Though neither of these women exercised any formative effect upon the American woman of the present, they were typical of a certain class of perverted femininity, and remarkable in their resemblance to later idols of their kind, and are thus worthy of chronicle. They are well cleared from our way, however, and we may turn to more pleasant themes in the story of the truer representatives of American womanhood of the mid-eighteenth century.
The name of one--the first in many ways--of these representatives will involuntarily rise to the thought, if not to the lips, of every reader of this book,--the name of Mary Washington, the mother of him who is still generally regarded as the greatest of Americans. It may be that the fame of Mary Washington is vicarious, that it rests entirely upon the character and exploits of her great son; but this, as with most of the verdicts of history, is not well deserved. The greatness of George Washington may not be called in question; but it is no treason to assert--he would have been the first to acknowledge--that the foundations of that greatness, both of character and achievement, were the handiwork of his mother. She was herself great in all the qualities that make for grandeur in womanhood. Here is what is said of her by one of her biographers:
"She was remarkable for vigor of intellect, strength of resolution, and inflexible firmness wherever principle was concerned. Devoted to the education of her children, her parental government and guidance have been described by those who knew her as admirably adapted to train the youthful mind to wisdom and virtue. With her, affection was regulated by a calm and just judgment. She was distinguished, moreover, by that well marked quality of genius, a power of acquiring and maintaining influence over those with whom she associated. Without inquiring into the philosophy of this mysterious ascendancy, she was content to employ it for the noblest ends. It contributed, no doubt, to deepen the effect of her instructions."
This is critical rather than enthusiastic praise, and therefore the more worthy to be trusted. Nor are all Mrs. Washington's virtues here set down. She was a woman of exemplary piety of the good old quietist school; she was religious without being theological. She was a notable housewife and manager, and she earned the fine old title of "lady" by being indeed an almsgiver, though her lack of wealth limited her power in this respect. Her already quoted biographer, in her somewhat stilted but earnest language, says: "Her charity to the poor was well known; and having not wealth to distribute, it was necessary that what her benevolence dispensed should be supplied by domestic economy and industry. How peculiar a grace," adds our biographer, with well modulated enthusiasm, "does this impart to the benefits flowing from a sympathizing heart!"
La Fayette said of Madam Washington that she belonged to the times of Sparta and ancient Rome rather than to those of his own day; and Mrs. Sigourney, whose fame as a poet has now failed, but who once was held in high esteem, thus wrote on the occasion of laying the cornerstone for the monument erected at Fredericksburg:
"Methinks we see thee, as in olden times,
Simple in garb, majestic and serene,
Unawed by 'pomp and circumstance' in truth
Inflexible and with a Spartan zeal
Repressing vice and making folly grave.