round the glowing West,
When day serene has gently sunk to rest!

Long may Columbia's Daughters thus portray
The lofty virtue of her earlier day!-

And may the blessings of thy heart and hearth
Change but for those of bright, empyreal birth!

Melrose, January 1st, 1850.

M. C. U.