The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1865-03-29

finishes both the external and internal
ranges of this massive structure. The
house is entered by wide hall, on the
walls of which are are a series Of very old
paintings, mostly representing revolu-
tionary battles. They are bat indifereutly
executed, displaying very moderate
artistic skill, and ;he frames are heavy,
stained pine, and have been innocent of
varnish for quarter Of century. The
doors inside of the hall, and the angles
toward the stairway, are graced with
huge deer antlers, probably trophies of
some gay sporting days in the early his
tory of Arlington Place. Over the win
dows, and irregnlarly in various places
in the hall, are indentations In the plas-
tering, on which the art of frescoeing
seems to have been inverted, Here a
pack Of hounds are in full chase of hare,
and troop Of deer, and various other
chronicles Of sporting life are daubed in
the rudest style Ia the large rooms are
but few evidences remaining of the once
literally furnished home Of Gen. Lee
The paintings are still on the walls, and
a few sofas and chairs, ali the worse
Of use and age, are here; but nearly
everything that could be carried off has
gone as a memento of the rebel General
in chief. This curiosity seems to De
irTepressibIe with the American people.
An Intelligent contraband, formerly one
Of Lees slaves, Informed me that when
Lee left he took only the furniture that
belonged to Gen. Washington, and "My
Lady Lees" silver ware A portion Of
the furniture and articles he left behind
are now in the Patent Office. but van
dalism has done much to make vacant
places in Arlington.
Hard BY the mansion are the negro
houses, aud little to the rear are the
siables-all bearing the same evidences
of effort at display in architecture. The
negro houses have frescoed pictures over
the windows-one of which represents
an eagle with a serpent in It's claws, and
the stable has the massive pillars of the
mansion in miniature, and all bear the
same marks Of age and ravages of time.
1t would seem as if no repairs had ever
been made.
The large estate Of some hundreds of
acres seems to have been wholly devoted
to pleasure. ''Master Lee" said one Of
bis old slaves, "didu I raise nothing here.
and he kept only sixty slaves on this
place. He raised all be used at the
White Housc-dere he kept over three
hundred slaves" This was the whole
story in a few words. Arlington Place
was peopled with consumers-withs sixty
'menials to minister to the wants Of half
a score of whites, and Incidence has left
its tracks in wide spread decay Now,
however, a village Of freedmen are quar-
tered on the place. Much Of the native
forest has been felied to clear the sweep
for the guns of the forts, and the long
worn out and neglected fields are now
made to bloom and give golden fruits by
the labor Of the same slaves who hastened
its decay. A portion of the estate, en-.
circling the mansion on the left and in
the rear, is devoted to a soldiers GENE.
terry, and there are thousands of grave.
in regular rows to tell the sad story of
this wicked rebellion.
Terrible indeed has been the retnbu.
ton that has followed the efforts TO es.
tablish Slavery by an appeal to war. Lee
yielded to the mad current of perfdy that
swept the South in 1861, and drew his
sword against the most bene6ceut gov
errment Of the earth to make human
bondage eternal Since then foul long
years of bloody, apaling war have Grim.
soued our history. At times the tide Of
victory has seemed to swell toward the
deadly fees of the Republic, and again it
has trembled in the balance as If ready
to sweep resistlessly upon either side Of
the unnatural conflict but at last, after
years of agonizing doubt. of fearful sac
rifce, Of subliuest heroism alike in bohalf
Of tight and wrong, the fulness of His
time seems to be reached and the life of
government to be fully assured. The
slaves who once exhausted the fields of
Arlington as menials, now make them
rich with the fruits of industry inspired
By freedom and their once proud mas
ter is driven to the sorest extremity to
defend the capital of treason, and appeals
IN vain to those who plunged him into
war, to emancipate their slaves and send
them to bis side to save the remnant Of
his shattered army. Truly
"The mills Of the Gods grind slowly,
But they grind exceeding fne!''
But enough Of Arlington, and I
must hasten from this grand theatre Of
retrlhntinn and daath 10 daal zith The