The meal dispensed, Mrs. Washington retires to appear at
her flower beds or in her parlor to receive her morning calls. Colfax,
the captain of the life-guard, enters to receive the orders of the
day--perhaps a horse and guard for Washington to visit New Windsor,
or a barge for Fishkill or West Point, is required; or it may be
Washington remains at home and at his writing desk conducts his
correspondence, or dictates orders for army movements. The old
arm-chair, sitting in the corner yonder, is still ready for its former
occupant.
"The dinner hour of five o'clock approaches; the guests of the day
have already arrived. Steuben, the iron drill-master and German
soldier of fortune, converses with Mrs. Washington. He had reduced
the simple marksmen of Bunker Hill to the discipline of the armies
of Europe and tested their efficiency in the din of battle. He has
leisure now, and scarcely knows how to find employment for his active
mind. He is telling his hostess, in broken German-English, of the
whale (it proved to be an eel) he had caught in the river. Hear his
hostess laugh! And that is the voice of Lafayette, relating perhaps
his adventures in escaping from France, or his mishap in attempting
to attend Mrs.
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