ad.

"Tis well," said she; "all is now over; I shall soon follow him; I have
no more trials to pass through."

Washington died on December 14, 1799, in his sixty-eighth year. All his
neighbors and relatives assembled to attend his funeral; the militia and
Freemasons of Alexandria were present; eleven pieces of artillery were
brought to Mount Vernon to do military honors, and a schooner which lay
in the Potomac fired minute guns. Washington's horse, with saddle,
holster, and pistols, was led before the coffin by two grooms dressed in
black. The body was deposited in the old family vault, after short and
simple ceremonies. Washington was deeply mourned all over the United
States, for never had a man been so beloved by his own countrymen.

Washington left all of his estates to his wife for life; after her death
they were to be divided between his nephews and nieces, and Mrs.
Washington's grandchildren. He made his nephew, Bushrod Washington, his
principal heir, leaving Mount Vernon to him. He said that he did this
partly because he had promised the young man's father, his brother, John
Augustine, when they were bachelors, to leave Mount Vernon to him in
case he should fall in the French war. He willed that all his negro
slaves should be set free on the death of his wife. He said that he
earnestly wished that it might be done before this, but he feared it
would cause trouble on account of their intermarriages with the dower
negroes who came to Mrs. Washington from her first husband, and whom he
had no right to free. He willed also that such should be comfortably
clothed and fed by his heirs. To his five nephews he left his swords,
with the injunction that they were "not to unsheath them for the purpose
of shedding blood, except it be in self-defense, or in defense of their
country and its rights; and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed,
and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment
thereof."

Washington's life is an open book. He knew that he was making history,
and he kept careful copies of all his most important letters and
writings, so that it is impossible that there should be doubts on any
very important point. So jealous was he of his own honorable reputation,
that his last act as President was to file a denial of the authenticity
of some spurious letters which were attributed to him by his political
enemies. These letters were first published during the Revolution by the
English, and pu