Sketch of the Munro Clan

59
girl — to her friend and neighbor, Mary Mason, alleged to be on
a visit to New York.
To prepare this letter, I consulted every authority available, in-
cluding Washington's " Diary" the " Familiar Letters on Public
Characters" Hudson's " History of Lexington," the newspapers
of the day {preserved in the State library), and other volumes that
I do not now recall. In addition, I gathered from elderly persons
in Lexington all relevant traditions. Weaving this material to-
gether, imitating the epistolary style of the time, and placing myself
as far as possible in the mental attitude of a young country girl of
that day, the letter was evolved.
It contains nothing — except the minor character sketching —
for which I did not have either contemporary authority or the most
reliable tradition. The statements regarding the weather, the
prevalence of grip, the behavior and words of Washington, the
personnel of his following, the " reception committee " at Lexington,
the family at the tavern, the bill of fare, the gowns of the children,
— in short, all the details, — were dug out either from journals,
reminiscences, newspaper columns and advertisements of J?8p, or
from well-authenticated tradition. Therefore, while the letter
itself is a fiction, it contains scarcely anything but historical facts
placed, for the entertainment of an after-dinner company, in an
unconventional setting.
The fraud seemed to me so patent, the possibility of belief by any
one that a half-educated young girl would prepare a narrative so
straightforward and circumstantial appeared to me so remote, that
I had no thought of the skit being taken seriously. I have been
greatly annoyed, therefore, at the quotations which have appeared
implying this letter to be genuine ; and I beg that, in future, all
references to this unfortunate epistle may be excluded from your
paper.