ish prime minister. After burying the bones of the men who had been killed in the slaughter of Fort Duquesne, they marched back to Virginia in triumph.

Within six weeks the brilliant wedding of the heroic commander-in-chief of Virginia and the wealthiest and most beautiful woman of the colony took place in the little English church near "White House."

The bride was attired, with true Colonial elegance, in silk and satin, brocade and laces, with pearls at her neck and ears. The stately bridegroom appeared in blue and silver, trimmed with scarlet, and with gold buckles at his knees and on his shoes.

After the ceremony the soldier bridegroom rode beside the bride's coach-and-six mounted on a splendid horse, and followed by the gentlemen of the wedding party. It was a happy home-coming to sightly Mount Vernon, with its stately elms and verandas overlooking the Potomac.

Colonel Washington's days as a frontier fighter were over, and he was now settled among the Fairfaxes, Masons, Lees, Carys, and other congenial neighbors to live the easy comfortable

life of a Virginia planter, and he often went foxhunting with his old friend, Lord Fairfax, and other lovers of the sport.

Colonel Washington was at once elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, the first representative lawmaking body in America. On one of the first days of his attendance on that august assemblage, about three months after his marriage, Mr. Robinson, the Speaker of the House, thanked him eloquently for his signal services to his country.

Washington rose to reply, but, unable to talk about himself, stood blushing and stammeringuntil the Speaker came to his relief by saying:

"Sit down, Mr. Washington. Your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess."

CHAPTER XV

GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ., FARMER

AFTER his eventful youth and young manhood, during which he suffered many hardships and had some thrilling adventures and narrow

escapes, Mr. Washington, benedict and planter, was well prepared to enjoy a quiet and prosperous life as a member of one of the "First Families of Virginia."

George Washington's fortune, through good management, had increased with the years. He had succeeded in the management of his inherited estate, as he had done with every other venture in life from the time he began earning a livelihood as a surveyor, and became the standby of his widowed mother.

George had known what it was to be poor, but wealth had not changed him, and his simplicity and modesty were as marked now as they had always been in those earlier days. So, when he had married the wealthy widow of Daniel Parke Custis and added her great estates to his own, Colonel Washington became one of the richest men in America.

With her fortune Mrs. Custis brought to Mount Vernon her two children, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis. "Jacky," as they called the boy, was six years old, and "Patsy" four.

These were the only children George Wash