William Wilson Corcoran, the banker who endowed the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, was Mrs. Madison’s creditor after her husband’s death and came to know her well enough to talk freely with her.
”Mrs. Madison,” he once said, “may I ask, how old are you?”
”I am seventy-two, Mr. Corcoran,” she replied.
The following year, he repeated his question: “Mrs. Madison, how old are you?”
”I am seventy-two, Mr. Corcoran,” she repeated.
The year after that he tried again. “Mrs. Madison, how old are you?”
”I am seventy-two, Mr. Corcoran,” she told him.
He stopped inquiring.
Source:
Boller, Paul F. "Dolley Madison." Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. 48. Print.
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