THE special novelty in the HOME DRESS illus trated on the preceding page consists in the fashion of the Sleeve. This will commend itself to a correct taste as giving full effect to the graceful droop of the shoulder, which forms so striking an element in the beauty of the female form. It is difficult to construct a sleeve that shall start with fullness from its insertion at the shoulder, which shall not offend the cultivated eye by the unnatural width given by it to the figure at this point. This difficulty has here been obviated by the manner in which the triangular piece is inserted. The cuff is turned back upon the sleeve, and is confined by buttons, similar to those upon the moire antique trimming upon the other portions of the dress. In order to avoid the inconvenience, in a Home Dress, of having the sleeves continually falling in the way, no greater fullness has been given to them than is absolutely necessary to avoid a poor and meagre appearance of the outline.-The Boddice is high, close-fitting, and plain; somewhat pointed, a form which we can not avoid regarding as more graceful than the rounded waists, which are much in vogue with those who do not affect the jacket or lappets. We must, however, state that the Basque is very generally adopted, and bids fair to retain its place for some time.-The Skirt is made full and long, being ornamented in the same manner as the sleeve. The diamonding lines are composed of piping. This trimming is continued in the manner indicated, and at the bottom occupies a full width of the skirt.-The under-sleeves are close at the waist. They and the collar are of English embroidery. The coiffure is Valenciennes. The Boy's COSTUME is composed of a coat of green embroidered velvet, of which the illustration gives the details of construction. The Pantaloons are of drab-colored cloth, embroidered at the bottom. Similar embroidery ornaments the outside seam along its whole length. The linen is of English embroidery. For out-door Costume, Furs have never been more extensively in vogue. They are worn of every conceivable variety of form, from the ample cape or cardinal down to the narrowest pelerine. They are also in favor as trimming upon fabrics of almost every variety. The expense lavished upon them, would almost seem to justify the re-enactment of the sumptuary laws of olden time. Flounces are universally worn, the number resting entirely at the option of the wearer. Skirts are very full, and so long as to touch the ground, even when distended by the most ample under-dress. The hoops of our grandmothers certainly threaten to reappear, if we may not say that they have actually appeared again. We are confident, however, that the good taste of our country women will prevent a fashion so opposed to correct taste from becoming at all prevalent. We append two styles of UNDER-SLEEVES, appropriate to the season. Both are close at the wrists, with ribbons and nauds. Bouillonnées with ribbon insertions are placed around the wrists in both. In one these bouillonnées are also placed lengthwise; in the other ribbon FIG. 3.-UNDER-SLEEVE. bars appear through the transparent tulle. Transparencies of this kind are, in fact, especial favorites. They are in the above of peach-blossom and lightblue respectively. Below we illustrate a NURSERY BASKET of a unique style, which may afford a not unwelcome hint to young mothers. The inside is of white satin, ornamented with sprays of the "morningglory," embroidered in natural colors. The various adjuncts of the toilet are represented within. The special novelty of this basket consists in the festooned lace, caught up with silken cords and tassels. FIGURE 5.-NURSERY BASKET. NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. LXIX.-FEBRUARY, 1856.-VOL. XII. GEORGE WASHINGTON. BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. VIRGINIA! It is a beautiful name, and well appropriated to one of the fairest spots upon which the sun has ever shone. Her sunny skies and balmy climate, where the ocean breeze meets and blends with the invigorating airs which sweep over mountain, and forest, and prairie; her bays, and lakes, and glorious rivers, her magnificent mountain ranges, and sublime forests, and wide-spread and luxuriant plains, present a realm to be cultivated by man such as few spots on earth can rival, and none can surpass. Nature, with a prodigal hand, has lavished upon Virginia a concentration of her choicest gifts. Here "every prospect pleases," and man is left without excuse if such a spot become not the garden and the ornament of the world. Just two hundred years ago two brothers, Lawrence and John Washington, were lured, by the rare attractions of Virginia, to leave their crowded ancestral home in England, and seek their fortune in this prospective Eden of Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by Harper and Brothers, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. VOL. XII.-No. 69.-T America. They were young men of intelligence, | of March, 1730. In not quite two years from that time, on the 22d of February, 1732, Mary heard the wailing cry of her first-born son, and pressed to her throbbing heart the infant GEORGE WASHINGTON. of opulence, and of lofty moral principle. Lawrence, the elder of the two, had just left the classic halls of Oxford. He was a finished scholar and an accomplished man. Several articles from his pen had embellished the worldrenowned pages of the Spectator. The younger brother, John, was more familiar with the cares of an estate, and with the practical duties of life. After a weary voyage of three or four months the little vessel in which they embarked entered the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Sailing up this magnificent inland sea some hundred miles, they entered the Potomac river. It was a beautiful morning in summer. The scene now opened to the eye of these young emigrants was indeed one of fairy beauty. On either side of the mirrored stream the primeval forest extended interminably over meadow and hillside. The birch canoe with the plumed Indian glided over the unrippled and glassy stream. The merry shouts of childhood echoed from the shore, as young barbarians, in the graceful costume of Venus de Medici, hailed the passing ship. The picturesque villages of the native tribes, with their conical wigwams, to which "distance lent enchantment," seemed to grow from the green and unbroken turf of the indented bays, or stood out upon the cliff in bold relief against the golden sky. About fifty miles above the mouth of the Potomac the two brothers purchased a large tract of land. John soon built him a house, and married a young lady of congenial spirit, Miss Anne Pope. His life was the ordinary life of man. Children were born and children died. Days of sunshine and of storm, of joy and of grief, succeeded each other as life rapidly glided away, until his allotted pilgrimage was finished. A few weeks of sickness, the dying groan, the shroud, the funeral, and the tomb-and all was over. What shadows! His George was the child of exalted birth, of lofty lineage-the lineage of commanding intelligence, of warm affections, of firm principles, and of indomitable energy. Nature's gifts were conferred lavishly upon him. He was opulently endowed with all that can be externally bestowed to aid in an illustrious career. parents were wealthy, and yet they were living with frugality and simplicity, in the cultivation of those Puritan virtues which have ever been found the best safeguards against temptation, and the most powerful stimulus to heroic and self-sacrificing deeds. God gave him a mind, a heart, a physical organization, each of the noblest cast. The spot on which he was born, upon the picturesque shores of the Potomac, was one of rare beauty. The house was a capacious, comfortable cottage homestead, filled and surrounded with all the solid comforts which an opulent planter could in that day gather around him. From the lawn where George engaged in infantile sports with the brothers and sisters who were subsequently born, the eye commanded an extended reach of the majestic Potomac, as its vast flood of waters moved sublimely on to the Chesapeake Bay, and through that to the Atlantic ocean. Across the magnificent river, at this place nearly ten miles wide, rose the forest-clad hills and plains of Maryland. A few islands, in the beauty of a solitude which was enhanced, not interrupted, by the spiral wreaths of smoke which rose, through the unmarred foliage, from the fire of the Indian's wigwam, relieved the expanse of water and cheered the eye. George was a vigorous, courageous, manly boy. The same noble traits of character which made him illustrious among men embellished his youthful years. He was noted for his fear involved in a quarrel with a companion. He had a generous and a magnanimous spirit which prevented him from ever attempting to play the tyrant over others; and none were found so bold as to attempt the hopeless task of enacting the tyrant over him. George Washington upon the play-ground was a just, magnanimous, and fearless boy, as George Washington, leading the armies of the Revolution or presiding in the Presidential chair, was a just, magnanimous, and fearless man. From his earliest years he was signalized by probity and truthfulness. Augustine, the second son of John, inherited his father's virtues and intelligence, and continued on the broad acres of the paternal home-lessness, and yet he was never known to become stead. The drama of life with him also often caused the heart to throb with joy, and often brought the tears of anguish gushing into his eyes. He led his beautiful and youthful bride, Jane Butler, to his home of refinement and comfort, and when two little sons and a daughter had twined themselves around a mother's heart, Jane sickened and died. It was the first grief she had brought to the household. A few years passed away, and the saddened father sought another mother for his then two surviving children. He found the companion he needed in Mary Ball. She was one of the most beautiful and accomplished of the young ladies of that land, then far-famed for the loveliness and the culture of its fair daughters. Mary Ball! May her name be held in everlasting remembrance. She was a noble girl, a noble wife, a noble mother. Augustine and Mary were married on the 6th It was a severe ordeal through which he passed, when, in the thoughtlessness of almost infantile years, he tried the edge of his new hatchet upon his father's favorite cherry-tree. The tree was girdled and ruined. With flushed cheek the impetuous father, who carried "anger as the flint bears fire," demanded the perpetrator of the outrage. George, trembling with agitation, for a moment hesitated. But instantly his noble nature rose triumphant over the unworthy temptation to deceive. Looking his father frankly and earnestly in the face, he said, "Father, I can not tell a lie: I cut the tree." The father was worthy of the son. Generous tears gushed into his eyes. "Come to my heart, my boy," said he, as he folded his arms affectionately around him; "I had rather lose a thousand trees than find falsehood in my son!" were attached to it. All the other children were also left in a state of independence. Lady Washington was a woman of commanding figure, of much native dignity, and endowed with features of uncommon loveliness. Before her marriage she was generally regarded as one of the most beautiful girls of Virginia. Her manners were simple and unaffected. She was a woman of sincere piety, and trained up her family, in their secluded yet most hospitable home, at an infinite remove from all fashionable frivolities. Through her whole life she retained a mother's influence over her illustrious son. When George was but eleven years of age his father died, and he was left entirely to the care of his mother. The dying father had so much confidence in the judgment of his wife, that he When Washington was in the meridian of directed that all the property of the five chil- his fame, a large party was given in his honor dren should be at her disposal until they should at Fredericksburg. When the church bell rang respectively come of age. Well did the mother the hour of nine, Lady Washington rose and fulfill her weighty responsibilities. Washing- said, "Come, George, it is nine o'clock. It is ton ever recognized his obligations to his moth-time for us to go home." And taking her son's er for the principles which sustained him and animated him through his eventful life. Augustine Washington left a large property in lands. To his oldest son, Lawrence, the child of Jane Butler, he left the estate of Mount Vernon, then consisting of two thousand five hundred acres. To George was left the paternal mansion and the broad and fertile acres which arm, they retired. Such is the material of which mothers of Washingtons are made. The pallid belles of midnight are for a different function.* Perhaps we ought in honesty to record that Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, who was present on this occasion, states that after General Washington had seen his mother safely home, he came back again to the party. There are no two conspicuous characters in history which more strikingly resemble each other in all physical, intellectual, and affectional qualities than Letitia Raniolini, the mother of Napoleon, and Mary Ball, the mother of George Washington. And each of these illustrious men attributed to his mother those primal influences which controlled and guided subsequent life. Lady Washington had a span of elegant gray horses, of which she was very fond. She loved, as she sat with her needle at the parlor window, to see the lordly and graceful animals feeding upon the lawn or bounding over the turf in caressing gambols. One of these beautiful colts had never been broken to the saddle. Some young men at the lawn one day proposed to try the dapple gray on horseback. But the spirited steed set them at defiance, and no one could mount. George, though one of the youngest of the party, was remarkably vigorous and athletic. With a little address he soothed the fretted steed, and adroitly leaped into the saddle. He was a perfect horseman. The terrified animal struggled for a few moments in the vain attempt to throw him, and then, with the speed of the wind, started off upon a race. George, exulting in his victory, gave her free rein. But the blooded steed, true to her nature, yielded not till she fell in utter exhaustion prostrate beneath her rider. The panting animal appeared seriously, perhaps fatally injured. George was greatly alarmed. He knew how highly his mother prized and even loved the beautiful span. But, true to his characteristic instincts, he immediately hastened to her and informed her of what had happened. The mother's reply reveals to us the influence which formed the character of her child. George attended a common school, where he was instructed in the ordinary branches of an English education. His intelligence, manliness, and elevated character immediately gave him a high rank among his school-mates. He was almost invariably made the arbiter of their disputes, and there was ever a prompt acquiescence in the justice of his decisions. At this early age, for he was then but thirteen, he developed some intellectual traits which were very extraordinary. There is now extant a manuscript in his handwriting, in which he had carefully written different forms of business papers, that he might ever be ready, on any emergency, to draw up such a paper in concise and correct phraseology. There are copies of promissory notes, bills of sale, land warrants, leases, deeds, and wills. These are written out with much care, in a distinct and well-formed hand. Then follow some hymns of a serious, earnest, religious nature. The elevated soul is always meditative and earnest. A tinge of pensiveness overshadows every spirit which really awakes to the consciousness of the profound, the awful mystery of this our earthly being. The religious element must predominate in every intellect sufficiently capacious to range the vast sweep of infinity and of eternity. George Washington, as a boy, was soulful, thoughtful, devout. The wonder of life, inexplicable, astoundingthe dread enigma of death, present duty, future destiny, weighed heavily upon his meditative spirit even before he left the play-grounds of childhood. Another manuscript book, characteristic of this noble youth, contains a record of Rules of Behavior in Company and in Conversation. True politeness has been beautifully defined to be "real kindness kindly expressed." Wash"My son," said she, after a moment's pause, ington was a gentleman. When a boy he stud"I forgive you, because you have had the cour-ied the art of courteous and agreeable interage to tell me the truth at once. Had you course. He laid down rules to guide him to skulked away I should have despised you." the avoidance of every thing that might offend |