Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I. The name of Mary—how the heart Thrills at the sound of that sweet name 1 The holiest thoughts it may impart, Or wake the soul to deeds of fame! J. W H. Well-ordered home, man's best delight to make, And with submissive wisdom, modest skill, To raise the virtues Thompson. Mrs. Mary Washington was born in the Colony of Virginia, towards the conclusion of the year 1706. Little is known of her ancestors, except that she inherited an unimpeachable name. We are informed that she was descended from a highly respectable family of English colonists, named Ball, who originally established themselves on the banks of the Potomac. It is to be lamented that no records of the youth, or early womanhood of this illustrious lady have been preserved. We are, therefore, in ignorance of the education and domestic influences by which her remarkable character was developed and matured. But judging from the rare combination of mental and moral qualities which we find exhibited in the brief history of her later life, we may suppose her home education to have been particularly practical and judicious; such, indeed, was almost the only instruction received by women in this country, even at a much later period than that to which we refer. To the abiding effect of early maternal training, Mrs. Washington must have been, at least in some degree, indebted for her habits of unusual industry, economy, and regularity, as well as for the excellent constitution, that gave vigor and practical usefulness to the operations of a naturally powerful intellect. To the ineffaceable impressions of infant years, we may also ascribe the moral elevation and the exalted piety associated with her noble mind. Augustine Washington, the husband of the celebrated subject of our Memoir, ...