“Now let me see. It must have been in ’81, and I was nine years old, that our folks went to Salisbury to see General Washington. “I had been in disgrace for a whole day, and for punishment it was decided that I must stay at home. “My poor little heart almost broke, and I cried and made myself altogether disagreeable while the great lunch-baskets were being strapped behind the carriage, the huge bunches of roses to hurl at the general wrapped in wet cotton, and the family bundled into the carriages. “After they had gone I wandered disconsolately about house and garden. As I was swinging on the gate and wondering what I would do next, I heard a great clatter of horses’ feet up the road, and in a few minutes a party of men in uniform came in sight. I had seen enough soldiers to know that these were Continental officers, so I was not frightened, but waited until they came up. “A tall man on a white horse, with a cocked hat and plain uniform, rode forward, and with the kindest smile in the world, asked, ‘My little girl, can you give us a cup of coffee?’ “Now I was very proud of being able to make coffee and batter-cakes, so I said I would try. The gentlemen rode into the yard, their servants came forward to take the horses, and I showed the party into the house. Mammy Dilsie had gone to the quarters on an errand, so I had things my own way. “A fire was blazing in the huge kitchen fireplace. We didn’t have cooking-stoves in those days, but did our baking in great round iron ovens, with lids to heap coals on, and our boiling in pots swung over the coals on cranes. I raked out a nice bed of coals, filled the big coffee-pot, and soon had it simmering, then put the pan for the batter-cakes on to heat, made them up, had them nicely browned in a trice, set out a cold ham, and then invited the gentlemen in to breakfast. “They came, laughing and talking, said the coffee was the best they had ever tasted, the cakes delicious. I poured the coffee, and the gentlemen laughed and joked me, and one of them asked how I happened to be at home all alone. “My eyes filled with tears and I could hardly speak, but managed to tell him that everybody had gone to Salisbury to see General Washington; and that I wanted to see him worst of all because in the picture of him in my red book one of his eyes was blue and the other brown, and I wanted to see if it was really true. The officers all laughed at this, but the leader raised his hand, and they did not say anything. “‘But why did you not go, little maid?’ he asked. “Then I hung my head, but at last blurted out, ‘Because I tried to bury John’s ten little biddies in the sand.’ “The men roared again at this; but the tall one said, ‘Did you not know that it was very wrong to hurt the little chicks?’ “I began to cry then, but the kind officer took me on his knee and kissed me.