we find him sending for "A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pattern,
with satin flowers, to be made in a sack," "1 Cap, Handkerchief, Tucker
and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, proper to wear with the
above negligee, to cost £20," "1 pair black, and 1 pair white Satin Shoes,
of the smallest," and "1 black mask." Again he writes his London agent,
"Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of
the same color; made up into a handsome sack again, would be her choice;
but if the cloth won't afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night
Gown." At another time he wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind
are sent he writes that "she intended to have leathern Gloshoes." When she
was asked to present a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every
detail of obtaining the flag, and when "Mrs. Washington ... perceived the
Tomb of her Father ... to be much out of Sorts" he wrote to get a workman
to repair it. The care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his
wife's ability, a housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who
filled this position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his
agent to find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would
"throw a great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;" again, writing in
another domestic difficulty, "Your aunt's distresses for want of a good
housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes
(though unusually high) of no consideration." Her letters of form, which
required better orthography than she was mistress of, he draughted for
her, pen-weary though he was.

It has already been shown how he fathered her "little progeny," as he once
called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by a
letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which "I carried my little
patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well I could
stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite
impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise