me I saw her, she had just
arrived from her home in New Orleans to be present at the argument
of one of her suits in the Supreme Court. She had already received
nearly six millions of dollars by successful litigation, and she
assured me that she intended to live one hundred years longer, if
necessary, to obtain her rights, and that she expected to recover every
dollar to which she was rightfully entitled. The air of confidence
with which she spoke, and the pluck manifested in her every word
and motion, convinced me at once that the only possible question
as to her ultimate success was that of time. And so indeed it
proved, for,

"When like a clock worn out with eating time,
The wheels of weary life at last stood still,"

numerous suits, in which she had been successful in the lower
courts, were still pending in the higher.

She told me with apparent satisfaction, during the interview, that
she could name over fifty lawyers who had been against her since
the beginning of her contest, all of whom were now in their graves.
Her litigation was the one absorbing thought of her life, her
one topic of conversation.

General Gaines had died many years before, and her legal battles,--
extending through several decades and against a host of adversaries,
--she had, with courage unfaltering and patience that knew no shadow
of weariness, prosecuted single-handed and alone.

In view of the enormous sums involved, the length of time consumed
in the litigation, the number and ability of counsel engaged,
and the antagonisms engendered, the records of our American courts
will be searched in vain for a parallel to the once famous suit of
Myra Clark Gaines against the city of New Orleans.

At the close of this interview, I was soon in conversation with
the older of the two ladies. Mrs. Eaton was then near the close
of an eventful life, one indeed without an approximate parallel in
our history. Four score years ago, there were few persons in
the village of Washington to whom "Peggy O'Neal" was a stranger.
Her father was the proprietor of a well-known, old-style tavern on
Pennsylvania Avenue, which, during the sessions of Congress,
included among its guests many of the leading statesmen of that day.
Of this number were Benton, Randolph, Eaton, Grundy, and others
equally well known. The daughter, a girl of rare beauty, on account
of her vivacity and grace soon became a great favorite with all.
She was without question one of