hich relieved
me from much of my embarrassment by making me feel instinctively that
nobody would take unpleasant notice of it. Still, that first dinner was
a trial to my nerves, though I do not remember that the trial interfered
with my appetite. It was served, of course, in courses, beginning with
soup and ending with fruit. Most of the dishes, as I afterwards learned,
were the produce of the farm, and they certainly bore good witness to
the farmer's judgment and skill. The General was a hearty eater, as most
Frenchmen are; but he loved to season his food with conversation, and,
much as he relished his meals, he seemed to relish the pleasant
talk between the courses still more. As I was unable to follow the
conversation of the table, I came in for a large share of the General's
attention, who would turn to me every now and then with something
pleasant to say. He had had the consideration, too, to place one of the
young ladies next to me, directly on my right, as I was on his; and her
English, though not perfectly fluent, was fluent enough to enable us to
keep up a lively interlude.

On returning to the drawing-room, the General led me up to a portrait of
my grandfather, and indulged himself for a while in endeavoring to trace
a resemblance between us. I say indulged; for he often, down to the last
time that I ever saw him, came back to this subject, and seemed to
take a peculiar pleasure in it. He had been warmly attached to General
Greene, and the attachment which both of them bore to Washington served
to strengthen their attachment to each other. This portrait, a copy
from Peale, had been one of the fruits of his last visit to the United
States, and hung, with those of some other personal friends,--great men
all of them,--on the drawing-room wall. His Washington was a bronze from
Houdon's bust, and stood opposite the mantel-piece on a marble pedestal.
Conversation and music filled up the rest of the evening, and before
I withdrew for the night it had been arranged that I should begin my
French the next morning, with one of the young ladies for teacher. And
thus ended my first day at La Grange.

EVERY-DAY LIFE AT LA GRANGE.

The daily life at La Grange was necessarily systematic. The General's
position compelled him to see a great deal of company and exposed him to
constant interruptions. He kept a kind of open table, at which part
of the faces seemed to be changing every day. Then there were his own
children,