Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-08-14
SELECT READING.
BRET EARTE. sfss
lie gass,a Pilgrimage - Wasainstoa's Heal :
s quarters. -

lie goss.sa Pilgrimage +, Wa5ainsto1's Head >
s Qusrters. ~
have been to Washington's head
quarters at Morristown. The adult
American who has not at sometime
stood beneath The same roof that shell
tered the father of his country is to be
pitied and feared. The opportunities
for performing this simple, patriotic act
are SO ample and varied that studious
disregard of them is, am satisfied con
sistent only with moral turpitude. Such
person may, indeed offer as an excuse
that he has sat in chair once occupied
by Washington; that he has drunk
from mug once used by Washington,
or that he has in his extreme youth
talked with an aged person who distinct
ly remembered Washington; but these
are supererogatory acts which do not
take the place Of this primary obi ga
ton. When we consider the number of
roofs that Washington has apparently
slept under when we reflect upon the
infinite toll and travel which the great
and good man must have undergone to
place this proud privilege within the
easy reach Of every American citizen,
the omission to avail ones self of it is
simply dospicable. The Valley Forge
experience has always been deemed o
spectacle of noble devotion and unpar-
alleled self-sacr;fcc, but / have preferred,
] confess, to lay awake ct nights think
ing of this unselfsh hero, rising ere it
was yet day, hurrying away, accolnpa-
MED only by his so colored body ser
wants, each with longevity and garulity
depicted or their faces, hurrying away
to reach the next town in time to make
another roof tree historical. I have
thought of him pursuing this noble du-
ty with dignified haste, pausing only to
pat the heads of toddling infants, who
in after years were destined to distinct
ly remember it, until the tears have ris-
Ell to my eyes.
So that when ! heard that Washing
tons headquarters at Morristown was
to be sold at public auction on the 25th
l determined to go and see it. It was
my first intimation that it was still in
existence; had, perhaps, often passed
it without knowing the fact, for it is .
peculiarly Of this kind Of property that
its historic quality is always sprung up
on you like a trap; that you are hardly
safe in an old tenement; that You drop
unconsciously into the Washingt, n
chair, or imbibe serenely from the
Washington mug, and that the fact is
brought sharply upon you like 8 pin in
the cushion or a fly III the mi k. In the
course Of time this expectation natural
" excites morbid activity of the in
tellect; but only once do relnember
being mistaken in the result. 1t was in
Sierran solitude, where | had encamp-
ed, and where / was solicited to take
supper in a newly built cabin Of an Eas
tern cmnigrant. At supper I was sup
piled with an ordinary china mug, Of
pale blue willow pattern. ''That mug"
said my host, "has little story connec-
ted ON it. 1t has been in our family
nigh on hundred years. 1t belonged
to my grandfather. At the seige OF
Yorktown he lived convenient to the
battle field, and the guns was posted all
around the house. All suddent-"
Il remember | interposed hastily
Suddenly commanding form darken
ed the little doorway, and dignified
but courteous voice asked for drink of
water. Your grandfather rose" Il
was goin' on to say, continued my host
calmly, s4hat the boomen o them guns
broke every bit of china IN the house,
and that grandfather had to buy new
set the next day, and this yer one is the
last of them put down my cup and
gazed long and earnestly at the man.
His face was calm, thoughtful, and ev-
en- sad, slight tremulousness of the
left eyclid, and a depression of the low
er angle Of the mouth on the same side,
easily attributable to heroic emotion,
were the only evidences # feeling