same age as Washington within three months. Her husband had died seven
months before. In Washington's cash-account for May, Seventeen Hundred
Fifty-eight, is an item, "one Engagement Ring £2.16.0."

The happy couple were married eight months later, and we find Mrs.
Washington explaining to a friend that her reason for the somewhat hasty
union was that her estate was getting in a bad way and a man was needed to
look after it. Our actions are usually right, but the reasons we give
seldom are; but in this case no doubt "a man was needed," for the widow
had much property, and we can not but congratulate Martha Custis on her
choice of "a man." She owned fifteen thousand acres of land, many lots in
the city of Williamsburg, two hundred negroes, and some money on bond; all
the property being worth over one hundred thousand dollars--a very large
amount for those days. Directly after the wedding, the couple moved to
Mount Vernon, taking a good many of the slaves with them. Shortly after,
arrangements were under way to rebuild the house, and the plans that
finally developed into the present mansion were begun.

Washington's letters and diary contain very few references to his wife,
and none of the many visitors to Mount Vernon took pains to testify either
to her wit or to her intellect. We know that the housekeeping at Mount
Vernon proved too much for her ability, and that a woman was hired to
oversee the household. And in this reference a complaint is found from the
General that "housekeeper has done gone and left things in confusion." He
had his troubles.

Martha's education was not equal to writing a presentable letter, for we
find that her husband wrote the first draft of all important missives that
it was necessary for her to send, and she copied them even to his mistakes
in spelling. Very patient was he about this, and even when he was