"Fredericksburg, Virginia, August 27, 1789--On Tuesday, the 25th inst. died at her home in this town, Mrs. Mary Washington, aged 83 years, the venerable mother of the illustrious President of the United States, after a long and painful indisposition, which she bore with uncommon patience. Though a pious tear of duty, affection, and esteem is due to the memory of so revered a character, yet our grief must be greatly alleviated from the consideration that she is relieved from the pitiable infirmities attendant on an extreme old age.--It is usual when virtuous and conspicuous persons quit this terrestrial abode, to publish an elaborate panegyric on their characters--suffice it to say, she conducted herself through this transitory life with virtue, prudence, and Christianity, worthy the mother of the grandest Hero that ever adorned the annals of history." "O may kind heaven, propitious to our fate, Extend THAT HERO'S to her lengthen'd date; Through the long period, healthy, active, sage; Nor know the sad infirmities of age." The house in Fredericksburg which was occupied after 1775 by Mrs. Washington, is now the property of the Association for the Preservation of Virginian Antiquities. LVI GREENWAY AND SHERWOOD FOREST, VIRGINIA TWO OF THE HOMES OF JOHN TYLER A little girl was responsible for the fact that John Tyler, who became the tenth president of the United States, was born, not at Marlie, but at Greenway. Marlie was the name chosen by Judge John Tyler for his James River estate, but his young daughter, Anne Contesse, as soon as she began to talk, insisted on calling it "Greenway," "because the grass grows so green there." The fact that Anne's name displaced that chosen by her father is an indication of his great love for children. Greenway was "a bird's nest full of young," but at various times he added to his own flock one or another of twenty-one children, of whom he was made guardian, all of whom he guided through childhood to earnest manhood and womanhood. These children must have enjoyed roaming about the estate, for, according to Judge Tyler's description, it was a delightful place. He said of it: