The story told of this trip, which was made overland, is that when the Mason and Dixon line was reached the team pulling the heavy load of household effects, and the one attached to the carriage in which the doctor and his daughter were riding, were halted, the goods unloaded, the horses, harness, wagon, carriage and themselves all carefully washed, then again loaded and driven over the boundary line into Pennsylvania. As the doctor afterwards related, no Southern soil should be brought into Pennsylvania, he wanted to leave it all where it belonged. His son, William, espoused the Southern cause and became a captain, but his son, John M., served as a surgeon in the Federal Army. Following the close of the Civil War, Mrs. Preston devoted much time to reviewing books for various publishers, and in compiling and arranging for publication her own compositions in prose and verse, the latter resulting in the publication, in 1866, of her “Bechenbrook,” a book of poems voicing the sorrow and patriotism of the Southern people, and of “Old Songs and New” in 1870. These were followed by “Cartoons,” “Handful of Monographs,” “For Love’s Sake,” “Colonial Ballads and Sonnets,” “Chimes for Church Children” and “Aunt Dorothy.” In addition she contributed to Century Magazine in the early eighties some reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee, and personal reminiscences of General “Stonewall” Jackson. Colonel Preston resigned his professorship in 1882, when he and his talented wife traveled and visited among their children. The husband died July 15, 1890, and Mrs. Preston continued to live at Lexington for two years, but late in December, 1892, she removed to Baltimore and made her home with her eldest son, Dr. George Junkin Preston. Margaret Junkin Preston died March 19, 1897. There was much written about this poetess at the time, and possibly the best known was “An Appreciation of Margaret J. Preston, a Sketch of her Fifty Years of Literary Life,” by Prof. James A. Harrison, of the University of Virginia. Mrs. Elizabeth Randolph Preston Allan compiled and published a volume entitled “The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston,” and an excellent sketch of her interesting life has also been written by Ethan Allen Weaver, of Germantown, from which much of this story of the “Poetess-Laureate of the South” has been taken. ---------- Military Laws of Province Repealed by Import Act, March 20, 1780 On March 20, 1780, a law was passed to effect a reorganization of the whole militia system in Pennsylvania. It provided for the appointment of a lieutenant for each county, and two sub-lieutenants or more, not exceeding the number of battalions, which were to be divided into classes as heretofore. Fines, however for non-attendance on muster days were fixed for commissioned officers at the price of three days’ labor.