WASHINGTON'S MOTHER.

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Names of ancient lore were heard to escape from their lips, and they observed, that if such were the matrons of America, it was not wonderful the sons were illustrious.'

“It was on this festive occasion that General Washington danced a minuet with Mrs. Willis. It closed his dancing days. The minuet was much in vogue at that period, and was peculiarly calculated for the display of the splendid figure of the chief, and his natural grace and elegance of air and manner.-The gallant Frenchmen who were present, of which fine people it may be said, that dancing forms one of the elements of their existence, so much admired the American performance, as to admit that a Parisian education could not have improved it. As the evening advanced, the commander-in-chief, yielding to the gayety of the scene, went down some dozen couple, in the contra-dance, with great spirit and satisfaction.

"The Marquis de Lafayette repaired to Fredericksburg, previous to his departure for Europe, in the fall of 1784, to pay his parting respects to the mother, and to ask her blessing.

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"Conducted by one of her grandsons, he approached the house, when the young gentleman observed, There, sir, is my grandmother.' Lafayette beheld, working in the garden, c lad in domesticmade clothes, and her gray head covered by a plain straw hat, the MOTHER of his hero!' The lady saluted him kindly, observingAh, marquis! you see an old woman-but come, I can make you welcome to my poor dwelling, without the parade of changing my dress.'

"Much as Lafayette had seen and heard of the matron before, at this interesting interview he was charmed and struck with wonder. When he considered her great age, the transcendant elevation of her son, who, surpassing all rivals in the race of glory, 'bore the palm alone,' and at the same time discovered no change in her plain, yet dignified life and manners, he became assured that the Roman matron could flourish in the modern day.

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The marquis spoke of the happy effects of the revolution, and the goodly prospect which opened upon independent America, stated his speedy departure for his native land, paid the tribute of his heart, his love and admiration of her illustrious son, and concluded by asking her blessing. She blessed him-and to the encomiums which he had lavished upon his hero and paternal chief, the matron replied in these words: I AM NOT SURPRISED AT WHAT GEORGE HAS DONE, FOR HE WAS ALWAYS A VERY GOOD BOY.'

"Immediately after the organization of the present government, the chief magistrate repaired to Fredericksburg, to pay his humble duty to his mother, preparatory to his departure for New York. An affecting scene ensued. The son feelingly remarked the ravages which a torturing disease had made upon the aged frame of his mother, and thus addressed her:

“The people, madam, have been pleased, with the most flattering unanimity, to elect me to the chief magistracy of these United

States; but before I can assume the functions of my office, I have come to bid you an affectionate farewell. So soon as the public ousiness, which must necessarily be encountered in arranging a new government, can be disposed of, I shall hasten to Virginia, and

"Here the matron interrupted him: You will see me no more. My great age, and the disease which is fast approaching my vitals, waru me that I shall not be long of this world. I trust in God I am somewhat prepared for a better. But go, George, fulfill the high destinies which heaven appears to assign you; go, my son, and may hat heaven's and your mother's blessing be with you always.'

"The president was deeply affected. His head rested upon the shoulder of his parent, whose aged arm feebly, yet fondly encircled his neck. That brow, on which fame had wreathed the purest laurel virtue ever gave to created man, relaxed from its lofty bearing. That look, which could have awed a Roman senate in its Fabrician day, was bent in filial tenderness upon the time-worn features of the venerable matron.

"The great man wept. A thousand recollections crowded upon his mind, as memory, retracing scenes long past, carried him back to the paternal mansion, and the days of his youth, and there, the centre of attraction, was his mother, whose care, instructions, and discipline had prepared him to reach the topmost height of laudable ambition-yet how were his glories forgotten while he gazed upon her whom, wasted by time and malady, he must soon part with to

meet no more.

"The matron's predictions were true. The disease which so long had preyed upon her frame completed its triumph, and she expired at the age of eighty-five, rejoicing in the consciousness of a life well spent, and confiding in the promises of immortality to the humble believer.

"In her person, Mrs.. Washington was of middle size, and finely formed; her features pleasing, yet strongly marked. It is not the happiness of the writer to remember her, having only seen her with infant eyes. The sister of the chief he perfectly well remembers. She was a most majestic woman, and so strikingly like the brother, that it was a matter of frolic to throw a cloak around her, and place a military hat upon her head, and such was the perfect resemblance, that, had she appeared on her brother's steed, battalions would have presented arms, and senates risen to do homage to the chief.

"In her latter days, the mother often spoke of her own GOOD BOY, of the merits of his early life, of his love and dutifulness to herself; but of the deliverer of his country, the chief magistrate of this great republic, she never spoke. Call you this insensibility? or want of ambition? Oh, no! her ambition had been gratified to overflowing. She had taught him to be GOOD; that he became GREAT when the opportunity presented, was a consequence, not a

cause.

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"Thus lived and died this distinguished woman. Had she been a Roman dame, statues would have been erected to her memory in the capital, and we should have read in classic pages the story of her virtues.

"When another century shall have elapsed, and the nations of the earth, as well as our descendants, shall have learned the true value of liberty, the name of our hero will gather a glory it has never yet been invested with; and then will youth and age, maid and matron, aged and bearded men, with pilgrim step, repair to the NOW NEGLECTED GRAVE of the mother of Washington."

Washington was remarkable for dignity and majesty of mein, for method and management, and for his great goodness and true piety—all which qualities were conspicuous in one or the other line of his ancestry.

365. THE DESCENDANTS OF THE PURITANS

Furnish another hereditary fact, on a great scale, of the descent of the moral affections from generation to generation. Mr. PACKARD'S great grandmother, Thayer, when she first landed on Plymouth rock, offered up a devout prayer that all her descendants might be religious, and, to this day, all, except children, are or have been eminently so. Mr. P. was a

deacon, as were also two of his sons, and a great majority of his great grandmother's descendants have been ministers or deacons.

NEW ENGLAND was settled by the moral sentiments. The most godly of the old world fled to the new, and erected churches in the wilderness, solely that they might worship God "under their own vine and fig-tree." This hereditary law being true, what could reasonably be expected of their descendants but that religious zeal seen wherever New England's sons and daughters have settled. Puritanism, after having framed our laws after its own model, and been enthroned upon our republic, has conferred on clergymen the mighty influence they now wield, and almost worships them. Behold the swarms from every city and hamlet, which throng our churches at the ringing of the Sabbath bells; and to possess or counterfeit religious devotion, is a sure passport to success in whatever business depends upon the public patronage; whereas infidelity is considered infamous, and is most detrimental

to the pockets of its possessors. The English, notwithstanding their union of church and state, are no where near as devoted to their religion as the Americans. It does not engross their feelings as it does ours, but is more nominal. Nor do religious vagaries find as many or as enthusiastic devotees there as here. Admitted that this is partly caused by education, yet that form of the heads of the children of devotedly pious parents differ from those of the irreligious, is but a summary of all the author's professional examinations. In fact, the moral developments of the children of the several sects differ from each other so essentially that I can usually tell by examining a child's head, to which sect its parents belonged, provided they were both whole-souled sectarians 212. And this general fact, that the relative size of the moral ORGANS is hereditary, besides coinciding perfectly with the entire range of facts and laws adduced in this work, shows that the children of religious parents are constitutionally more susceptible to religious influences than others.

Yet the CONSCIENTIOUSNESS in the American head averages less than even in the English, and in them far less than in the Swiss, German, and Russian head, doubtless in part, because the Anglo-Saxon nation was founded in Danish usurpation and Norman rapine, and has followed war almost incessantly; and their American descendants have driven out the Indian by wickedness and violence, and are now perpetually preying upon each other, in their selfish scrambling after riches and power. Watch a Yankee, or he will trick you, but Germans, Turks, and Chinese do just as they AGREE. That a part of this national and sectarian organization is educational, is admitted, yet that it is partly hereditary, is perfectly obvious, especially to every phrenologist.

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A range of facts establishing the descent of the moral faculties has already been recorded in the case of the Jews and other ranges to any required extent, might be adduced to show that, in addition to the gross descent of the moral affections, the particular TONE and SHADES of manifestation of parentage are transmitted to offspring-that when the former take a missionary or sectarian turn, so do the latter, that

CONSTRUCTIVENESS HEREDITARY.

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when the ancestry is generous and hospitable, the progeny will be benevolent; when the former is reformatory, or melancholy, or theological, or anything else, the latter will be like them-but is it requisite either for proof or illustration, to multiply cases? What good man or devoted minister of this age, or of past ages, is not a practical witness of this great hereditary law?

True, we often find the sons of pious parents and ministers to be hardened in sin, yet we hope fully to account for such facts in subsequent pages, and have already virtually done so in "LOVE AND PARENTAGE;" so that our great doctrine stands on the immutable rock of a fixed ORDINANCE OF NATURE.

The converse of this law, that irreligious parents beget irreligious children, is rendered too apparent by our subject to require proof. Confirmations of this, probably every reader will find within the circle of his own observation and acquaintance-a fact which contains a solemn and earnest appeal to all whom it may concern.

SECTION VII.

CONSTRUCTIVENESS, IDEALITY, IMITATION, AND MIRTHFULNESS

TRANSMITTED.

366. CONSTRUCTIVENESS HEREDITARY.

To enumerate all the cases which establish the transmissibility of CONSTRUCTIVENESS, or the mechanical instinct and talent, would be to cite most of the parents and children of New England-of all natural mechanics. The following cases will be sufficient for our present purpose.

DR. PHILIP SYNG PHYSIC was the BEST of practical surgeons, one of the main requisites of which is Constructiveness. No other organ is equally essential, and no surgeon can be without it. In all Physic's busts and paintings this organ is extraordinarily developed, so as to form a distinct ridge on each side of the head. See his portrait in the possession of his son, and also his bust.