The herald. [microfilm reel], February 22, 1895, Page 6, Image 6

About The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
6
The Herald
By I*hk Hktmt.p Publishing Company.
JOHN BRADBURY,
President and <i neral Manager.
EMTOKIAh DEPARTMENT: No. 205 New
High Street. Telephone 15U.
John T. GakkkY Managing Editor.
BUSINESS OFFICE: Bradbury Building, 222
West Third street. Telephone 247.
Dot m.as White Business Manager.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 33, iBO3-~
Go to sea and save money.
Doesn't the sun shine, though!
How about this weather, anyway?
"Ah there, Brigadier-General!"
Mayor Sutro has come in out of the
wet.
It's a cold day when Southern Calirornia
gets left.
Who will boss the National Guard south
of Tehacliepi?
Why doesn't Oregon let Dolph out and
eieet a Senator?
Hank robbing is a losing game in this
end of the state.
The woman who removes her hat in a
theater is a lady. ,
Talk about life on the ocean wave. It
oomcs cheap now.
Every first-class restaurant keeps The
Herald for its guests.
When you satisfy yourself with the hill
of fare read The Herald.
Reform government is one thing—get
ting a bill through, another.
The deadlock in Idaho and Oregon is
becoming somewhat monotonous.
The children of Pasadena haven't buried
the hatchet story yet, at any rate.
And now San Francisco is talking of a
spring festival on its own account.
Kader's valentines strike close to neces
sity, even ii they do come from the East.
Now let somebody introduce a law pro
hibiting the "eoing out between the
acts.'' ,
When you wear a mask and cover * faro
dealer with a revolver you are bound to
win.
Never mind, children, they can't
whoop up this sort of climate in the Bay
district.
A side entrance to a saloon is a sneer
on the countenance of a hypocritical
community.
When a man wants diamonds in San
Francisco he simply hires a horse and
picks up a stone.
The law of coincidence is proving itself
in Los Angeles, and suicide parallels
murder in the usual ratio.
The stockholders of the Valley road
show no signs of weakening. Their
money is beginning to talk.
When she is at sea she is a sloop, when
at anchor a schooner, and all along the
suspicion of smuggler follows.
In addition to being an alleged cold
blooded murderer, Harry Hayward is able
to cope with sharp cross-examiners.
It is all right tp enact ordinances clos
ing the saloons on Sunday, but of what
use are such laws if they are not enforced?
It is a lingering evidence of our rever
ence for the Father of His Country that
we "observe" his birthday as a "legal
holiday."
The Reilly funding bill is trying to
Banquo Congress, but there is little
chance to shake its gory locks in the pres
ence of this session.
There is some scattering reference just
now to "The Coming Woman." The
Coming Woman! Why, bless your heart!
she isn't "coming"—she is here.
Up in Oregon and Idaho they waste the
entire time of a Legislature trying to
elect a Senator, and then don't do it. The
public cares nothing about reform meas
ures.
It is said that George Washington never
told a lie. But then it must be remem
bered that he "entered politics" when
that science was an infant industry in
this country.
The Republican City Convention of Chi
cago had to be suppressed by the police.
Then they nominated a Mayor by accla
mation. This is the Chicago idea of
The impending law prohibiting high
hats in the theaters has produced one
good result already. The woman in front
of you removes her hat without argument
on your simple request.
A colored person shot another colored
person last night near the Arcade depot
and walked unmolested to the police sta
tion. Suppose he had walked the other
way? He might have been going yet.
The protest of the people against the
proposed increase of water rates grows
louder and more pronounced as the time
approaches for levying this tax. And
these protests will not cease until the city
assumes the ownership of its water sup
ply.
The Daily Report of San Francisco ac
cuses Lim Angeles of having assumed a
"patronizing" and "supercilious" air
toward the metropolis. That may be,
and even the Report will not deny that
until recently we had ample reason for
our opinion.
While the rest of the world is endeavor
ing to purify its moral condition, the
cities of Southern California are laying
porphyry pavements, to be paid for with
the profits of the orange crop. In the
garden of the Hesperides the morals of
the gardeners were secondary to the com
fort of the population.
Klcbard Smith, "a marine hermit,"
fflui is residing at present on the hulk of
It m homier afloat in San Francisco Hay.
lias predicted that the city is to be de
stroyed by an ocean flood. He has warned
tiie people and is much grieved that they
bike no hoed of his warning, but keep
right on subscribing to competing rail
roads, slumming the Tenderloin and
otherwise pursuing the even wickedness
of their way. He is consoled, however,
by the reflection that Noah was similarly
neglected, and he patiently awaits the
hour when the survivors of his catastro
phe come pleading at the deadeyes of his
ark
LOS ANGELES HERALD: FRIDAY MORISTING, FEBRUARY 22, 1895.
THE NATION'S HOPE
Sixty million freemen honor the mem
ory of George Washington today. Millions
more must offer unconscious homage to
the patriot who struck down tyranny and
proved to the world that "the divine
right of kings" is a fallacy—a hoary su
perstition to affright and abash the con
sciences of slaves.
Every schoolboy knows the history of
the epoch in which Washington lived and
struggled and conquered. There is none
so ignorant that he cannot appreciate the
lesson of that period and understand its
application or its effect upon the events
of the age. It is not everyone, however,
who realizes the distance we have drifted
from the original mooring of tho ship of
state. Not that the people are less pa
triotic —on occasion they can rise to every
emergency; but they are prone to a
conservatism that requires a tremendous
emergency to rouse them. They are long
suffering under oppressions more tyran
nous than those imposed by George the
Third. They have permitted syndicated
wealth to dictate to their Congresses and
Legislatures and they have rested supinely
under the dead weight of trusts and cor
porations and a succession of political
oligarchies more arrogant than Hano
verian usurpation or Tory feudalism.
Human nature is unchangeable. It is
the same today as it was when the im
mortal signers delivered their famous
ultimatum to the fatttous old man of
Whitehall. The spirit of '76 is as strong
in the American people today as it was
when they routed Hessians in the
Carolinas and chased Tarleton's To
ries through the swamps of the Old
Dominion. The people of this coun
try are just a. determined in defense
of their battle-won privileges as they were
when they uttered their Declaration of
Independence. It may be that they will
continue to submit a little longer, but the
end is inevitable and the new Declaration
is being framed—the nation is dictating
the policy of the Government at the bal
lot box—the disobedience of the servants
of the people and the autocratic attitude
of syndicated wealth will be attended to
hereafter.
It is not denied that the institutions of
this country have been shifted from the
foundations laid by Washington and Jef
ferson and Adams and Hamilton, and it
is agreed that unless they are placed upon
the original pedestal the structure of
democracy will crumble and republicanism
become a byword amongst nations. But
the lesson taught by the founders of the
Kepublic has not been forgotten by the
people, and where one Washington girded
on the sword, to marshal the host of pa
triots, a million of patriots are ready to
respond to the call of duty in the hour of
their country's peril, whether it be from
foreign invader or the treason that stalks in
the councils of political parties. There will
be a revival of patriotism long before this
generation has passed away, and the
memory of the Father of his Country will
once more shine doubly resplendent in
the hearts of a liberty loving people.
Demagogues and political tricksters have
been long enough at the helm of state; it
is now time that the people began to look
after their own affairs.
And they will do it.
OUR EXAHPLE
It is gratifying to note that Los Ange
les is taking the lead in public affairs, and
that the advantages we receive from La
Fiesta have induced Pan Francisco to
agitate the question of holding an annual
festival in that city. This alone is suffi
cient to arouse the utmost exertions on
the part of the people of this city to make
La Fiesta a grand success. The Han Fran
cisco merchants and newspapers realize
that the fame of California will be greatly
enhanced, when it earns a reputation as a
place of amusement and recreation as
well as one beneficial to health.
The fact, however, that other cities in
this state have inaugurated a movement
of this character, will not injure our carni
val. The tourist, who generally arrives
in Southern California during the latter
part of January or the commencement of
February] will have an opportunity to
visit the orange groves and citrus belt of
this section during the two months that
intervene between his arrival and the car
nival.
After having observed our marvelous I
resources, our semi-tropic fruits, our I
balmy climate and picturesque scenery,
he can devote two months longer to amuse- ]
ment. He will witness the grandest of |
all carnivals and the most unique festi- |
val, with all its distinctive features, in
Lm Angeles. Then he will enjoy the
magnificent display of flowers at Santa I
Barbara. He can then turn north and 1
take part in the Mardi Gras that San
Francisco may successfully carry out, and
when he leaves California he will be con- |
viiiced-that no state in the Union offers
■UCb diversified and interesting advantages
for health and pleasure as our own favored
state.
Then California will offer the attrac- 1
tions of Italy and France combined.
The effectiveness of combination a~d
intelligent co-operation was never more
forcibly presented than it is in the result
of tin; great, wine deal consummated by
the California Wine Association. The fact,
that the association controls the sale of
19,000,000 gallons of wine, stupendous aa
it is, does not compare with future bene
fits arising from the industry and enter
prise of the producer who, as a member
of the association, has a clear field with- I
out being compelled to pay exorbitant j
tribute to the middlemen.
It is exceedingly difficult for a man to
die hy violence in Ix>s Angeles, if he es
capes the tirst clip of "the grim reaper."
This is due to the cold-blooded manner in
which I'olice Surgeon Bryant handles the
"case" after it reaches him. He seems
to regard Death's buffets upon even the
most worthless of lives as a personal af
front, and he resents them as such. Home
of bis more enthusiastic admirers say he
is "the best police surgeon in the world."
Sympathy
harper's bazar
If we should be so quick of heart,
So keen of sight.
That we could feel each shadow's gloom,
Each blossom's blight,
The fairest ot earth's blue-gold days
Would tuan to night.
If we should grow so swift to feel
Each human pain,
That for each aching human heart
Ours ached again.
Life were all weariness, and joy
Grown poor and vain.
Some sounds are lost In silence, though
We reverent hark:
Some sights are shut from anxious eyes
by pitying dark;
The limit of the soul's out-gift
Has Unite mark.
Dr. Price's Cream Baking-Powder
World's Fair Highest Medal and Diploma.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDITORS
Loa Angeles wants a morgue. Ban
Francisco can spare hers, now tha-4 she
has risen from the dead and is preparing
to clothe herself with the mantle of a
competing railroad. —Hanford Democrat.
We suggest to our legislators that they
enact a law, making it somebody's busi
ness to return overcharges collected from
our tax-burdened citizens, and that with
out fees or commissions.—Booth's Bazoo.
It is snowing and blowing in the East,
but the sun shines warmly, the birds
sing sweetly and the merry bathers bathe
comfortably in the ocean here every day.
Who wouldn't enjoy life by the sea these
winter days.—Santa Monica Outlook.
The fact that the train robbers who
looted an express car recently took only
the gold coin aboard, leaving all the
silver behind, will doubtless be pointed
out by the silver-plated statesmen as an
other goldbug bug discrimination against
the wnite metal.—Santa Barbara Morn
ing Press.
Mayor Sutro is a tremendous enemy of
the Southern Pacific- with his mouth.
His purse, however, does not co-operate
ami the reason seems to be that they run by
separate mechanisms, the former being
by donkey engine, independent of the
main line. —Pasadena Evening Star.
.Southern California seems to he stand
ing in with the elements or at least the
orange crop does. On top of the double
freeze in Florida and the frost in Valen
cia, comes the news that snow has dam
aged the orange crops iv Sicily. Surely
the prospects look bright, for 1 Southern
California and her immense crop of
golden fruit. -Long Beach Eye.
The Los Angeles Herald, which was
mainly responsible for the plan to build a
railway from that city to Fresno, now
urges the construction of a line to Hakers
rield, to meet the ''Spreckels road."
The suggestion is an excellent one, but
if the Los Ange!es people really mean
business they would better not wait for
the materializing of tho sugar king's
windy scheme. Let them build tO Bakers
held and when they get there prohably
they will And a clear field for their orig
inal plan for a line to Fresno. — Kiversiue
Enterprie.
And now it is denied that there was
anything like torture attempted by the
Hawaiian Government, or its representa
tives, to wring confession from the
mouths of unwilling witnesses. The
whole story being denounced as made
from whole cloth, there is no more proof
of its truth than of its falsity. To make
the matter entirely plain a searching in
vestigation should be made by the Gov
ernment and conducted in such a way as
to leave no room for doubt regarding the
correctness of the findings.—San Diego
Union.
Various rumors are afloat in regard to
the intention of the Pacific Beet Sugar
Company, until the last meeting of the
stockholders known as the Anaheim Co
operative Beet Sugar Company. One re
port has it that a line of railway from Los
Angeles to Santa Ana will be "built down
through a new town to be built up around
the factory, which is to be located six
miles west of Anaheim, taking In either
Westminster or Garden Grcve.—Santa Ana
Evening Blade.
Flax culture is attracting the attention
of this state, and it is reported that con
tracts for the purchase of some 200(1 tons
of rlax seed at about $40 per ton have been
made. It is believed that 1000 pounds of
seed per acre may be easily produced on
our good lands which should make the
crop profitable, especially if the straw
should be utilized as ft ought to be.
We need to diversify our crops, and it
is well to investigate flax, tobacco, sugar
cane and beets in a great many localities
where they are not now grown.'— San Ber
nardino '1 imes-Tndex.
THE HERALD IN EVIDENCE
The Los Angeles Herald of yesterday ap
peared in an illuminated cover, and' was
an excellent journal in all respects. The
paper is also using typesetting machines
now. one of which is capable of setting as
much type in two hours as is used by the
Democrat daily. The live typesetting ma
chines used by the Herald can do as much
work with five men as was formerly ac
complished by twenty.—Hanford Demo
crat.
*r ir *
The Los Angeles Herald has for the past
month or two been in a transition stage,
having undergone a change of proprietors,
editors and quarters. It now appears in a
new dress and greatly improved in every
department. Last Sunday it came to us
in twenty-four pages, enclosed in a very
striking and handsome cover in purple
and brown. It is a credit to Southern
California.—Orange News.
* * *
The change in makeup of the Los An
geles Herald, from seven to six columns,
is a decided improvement, ami one Which
will be appreciated by the readers. As
that journal says, "you don't buy news
papers by the yard" and quality "is pre- |
ferable to quantity.—Santa Monica Out
look,
V 9
Last Sunday morning the Los Angeles
Herald came out in a new dress of type
throughout. The Herald is now one of
the newsiest and handsomest dailies of
the Pacific Coast.—Pomona Saturday Bca- i
con.
Too Much for Detective Wiggins
PROM H AItPEK'H BAZAK.
He was thfl best detective that the world had
ever known;
If Bleuth-hnun In had a monarch hod hare oc
cupied the throne.
In all his life—'tis history—he'd never once
been stumped:
But on a sudden, sad to tell, his stock it sorely
slumped.
If anybody lost a pin In some far-off haystack,
He'd take the midnight train, and morn wouid j
lind the pin brought back.
If there were thieves around about who'd
baffled every one,
The minute he took up the case they knew |
their game wa- done.
If there were murder of the most mysterious
detail,
In which c'en Mr Sherlock Holmes would have
been sure to fail,
They'd call Detective Wiggins in to forret out
a clue.
And every tlmo he did It they'd discover it was
true;
But I—yes, Pin responsible for Mr. Wiggin's
fall—
I didn't mean to pull him down, or injure him
at all.
I Bimply had a mystery—'tis very sad to tell—
I went to him to have it solved, since he had
clues to sell.
*oh, Mr. Wiggins, sir," said I, "Will you find
out for me
The thing 1 am dying lor to kuow?—'tis
wrapped in mystery.
A point it ia that comes at night and all my
dreams doth haunt—
What is It all these women of today think that
they want?
"Why do they wish to go and vote? What sort
of slaves aro they?
Who is it, too, that holds'em all in bondage,
tell me pray?
And what's this 'ryranny of man' we hear so
much of late?
And who has any scheme.by which to remedy
their slate?
"And what's that state? Who brought it on?
Get me the villain's name.
If woman lives in bondage'tis a rank and burn
ing shame.
But ere I take up arms for her I'd truly like to
see
Just what she thinks she wants, and what's
her remedy.'*
And Wiggins worked by day, by night; he
worked for weeks and weeks.
Hiseyo grew dull and listless and the color left
his cheeks,
And nua ly he gave it up anddied--he was
hard h t
To find one mystery so deep he couldn't fathom
it.
SOME MEMORIES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
Few people in this
Reeolloetions world live to recall
the memories of near
of a Man ly a century, but the
recollections of Colo-
Who Know nel James I>. Minroll,
the oldest inhabitant
Washington of Allegheny, Pa.,
date back to L 797.
Very Intimately when he was 4 years
old. Though born in
the rural districts of Virginia, within a
few miles of that Mecca of American free
men, Mount Vernon, the greater part of
his life has been spent in Washington
city, where he has been intimate with
almost every distinguished man who has
been prominent in the various phases of
public life at the national capital during
the past seventy-tivc years. Many happy
bourn of his childhood were passed on the
estate of the immmortal Father of his
Country, and as the Colonel is as vigor
ous mentally nnd physically as any man
of 80, his recollectious of the great patriot,
as well as those of John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, Aaron Burr, James Madison,
.lames Monroe, John Quincy Adams, An
drew Jackson, Martin Va.i Buren, Henry
Glayj John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster,
William Henry Harrison, John Tyler,
James K. Polk and many others of our
public men of bygone days are replete
with the charm of novelty and interest.
"While I think of myself only as a
boy,"' he said in a recent interview, "I
feel as though I were just beginning to
live, being blessed with supple joints, a
good appetite, excellent sleeping abilities
and as great a disposition to shun hard
work as any P5-vear-old youngster could
possibly have, I must confess to what
the clergy call a 'realizing sense' that I
am out of my teens when I re
member that I am nearly 40 years older
than the railroad, 50 years older than the
telegraph and nearly LOO years older than
the telephone and phonograph. I had
hurrahed and voted for my favorite pres
idential candidates several times before I
licked my first postage stamp, and it was
not until several years after I had arrived
at man's estate that some inventive gen
ius produced v metal plow.
"Long after I was a married man, great
big 'gals'—in old Virginity, where I was
horn—with long waist ribbons and their
dress sleeves puffed out a balloon, used to
carry their shoes under their arms until
they came close to the meeting house,
when they would stop and put them on,
and they'd holler for Oen'ral Jackson if it
killed them. In those days if a boy got a
pair of home-made low shoes, a pair of
linsey-woolsey pahts and a wool bat once
a year he thought he was playing in great
luck, as you young fellows say now.
"It was in'such an outfit—for boys ar
rived at the dignity of bifurcated apparel
at a much younger age in those days
than they do now—that early in March,
1797, I first remember visiting* Mount Ver
non, being then a youngster of 4 years.
It was on the occasion of Washington's re
turn to home and domestic life at the ter
mination of his second Presidential term.
Among a vast concourse of neighbors and
friends assembled to welcome him was my
father, who had taken me with him. The
occasion was made one of general rejoic
ing. The people came ducking in from all
parts of the vast estate.
"Those who are familiar
Mount With the Mount Vernon of
today, with its 200 acres,
Vernon can scarcely realize that in
Washington's time it num
in the bered several thousand. It
was originally known as
Old Days. the Hunting Creek estate,
but when Lawrence Wash
ington. George's half-brother. Inherited
it from their father, he rechristened it
Mount Vernon, in honor of the English
Admiral under whom he had served in
the disastrous campaign against Car
thagena, in South America. At his death
it descended to his daughter Jennie, and
when she died, soon afterward, it became
Cheerless and sad
The March From indeed was the
march of the pa-
Gormamtown to triotio army from
the hills of Ger-
Valley Forge niantown to the
forge within the
valley, twenty miles away. Under the
cold and lowering December sky the rug
ged, rugged rebels against monarchical
Oppression trudged wearily toward their
winter's home, where, naught of cheer
awaited them, and where no habitation
yet existed for their rest and comfort,
where for aught they knew the wolf of
hunger and the sting" of frost might end
their days us surely as the hum of British
lead or the thrust of British steel.
So it was that. Washington and his men
marched tv that place known in song and
story as Valley Furge. Arriving there on
December 17. 1777, the wearied, famished
troops were forced to brave the wintry
blasts in tents until they could fell the
trees from which to construct tbe rude log
huts in which they were to spend the win
ter months. This* season had opened with
the property of George Washington. It j
was a great "domain, extending for miles |
down the Potomac below Alexandria.
When the beautiful young relict of
Colonel Daniel Parke Custie—colonial
belle at 15, a bride at 17 and a widow,
with two children at 24—became Mrs.
Washington, she brought her new lord a
dower of 15,000 acres of land. 300 negroes
and |30,000 invested in the best securities
of those days. The large domain thus
added to Mount Vernon made Washington
one of the wealthiest landowners of his
day.
"No man was ever more liberal in the
entertainment of his friends and neigh
bors than George Washington. Those
Wi re the days when every well-regulated
plantation or farm had its still house in
which the golden grain -garnered with a
sickle, for the originator of that great in
vention, the grain cradle, with its five
lingers, the forerunner of the reaper and
the mowing machine, was then alike to
fortune and fame unknown—was trans
formed into the whisky which did not
make men crazy and which sold from $3
to $5 per barrel. It was one of the staple
productions of Mount Vernon, and every
man on the estate that day drank 'Wel
come home and long life to General George
Washington' in a bumper of it that would
excite the horror of modern advocates of
constitutional prohibitory amendments.
*'I have looked upon many mighty men.
I have seen the great Napoleon tn the full
flush of his pride and triumph* I have
seen George IV.—the first gentleman of
Europe. I have personally known Lord
Byron. Sir Walter Scott, Daniel O'Con
nell, Daniel Webster and many others of
the men most famous in affairs of gov
ernment, arms, literature, statesmanship
anil oratory, but never have I seen any
other man who Impressed me, child
though I was, as possessing such massive
grandeur and dignity of presence as did
General George Washington when he stood
upon the veranda at Mount Vernon and,
in a few simple, well-chosen words
thanked us for our demonstration of wel
come. The impression then made by
him upon my child-mind can never be
effaced, and of all the great men whom I
have seen none has ever been able to de
pose the Father of his Country from tho
pedestal of superiority over other men
upon which I placed him in my heart
that day.
"Down in the negro quarters numer
ous pot pies were cooking in ten gallon
kettles and many juicy possums were
roasting before brightly burning wood
tires. We had no coal in those days,
and the winter wood pile of a prosperou
planter at that time would make a houses
holder of the present day think that there
had been a freshet in the neighborhood.
"Then in the grand
When Neighbors old banquet hall of
Mo v n tVera on, Wash -
Met Together— ington and his
neighbors sat down
liich and Poor to one of the old
fashioned rural Vir-
Allke ginia suppers ol that
period. When this
feast had been dispatched, the tables were
quickly cleared away and all the big boys ;
and gals went swinging around in a merry, j
joyous circle singing:
We are marching, marching to Quebec,
While the drums are loudly beating.
"Oh, those were halycon days indeed in
Ole Virginny, when neighbors met to
gether—rich and poor alike—to help each |
other at log rollings, barn raisings, liar- '
vesting! and hustings, and to frolic mer- I
rily when the work was done.
"I have spoken of the banquet hall at
Blount Vernon. Together with the libra- i
ry and the piazza overlooking the Po- i
tomac; it was one of the chief features of 1
two new wings added to the old mansion I
in 1785. Two years previously, on De
cember 23, 1783, Washington had per- i
formed the crowning act of his heroic j
career by giving back into the hands of I
Congress his commission as Commander- I
in-Chief of the armies of a great country
which owed its individual life so largely ]
to him. On the following night—Christ- l
mas Eve, 1783—the plain Mr. and Mrs.,
Washington and his beautiful wife, were i
WITH THE REVOLUTIONIST!. AT VALLEY FORGE
unusual severity. The ground was covered
with ice and snow, and the line of march
was marked by blood stains from the feet
of many a gallant fellow whose shoes had
been worn out on other fields while etriv
tng so lone and earnestly for the cause of
liberty. Hatless, coatless, hungry and
cold, this immortal hand set to work to
provide shelter for themselves. Not a man
flinched, notone shirked his duty.
The sick and sorely wounded found tem
porary shelter, as best they might, among
the farmers in the neighborhood. A city of
log huts sprang up along the hillside. In
each of these rude dwellings, fourteen feet
by sixteen, scarcely high eneugh to per
mit one to stand uprigh, clay-daubed
and tilled, with roof of slabs and*fireplace
of logs and mortar, twelve soldiers or
non-commissioned officers were quar
tered. A brigadier or other general
officer enjoyed the luxury of a whole hut
to himself, and the same * was allowed to
the staff of each brigade and regiment.
The huts of rank and file fronted on
streets, wl.de the officers' quarters formed
a line in the rear, the general arrange
ment being not unlike the modern camp
of our militia.
Scarcely had the men begun their work
again welcomed home to Mount Vernon
with just such another neighborly demon
stration as I have attempted to dt scribe
above, and of which I have often heard
my father toll. The fame of Washington
and of the rapidly growing nation which
he was regarded as having begotten drew
so many visitors to Mount Vernon that
the enlargement of the grand old house
was absolutely necessary for their fitting
entertainment.
"There crowd upon me today with
strange vividness the memories of my
subsequent visit* to Mount Vernon and
of the many times t saw its master in the
nearly three remaining years before death
closed his brilliant earthly career on De
cember 14, 1744.
"No man ever had a more intensely hu
man side than Washington. It was com
mon talk among the people of our neigh
borhood that he had a strange weakness
for purchasing lottery tickets. There were
also rumors that he hud what old Tony
Weller would call an ama'ble veakness for
falling in love head over heels—platoni
cally or otherwise—with pretty young
women, and was very greatly annoyed
when the aforesaid young women refused
to fall in love with' him, Many of our
neighbors even went so far as to say that
he always traded horses to his own ad
vantage* and 'Never swap horses with
Washington' finally became a sort of pro
verbial saying in that section of the Uld
Dominion.
"Though he was unquestionably the
richest and most prominent American of
his day, he was an unconscionably bad
speller, as everybody
Washington knows. I have often
heard my father say that
Had Great Washington had "great
passions, hut had them
Passions and in magnificent control,
and that though remark-
Wai a Bad ably talkative to confiden
tial friends, he was sing-
Speller ularly taciturn when
there was any likelihood
of wdmt he said being repeated or made
public. He always asked a blessing at
table, where he had his glass of wine or
mug of beer at every meal, and he was a
hearty, cheerful, active man, who enjoyed
life as if it were worth living. No man
was ever more thoroughly familiar with
every detail of his affairs, or ever gave to
his estate a closer personal supervision.
His natural dignity was such that he
could very well afford to do and often did
do many things that were unusual for a
planter of his condition and time. Those
were the days when the women . pulled
the flax while the men broke, swingled
und hackled it, and then twisted it into
little cues for the women to spin and
weave. I have seen the immortal George
stoop down and pull flax to show some
green hand among the negro women hqw
it should be done. This flax raising was
among the chief industriea at Mount Ver
non, and even now I seem to see there,
bleaching in the sun, the long strips—
white as ' the driven snow—from which
sheets, pillow cases, table cloths, towels,
napkins, under-clothing and even pants
for the great Washington himself were
made. In my mind's eye I see again the
female slaves carding wool—with hand
cards—into rolls on rolls ready to spin on
their wheels; imagine 1 hear them
singing the quaint old plantation hymns
and folksong of the south as those wheels
go merrily round, while moving übiqui
tously over every part of the state I see
once* more the tall, erect figure of the
master.
"Then there comes to me the memory
of how the whole country was startled by
the shock of the sudden announcement of
the great patriot's untimely death on De
cember 30th of that same year—and the
proclamation -of President John Adams
that February 22d, Washington's birth
day, stiould be fittingly celebrated by the
wliole nation. Though I was hut a child
scare 7 years of age when George Wash
ington died, yet my recollection of him
and of the daily life I -aw him lead at
Mount Vernon for nearly three years are
far more fresh and vivid in my memory
than the events that transpired yester
day."
when, December 22nd, couriers brougoi
news that the enemy had made a sorts
toward Chester with the evident intention
of plundering the granaries, cellars and
hen-roosts of the farmers thereabout, ft
was to prevent just such attempts that the
patriotic army bad lingered near the cit*
instead of seeking greater comfort aW
immunity from service, by retiring to tlfij
interior. The rumor, fortunately, proved
to be unfounded; but. the desperate con'
dition of the troops was forcibly reflected
in the replies of the two General!
Huntington and Varnum, whom (bacon
mander ordered to march against the en.
emy. "Fighting will be far preferable tp
starving," writes Huntington. "My
brigade are out of provisions, nor can tho
commissary obtain any meat. " "It is a
very pleasing circumstance to the division
under my command," writes Varnuni,
"that there is a probability of marching.
Two days we have been entirely without
meat."
This was Valley Forge at Christmas,
1777. Such was the extremity to which
was reduced, at that time, the army which
eventually wrested this mighty nation of
ours from the grasp of a mercenary, sous>
less monarch.