“My eyes filled with tears and I could hardly speak, but managed to tell him that everybody had gone to Salisbury to see General Washington; and that I wanted to see him worst of all because in the picture of him in my red book one of his eyes was blue and the other brown, and I wanted to see if it was really true. The officers all laughed at this, but the leader raised his hand, and they did not say anything.
“‘But why did you not go, little maid?’ he asked.
“Then I hung my head, but at last blurted out, ‘Because I tried to bury John’s ten little biddies in the sand.’
“The men roared again at this; but the tall one said, ‘Did you not know that it was very wrong to hurt the little chicks?’
“I began to cry then, but the kind officer took me on his knee and kissed me.
“‘And now, my little maid,’ he said, ‘you may tell your mother that you did see General Washington and gave him the best breakfast he has had in a month. And you see, his eyes are neither brown nor blue, but gray.’
“And I looked into his kind face and saw that the red book was not even half right. Then Mammy Dilsie came in and courtesied to the floor when I told her who it was.
“The gentlemen patted me on the head, General Washington kissed me again, and they rode away.�