His Mother
John Marshall’s mother, Mary Isham Keith, was a woman of great force of character and strong religious faith. She was pleasing in mind, person, and manners. And her son loved her with that chivalrous tender devotion, which made him gentle with all women throughout his life.
A few weeks before his death, John Marshall told his friend, Judge Story, that he had never failed to repeat each night, through his long life, the little prayer which begins:—
Now I lay me down to sleep,
that he had learned, when a baby, at his mother’s knee.
Sallie E. Marshall Hardy (Arranged)