To Mrs.
George Fairfax in England she wrote, or rather her husband wrote for her: "The changes which have taken place in this country since you left it (and it is pretty much the case in all other parts of this State) are, in one word, total.

In Alexandria, I do not believe there lives at this day a single family with whom you had the smallest acquaintance.

In our neighborhood Colo.

Mason, Colo.

McCarty and wife, Mr.Chickester, Mr.Lund Washington and all the Wageners, have left the stage of human life; and our visitors on the Maryland side are gone and going likewise." How many people have had like thoughts! One of the many sad things about being the "last leaf upon the tree" is having to watch the other leaves shrivel and drop off and to be left at last in utter loneliness.
Like her husband, Mrs.Washington was an early riser, and it was a habit she seems to have kept up until the end.