Clad in a plain but becoming garb, that characterized Virginia women of her type, she received the many attentions paid to the Mother of the idolized Commander-in-Chief with the most unaffected dignity and courtesy. Being accustomed to the pomp and splendor which is attached to Old World royalty, it was a revelation to them to behold such a woman. How could she live in the blaze of glory which irradiated her illustrious offspring, and still preserve her simple dignity of manner, so barren of self pride and hauteur! [Sidenote: _The "Rose of Epping Forest"_] But this daughter of Colonel Joseph Ball, of Lancaster County, this "Rose of Epping Forest" which budded into existence on March 6, 1708, this unassuming woman, who on the anniversary of her natal day in 1730, gave her heart and hand to the master of Wakefield, this thrifty and systematic young housewife and widowed mother at Pine Grove, in Stafford County, this matron of Fredericksburg, possessed qualities individual to her who became the author of the being of the greatest and best loved character figuring on the pages of American history. Her last home selected for her by General Washington, stands today, on the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets, the same home with the characteristic simplicity of years ago. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, to which Society it now belongs, has restored in part the interior with its wainscoting and paneling and its period furniture. The interesting old brick floored kitchen, with its huge fireplace, and its crane, iron pots, skillets and equipment of former days, all seem today in perfect accord with her reception of her cherished offspring in 1783. After an enforced cessation of visits to his aging mother for a long period of seven years, she at length was told by an orderly that "His Excellency" had arrived, and was at her very door. Turning quietly to her faithful, ebony maid, she said with her habitual self control, "Patsy, George has come, I shall need a white apron." But beneath this calm exterior, her embrace of her first born son was overflowing with fervent mother-love, and hidden away in the deep recesses of her heart was the swelling pride in his glory. Senator Daniel truthfully said, "The principles which he applied to a nation were those simple and elementary truths which she first imprinted upon his mind in the discipline of home." The splendid granite monument, erected to her, with its simple inscription, "Mary, the Mother of Washington," and on the reverse side: "Erected by her Countrywomen," rises from a massive foundation to a distance of 59 feet. Her ashes lie beneath, in a spot of her own selection, (which in her lifetime was a part of the Kenmore estate) and her favorite resting place. Nearby are the two rocks upon which she used to sit and read her Bible. These are known as "Meditation Rocks." [Sidenote: _Susan Savage and Anne Maury_]