Washington, on his return to Mount Vernon, found his beloved step-daughter, Martha Custis, in the very last stages of pulmonary consumption. She was a beautiful girl of but seventeen summers, whom Washington loved as his own child. While in anguish he was praying at her bedside, her spirit took its flight. She died on the 19th of June, 1773. John Park Custis, a petted boy of about sixteen, and the heir of a large fortune, remained the idol of his indulgent mother. It is pretty evident that he had his own way in all things, and that the sound judgment of the father often reluctantly yielded to the injudicious fondness of the mother. His education had been irregular and imperfect. The impetuous youth fell in love with a young daughter of a wealthy neighbor, Benedict Calvert, Esq. There was no objection to the marriage, excepting the youth of the children. It is pretty evident that Washington had considerable difficulty in inducing the impulsive lad to consent to the postponement of the marriage for a year or two, that he might prosecute his studies; for his education was exceedingly defective. He accordingly took John to New York, and placed him under the care of Rev. Dr. Cooper, who was president of King’s College, now called Columbia. The lad went reluctantly, and the fond mother was so pliant to his wishes, that but a few months passed away when she consented to his return, and to his premature marriage. The disapproval of Washington is expressed in the following letter to President Cooper: “It has been against my wishes that he should quit college in order that he may soon enter into a new scene of life, which I think he would be much fitter for some years hence than now. But having his own inclination, the desires of his mother, and the acquiescence of almost all his relatives to encounter, I did not care, as he is the last of the family, to push my opposition too far. I have therefore submitted to a kind of necessity.” The bridegroom had not attained his twenty first year when the marriage was celebrated, on the 3d of February, 1774. When Washington first learned of the attachment, and the engagement, he wrote a letter to the father of the young lady, from which we make the following extracts: “I write to you on a subject of importance, and of no small embarrassment to me. My son-in-law and ward, Mr. Custis, has, as I have been informed, paid his addresses to your second daughter; and, having make some progress in her affection, has solicited her in marriage. How far a union of this sort may be agreeable to you, you best can tell. But I should think myself wanting in candor, were I not to confess that Miss Nellie’s amiable qualities are acknowledged on all hands, and that an alliance with your family will be pleasing to his.