"She was alone, her aged hands employed in the works of domestic industry, when the good news was announced, and it was told that the victor was awaiting at the threshold. She bade him welcome by a warm embrace, and by the well-remembered and endearing name of George.... She inquired as to his health, for she marked the lines which mighty cares and toils had made in his manly countenance, and she spoke much of old times and old friends, but of his glory not one word." When the Peace Ball was given in Fredericksburg she was an honored guest. Her son walked with her into the gaily decorated ballroom. She remained for a time, but after a while, from the seat where she had watched the dance, she called him to her side. When she was near she said, "Come, George, it is time for old folks to be at home." Lafayette visited Fredericksburg in 1784, that he might pay his respects to Mrs. Washington. He found her in her garden, dressed in a short linsey skirt, working among her flowers. After his visit he declared, "I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day." She still went frequently to her plantation across the river, but as she became more feeble her son gave her a phaeton in which she could cross the ferry in comfort. Her great-granddaughter has written of her appearance when she rolled in the phaeton down the village street: "In summer she wore a dark straw hat with broad brim and low crown, tied under her chin with black ribbon strings; but in winter a warm hood was substituted, and she was wrapped in the purple cloth cloak lined with silk shang (a present from her son George) that is described in the bequests of her will. In her hand she carried her gold-headed cane, which feeble health now rendered necessary as a support." One of the last visits paid by George Washington to his mother was on March 7, 1789. A Fredericksburg paper of March 12 said, "The object of his Excellency's visit was probably to take leave of his aged mother, sister, and friends, previous to his departure for the new Congress, over the councils of which, the united voice of America has called him to preside." On March 11 Washington's account book shows that the expenses of the trip were L1.8.0. He also noted that he advanced to his mother at the time "6 Guineas." At New York, on September 1, 1789, President Washington was dining with friends when a messenger brought word of the death of Mrs. Washington. The notice of her death, as given in the _Gazette of the United States_, on September 9, read: