THE PRESIDENTS' GARDENS 135 



repairs to the steps, "which (like most things else I 

 have looked into since I have been at home) are sadly 

 out of repair." Or again in the fall of that same year, 

 in apology for not answering a letter sooner : "an eight 

 years' absence from home (excepting short occasional 

 visits) had so deranged my private affairs; had so 

 despoiled my buildings; and in a word had thrown 

 my domestic concerns into so much disorder, as at no 

 period of my life have I been more engaged than in 

 the last six months, to recover and put them into some 

 tolerable trim again." 



Twice he went through this experience, though the 

 first time it was hardly as trying as the second; for 

 the first return to Mount Vernon, after he had re- 

 signed his commission at the close of the war, was to 

 the old and, to a degree, undeveloped, estate. From 

 1783 until he was called to be President six years later, 

 were the years which saw the real creation of Wash- 

 ington's Mount Vernon. During this time it was that 

 he made plans, drew specifications and personally 

 directed the work on new buildings, the alterations to 

 old, and the improvements in the grounds, and con- 

 struction of the gardens. The barn which Brissot 

 writes of as just completed, was a part of this general 

 work; and when he left the second time there was 

 much that was trim and new and the old work was in 

 perfect order. 



