Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee
- Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee
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Title
Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee
Subject
Martha Washington as Mistress of the Household
Creator
Mary Custis Lee DeButts, ed.
Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Date
1984
Format
book
Language
eng
Additional Item Metadata
Citation
DeButts, Mary Custis Lee, ed. Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee. Chapel Hill: Published for the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association by the University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
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Quotations and Notes
Sunday, 3/23/1856
“[Sunday, 3/23/1856] I had forgotten that during the time my journal was discontinued, dear old Mammy died about seventy-eight years old. One morning before Christmas, when Sister went to carry her julip she was cold & lifeless, but O I trust her spirit is in Heaven. She was as faithful as could be. How I missed her Christmas. When we paid the servants our usual visits there was one pair of steep steps up which I had no cause to go. She is the last but two of the Mt. Vernon servants. What tales she could tell of “those good old times” of Mrs. Washington’s beauty & good management. How “she was one of the out-door gals & would run to open the gate for the Gen.” And when my beautiful Aunt Lewis was married “how ole Mistis let all the servants come in to see it & gave them such good things to eat,” “how Ole Mistis was dressed so splendid, in a light flowered satin your Aunt Lewis all in something white, beautiful too.” But though a celebrated beauty she did not come up to “Ole Mistis” in Mammy’s eyes! she [sic] could not see why so much fuss was made over “the genl, he was only a man!”, a very good master she was sure, but she didn’t suppose he was so much better than anyone else.” O those nice talks! we [sic] won’t have any more….”
“[Sunday, 3/23/1856] I had forgotten that during the time my journal was discontinued, dear old Mammy died about seventy-eight years old. One morning before Christmas, when Sister went to carry her julip she was cold & lifeless, but O I trust her spirit is in Heaven. She was as faithful as could be. How I missed her Christmas. When we paid the servants our usual visits there was one pair of steep steps up which I had no cause to go. She is the last but two of the Mt. Vernon servants. What tales she could tell of “those good old times” of Mrs. Washington’s beauty & good management. How “she was one of the out-door gals & would run to open the gate for the Gen.” And when my beautiful Aunt Lewis was married “how ole Mistis let all the servants come in to see it & gave them such good things to eat,” “how Ole Mistis was dressed so splendid, in a light flowered satin your Aunt Lewis all in something white, beautiful too.” But though a celebrated beauty she did not come up to “Ole Mistis” in Mammy’s eyes! she [sic] could not see why so much fuss was made over “the genl, he was only a man!”, a very good master she was sure, but she didn’t suppose he was so much better than anyone else.” O those nice talks! we [sic] won’t have any more….”
Collection
How to Cite this Item
Mary Custis Lee DeButts, ed., "Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee," in Martha Washington, Item #147, https://marthawashington.us/items/show/147 (accessed April 6, 2021).