of culture and accomplishments, spurred
forward to the rescue. As he did so he saw another horseman put his
horse from a trot to a gallop, and together they reached the scene of
action, extricated the woman and revived her from her swoon with water
from a brook; then righted the horse and chaise, helped to restore the
half-ton of baggage to its place; learned the story of the couple--a New
Englander returning home with his Southern bride--and saw them safely
started again. Then the two rescuers, after their half-hour of
perspiring toil in a broiling sun, addressed themselves courteously to
each other; the Virginian dusted the coat of the Englishman, and as Mr.
Bernard returned the favor he noticed him well,--"a tall, erect,
well-made man, evidently advanced in years, but who appeared to have
retained all the vigor and elasticity resulting from a life of
temperance and exercise. His dress was a blue coat, buttoned to the
chin, and buckskin breeches." The two men eyed each other, half
recognizing, half perplexed, till with a smile the Virginian exclaimed,
"Mr. Bernard, I believe?" and, claiming acquaintance from having seen
him on the stage and heard of him from friends, invited him to come and
rest at his house near by, to which he pointed. That familiar front, the
now wholly familiar face and form,--"Mount Vernon! Have I the honor of
addressing General Washington?" With a charming smile Washington offered
his hand, replying, "An odd sort of introduction, Mr. Bernard; but I am
pleased to find you can play so active a part in private and without a
prompter." There followed a long and leisurely call at Mount Vernon, and
Bernard, in his volume of travels which did not see the light for nearly
a century, has given a most graphic and winning picture of Washington in
his every-day aspect and familiar conversation. To the actor's keen eye,
acquainted with the best society of his time, the near approach showed
no derogation from the greatness which the story of his deeds conveyed.
"Whether you surveyed his face, open yet well defined, dignified but not
arrogant, thoughtful but benign; his frame, towering and muscular, but
alert from its good proportions--every feature suggested a resemblance
to the spirit it encased, and showed simplicity in alliance with the
sublime. The impression, therefore, was that of a most perfect whole."

The talk ran a various course. Washington incidentally praised the New
Englanders, "the stamina of th