There were new experiments to be tried, and the general purpose to be carried out of making Mount Vernon a model place in that part of the country.

Whether he would or not, he was sought for almost daily by persons who came from all parts of the United States, and from overseas.

Hospitality being not merely a duty, but a passion with him, he gladly received the strangers and learned much from them.

From their accounts of their interviews we see that, although he was really the most natural of men, some of them treated him as if he were some strange creature--a holy white elephant of Siam, or the Grand Lama of Tibet.

Age had brought its own deductions and reservations.