A Morning Dream—Wives and Daughters of the Presidents—Memories of Martha Washington—An Average Matron of the 18th Century—Educational Disadvantages—Comparisons—A Well-Regulated Lady—A Useful Wife—Warm Words of Abigail Adams—Advantages of Having a Distinguished Husband—A Modern Lucretia—Washington’s Inauguration Suit—An Awkward Position for a Lady—A Primitive _Levée_-Festivities in Franklin Square!—Decorous Ideas of the Father of His Country—The Government on Its Travels—Transporting the Household Gods—Keeping Early Hours—Primitive Customs—A Dignified _Congé_—Much-Shaken Hands—Remembrances of a Past Age—An English Manufacturer “Struck with Awe”—Very Questionable Humility—The Room in which Washington Died—Days of Widowhood—A Wife’s Congratulations—A True Woman—Domestic Affairs at the White House—An Unfinished Mansion—Interesting Details—A Woman’s Influence—A Monument Wanted—Devotion of a Husband—The “Single Life”—Theodocia Burr and Katherine Chase—“_Levées_” Summarily Abolished—Disappointed Belles—An Extraordinary Reception—Blacked His Own Boots—A Dignified Foreigner Shocked—Governmental Enquiries—Womanly Indignation—The Poet Pardoned—“The Sweetest Creature in Virginia”—A Daughter’s Affection. Sitting in the lovely Blue Room this June morning, the breezes from the Potomac floating through the closed blinds and lace curtains, drifting over the mounds of flowers which, rising high above the great vases, fill all the air with fragrance, I evoke from the past a company of fair and stately women who have dwelt under this roof, or influenced the life and happiness of men who have ruled the nation. First, Martha Washington. To be sure, she never reigned in the Blue Room; but who can recall the wives of the Presidents and not see the very first, the serenely beautiful old lady whose face is so familiar to us all.