clothing himself and
family, were imported from England. With this exception, the linen and
woollen cloths used were made by hand on his own plantation. Sixteen
spinning-wheels were kept in operation.

Mrs. Washington took her position in this immense establishment as
mistress, proving that her accomplishments and education under the
influence of wealth did not make her vain and aristocratic. Unlike many
planters' wives of that day, she did not consider that labor was
degrading. She was provided with all the servants necessary, but she
relinquished to no one, however competent, the oversight of her
household affairs. "Carrying her keys at her side, and making frequent
visits to the various apartments connected with the elaborate
arrangements of the table and its 'aids and appliances,' the spotless
purity of her attire always remained unsullied by her active
participation in the mysteries of each and all." Neatness, order, and
industry characterized her in the house, as they did her husband on the
farm.

That great care and responsibility must have devolved upon Mrs.
Washington, appears from Irving's description of a Virginia estate.

"A large Virginia estate in those days was a little empire," he says.
"The mansion-house was the seat of government, with its numerous
dependencies, such as kitchens, smoke-house, work-shops, and stables.
In this mansion the planter moved supreme; his steward, or overseer, was
his prime minister and executive officer; he had his legion of house
negroes for domestic service, and his host of field negroes for the
culture of tobacco, Indian corn, and other crops, and for other
out-of-door labor. Their quarter formed a kind of hamlet apart, composed
of various huts, with little gardens and poultry yards, all well
stocked, and swarms of little negroes gambolling in the sunshine. Then
there were large wooden edifices for curing tobacco, the staple and most
profitable production, and mills for grinding wheat and Indian corn, of
which large fields were cultivated for the supply of the family and the
maintenance of the negroes."

At the same time that Mrs. Washington had to preside over the farm-house
for the sake of the one thousand souls on the large estate, she was
obliged to conduct her domestic affairs in a costly and fashionable way
for the sake of her guests. Her wardrobe, furniture, and preparations
for special occasions were necessarily elaborate and expensive, for her
mansion was the