CHILDHOOD 7 



unto set my hand at Mount Vernon, in the State of Virginia, 

 this 24th Day of May, in the year of Our Lord One Thousand, 

 Seven hundred and eighty-four, and in the Eighth year of the 

 Independence of the United States. 



By Order George Washington, President. 



Knox, Secretary. 



The parchment on which this is written is yel- 

 low, and the writing faded with time. 



The library faces the parlor on the other side 

 of the hall, both rooms having a view of the river. 

 Back of the library is the dining room, and lead- 

 ing away from it, a wing contains the kitchen and 

 offices. To the left of the doorway a broad, oak 

 stairway ascends by short ranges of easy-rising 

 steps, forming three spacious landings on the way 

 upward. During the Revolutionary War this 

 house was occupied both by the Colonial and 

 British forces. The Hessian soldiery who were 

 quartered here at one time did a very considerable 

 amount of wanton damage. The rail of the stair- 

 w^ay is marked with the hacks of their sabres, 

 and the imprint of the muzzles of their muskets 

 is still plainly visible on many of the steps. 



As a boy, the halls interested me enormously ; 

 they had been papered with such wall paper as I 

 have never seen elsewhere. The entrance hall 

 portrayed a vista of Paris, apparently ranged 

 along the Seine, with ladies and gentlemen prom- 

 enading the banks, and all the notable buildings, 



