ne find a more ideal
illustration of the place home and family ties should supply as an
alleviation for the turmoils and disappointments of public life."[106]

There are scores of others--Mercy Warren, Mrs. Knox, and women of their
type--whose benign influence in the colonial home could be cited. One
could scarcely overestimate the value of the loving care, forethought,
and sympathy of those wives and mothers of long ago; for if all were
known,--and we should be happy that in those days some phases of home
life were considered too sacred to be revealed--perhaps we should
conclude that the achievements of those famous founders of this nation
were due as much to their wives as to their own native powers. The
charming mingling of simplicity and dignity is a trait of those women
that has often been noted; they lived such heroic lives with such
unconscious patience and valor. For instance, hear the description of
Mrs. Washington as given by one of the ladies at the camp of
Morristown;--with what simplicity of manner the first lady of the land
aided in a time of distress:

"Well, I will honestly tell you, I never was so ashamed in all my
life. You see, Madame ----, and Madame ----, and Madame Budd, and
myself thought we would visit Lady Washington, and as she was
said to be so grand a lady, we thought we must put on our best
bibbs and bands. So we dressed ourselfes in our most elegant
ruffles and silks, and were introduced to her ladyship. And don't
you think we found her _knitting and with a speckled (check)
apron on!_ She received us very graciously, and easily, but after
the compliments were over, she resumed her knitting. There we
were without a stitch of work, and sitting in State, but General
Washington's lady with her own hands was knitting stockings for
herself and husband!"

"And that was not all. In the afternoon her ladyship took
occasion to say, in a way that we could not be offended at, that
it was very important, at this time, that American ladies should
be patterns of industry to their countrywomen, because the
separation from the mother country will dry up the sources whence
many of our comforts have been derived. We must become
independent by our determination to do without what we cannot
make ourselves. Whilst our husbands and brothers are examples of
patriotism, we must be patterns of industry."[107]