me within the dawn of
candlelight; previous to which, if not prevented by company, I resolve
that, as soon as the glimmering taper supplies the place of the great
luminary, I will retire to my writing-table and acknowledge the letters
I have received; but, when the lights are brought, I feel tired, and
disinclined to engage in this work, conceiving that the next will do as
well. The next night comes, and with it the same causes for
postponement, and so on.

"This will account for your letters remaining so long unacknowledged;
and, having given you the history of a day, it will serve for a year,
and I am persuaded you will not require a second edition of it. But it
may strike you that, in this detail, no mention is made of any portion
of time allotted for reading. The remark would be just, for I have not
looked into a book since I came home; nor shall I be able to do it until
I have discharged my workmen, probably not before the nights grow
longer, when possibly I may be looking in Doomsday-Book."

Washington soon became wearied with the continual visits of strangers,
to which he alluded in his letter to Mr. M'Henry, and he resolved to
adopt some plan of relief that should be consistent with the most
genuine hospitality. He had an accomplished and favorite nephew,
Lawrence Lewis, son of his sister Elizabeth. He invited him to make
Mount Vernon his home, and to assume the duties of entertainer of
company when the master should desire repose. "As both your aunt and I,"
he said, in his letter of invitation, "are in the decline of life, and
regular in our habits, especially in our hours of rising and going to
bed, I require some person (fit and proper) to ease me of the trouble of
entertaining company, particularly of nights, as it is my inclination to
retire (and, unless prevented by very particular company, I always do
retire), either to bed or to my study, soon after candlelight. In
taking those duties (which hospitality obliges me to bestow on company)
off my hands, it would render me a very acceptable service."[122]

Young Lewis accepted his uncle's invitation with pleasure, for he loved
the society of such as he knew he should meet at Mount Vernon. There was
also a charmer there for young men, in the person of Nelly Custis, a
gay, beautiful, and accomplished girl of eighteen years, who was the
life of a social party, and a beam of sunshine in the family circle. As
his adopted daughter, Washington had watched over he