Washington had always, his rebuffs to the contrary nevertheless, flattered himself that he could "get along" with the ladies. There was never a moment that some "Faire Mayde" was not well to the fore, and it is known that he offered his heart and sword to three,—Mary Cary, Lucy Grymes, and Mary Philipse. With the latter he acknowledged that he had been too hasty. He thought things might have resulted differently if he had "waited until ye ladye was in ye mood."
Two years later he repeated his imprudence. Mr. Tony Weller had not then been born, and there was nobody to bid him beware. He paid an afternoon call, fell in love in an hour, and stayed on and on until he was accepted. In a few days we find this entry in his cash account, "One Engagement Ring, £2, 16s., 0d."
Mrs. Custis felt a little shy in announcing so hasty an engagement to her friends, "My dear, the truth is my estate is getting in a bad way, and I need a man to look after it."
The estate was large. She owned fifteen thousand acres of land, many city lots, two hundred negroes, and money besides,—a great fortune in colonial days. He had just returned from a brilliant campaign; was gallant, young, and handsome; was just elected member of the House of Burgesses; and was master of a fair domain on the right bank of the Potomac, and so "ye ladye" found herself "in ye mood."
When he married the beautiful, rich widow, his mother was exultant. Now he was safe! All the killing and fighting were over and done with. He was to live near her at Mount Vernon. She was now fifty-two years old, and was going to enjoy a serene and happy old age at last. She wrote her brother, "I have had a great deal of trouble about George, but it is all over now."
St. Peter's Church, in which George Washington was married.
She had a long season of busy home life, happy when she might be in the happiness of her children. Her warrior son was behaving at last as became a dignified country gentleman. But Fate was only preparing him for future greatness. In the administration of his large estate, and in the county and provincial business, he was acquiring the rare skill in reading and managing men, for which he became so remarkable. But of this he was totally unconscious. He had small ambitions. He was proposing himself to the electors of Frederick County, having "an easy and creditable Poll," cheerfully paying his self-imposed assessment of thirty-nine pounds and ten shillings besides "cyder and dinner" for his constituency. He was attending the Annapolis races; going down to Williamsburg for the assembly with Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis; loading his wagons to provision his family and Colonel Bassett's on a visit "to try the waters of the warm springs," much exercised lest Jack Custis were premature in winning the affections of Miss Calvert (for Jack was only eighteen, had been "fickle, and might wound the young lady"); nay, he was beating his sword into a ploughshare, his spear into a pruning-hook, planting May-Duke cherries and guelder-roses, and lamenting "Rust in the wheat and Drought in the Corn crop." Moreover, he was writing letters to England, giving orders for all sorts of foreign elegancies, for his own wear and that of Madam Washington and her children. Let us copy a summer order sent to London in 1761.