f the time within twenty or thirty miles of
her residence, she not only had constant communication in person and by
letter with him, but frequently entertained at her house many of his
military friends. General Washington himself, with whom she had been on
terms of friendship since 1775, visited her at different times at her
home in Hackettstown. Mrs. Washington also was several times the guest
of Mrs. Wilson, both at her own house and at that of her father at
Landsdown. Such was the liberality of Mrs. Wilson's patriotism that her
gates on the public road bore in conspicuous characters the inscription,
"Hospitality within to all American officers, and refreshment for their
soldiers," an invitation which, on the regular route of communication
between the northern and southern posts of the army, was often accepted.

The hospitality which Mrs. Wilson had the privilege of extending to
illustrious guests was returned by marked attentions to her daughter and
only child, on her entrance into society in Philadelphia during the
presidency of Washington. Mrs. Wilson was the object of much devotion on
her own account at the capital, where her appearance was thus described
by a lady of Philadelphia in a letter to a friend: "Mrs. Wilson looked
charmingly this evening in a Brunswick robe of striped muslin, trimmed
with spotted lawn; a beautiful handkerchief gracefully arranged at her
neck; her hair becomingly craped and thrown into curls under a very
elegant white bonnet, with green-leafed band, worn on one side." At the
same time the debutante daughter, Margaretta Wilson, became a favorite
with Mrs. Washington, who distinguished her with courtesies rarely shown
to persons of her age. A contemporary letter describes her appearance at
a drawing-room given by the President and Mrs. Washington: "Miss Wilson
looked beautifully last night. She was in full dress, yet in elegant
simplicity. She wore book muslin over white mantua, trimmed with broad
lace round the neck; half sleeves of the same, also trimmed with lace;
with white satin sash and slippers; her hair elegantly dressed in curls,
without flowers, feathers or jewelry. Mrs. Moylan told me she was the
handsomest person at the drawing room, and more admired than anyone
there."[73]

Such was the belle whom John Myer Bowers carried away as his bride to
the wilds of Otsego, where, shortly afterward, at Lakelands, her mother
also came to dwell. These two ladies, with their unusual experie