Standing on his front porch, Dr. McCabe, the town's Mayor, delivered
an address of welcome to which Lafayette responded. Across the street
at Osborne's Hotel[28] a reception was tendered him, after which the
distinguished visitor was driven through the principal streets of the
town. On reaching the court-house square, then, as now, a large
inclosure shaded by giant trees, Lafayette, on alighting from the
coach, kissed a tiny maiden upheld in the arms of her negro nurse. The
little girl was Mrs. Wildman, who after reaching a venerable age
departed this life in the summer of 1901.

[Footnote 28: A fine stone mansion, still standing, and the residence
of the late Colonel John H. Alexander, during his lifetime one of the
foremost lawyers of the State.]

Lafayette passed up an avenue formed on the right by boys and girls
and the young ladies of Leesburg Female Academy, and on the left by
the youths of the Leesburg Institute. The former wore white, with blue
sashes, and their heads were tastefully adorned with evergreens. They
held sprigs of laurel with which they strewed the great guest's
pathway. The lads wore red sashes and white and black cockades.

One of them pronounced an address of welcome, and was amply rewarded
by a grasp of the hero's hand. As Lafayette ascended the portico of
the court-house a little girl stepped forward, holding a wreath of
laurel, and said:

Hail Patriot, Statesman, Hero, Sage!
Hail Freedom's friend, hail Gallia's son,
Whose laurels greener grow in age,
Plucked by the side of Washington.

Hail, champion in a holy cause,
When hostile bands our shores beset;
Whose valor made the oppressor pause,
Hail, holy warrior, Lafayette?

She, too, was honored by a grasp of Lafayette's hand as well as a
kiss. After an oration by Ludwell Lee, the distinguished party
returned to the hotel where they were entertained by a delegation of
the ladies of the village, while another delegation superintended the
spreading of a banquet on court-house square. Two hundred persons
participated in this banquet. The numerous toasts were remarkable for
loftiness of thought and elegance of diction. President Adams launched
the following sentiment:

"The living records of the war of Independence like the prophetic
books of the Sibyl, increasing in value as they diminish in numbers."

Lafayette toasted General Bolivar, "who has felt true patriotism, and
understood true glory." A