In vain she pleaded. He was firm. “We have spies enough here. How do I know but the British have sent you to burn what they have left? You will not cross the river, that is sure.” “But I am Mrs. Madison, the wife of your president,” she answered, throwing off her disguise. Then he rowed her across the Potomac. Through clouds of smoke, past heaps of still smoldering ruins, she made her way to the home of her sister, and waited there for Mr. Madison to return. While the White House was being rebuilt the Madisons lived in Pennsylvania Avenue, and a brilliant social life centered about them. They revived the levees of Washington and Adams, gave handsome state dinners and introduced music at their receptions. When Madison’s second term was ended they went to live at Montpelier, their beautiful Virginia home, where they entertained with true southern hospitality the many friends and tourists who visited them. Mr. Madison, for many years an invalid, busied himself with books and writing. Soon after his death in 1836 Dolly returned to Washington, to be near her old friends. Her home again became a social center, for her tact and beauty and grace made her always a favorite and a leader. She entertained many distinguished guests, “looking every inch a queen,” the British ambassador declared. Sometimes there were as many visitors at her receptions as at those at the White House. All the homage of former times was hers, and much consideration was shown her by public officials, Congress voting her a seat on the floor of the House. Brought up in strict Quaker ways, she adorned every station in life in which she was placed. And in a crisis when the White House was in danger, Dolly Madison was courageous enough to delay her departure till she had saved the Stuart Washington and the Declaration of Independence. CHAPTER X LUCRETIA MOTT 1793-1880 Lucretia Coffin was a Quaker, born on the quaint little island of Nantucket. Her father “followed the sea,” captain of a whaler, and was often gone for long periods of time. So it was the mother who was responsible for the early training of the six children. Thrift and efficient housekeeping Lucretia learned, along with the Quaker doctrine of non-resistance, and a thorough knowledge of the Bible. When she was twelve, Captain Coffin forsook the sea and moved his family to Boston. Public schools there gave Lucretia a feeling of sympathy for the patient struggling poor which was always a prominent trait in her character.