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258 THE WIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. Tims she contrived in one and the same act, to make a present and give a practical lesson in industry. She was, indeed, a signal example of that virtue, at a time when ladies of wealth and importance could scarcely avoid practicing it. She used to speak of the time spent in levees and other ceremonial duties, as " my lost days." The chief labor of the mistress of a house then was in training servants. Mrs. Washington, like the other Vir- ginian ladies, had an eye upon the families of her slaves — and most of them had very large families — and when she noticed a little girl that seemed bright and apt to learn, she would have her come to the work-room, Where she would be taught to sew, and afterwards other home arts. In this way, the house was kept supplied with good cooks, chamber-maids, seamstresses, and nurses. Promising girls were regularly brought up, or, as we may say, apprenticed to the household trade which they were to spend their lives in exercising. This training of servants was formerly supposed to be part of the duty of all mistresses of great houses, whether the servants were white or black, bond or free. Ladies did not then regard a house, with all its complicated busi- ness and apparatus, as a great clock, which, being wound up after breakfast, would run twenty-four hours without further attention. Having themselves performed all the operations of housekeeping, and having acquired skill in their performance, they knew that a good servant is not born, but made ; and they were willing to take a world of trouble in forming a servant, in order that by and by they might enjoy the ease and pleasure derived from skill- ful service. I must confess that sometimes, when I have heard ladies complaining of the awkwardness of girls who, until recently, had never seen a household imple- ment more complicated than a poker or an iron pot, the thought has occurred to me that possibly, if they would