Most men, however
stern, will unbend to woman. There is in woman's presence a divinity
which thaws the rigor of the heart and warms the soul, which manifests
itself in the softening of the eye, in the glow upon the cheek, and the
relaxation of manner. It was not so with Washington. In his
reception-rooms he was easily polite and courteously affable; but his
dignity and the inflexibility of his features never relaxed.
"I remember to have heard Mrs. Adams say 'she did not think he was ever
more than polite to Mrs. Washington.' With all this he was very kind,
and if he ever did let himself down it was to children, and these never
seemed to feel his austerity, or to shrink away from it. It is said
that it is the gift of childhood to see the heart in the eye and the
face. It is certain they never approach an ill-natured or bad man, and
never shrink from a kind and good one. In his intercourse with his
Cabinet, he was respectful to difference--consulted each without
reserve or concealment, and always weighed well their opinions, and
never failed to render to them his reasons for differing with them.
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