New-York tribune., 1873-06-25
WASHINGTON IN NEW JERSEY
AN OLD HOMESTEAD.

ingtOns Headquarters. at MOrristOwn. The admit
American who has not at some time stood beneath
the same roof that sheltered the Father Of his
Country is 10 be pitcd and feared. The opportuni-
ties for performing this simple patriotic act are 50
ample and varied that q studious disregard Of them
is am satisfied consistent only with moral turpi-
tude Such person may, indeed, offer as an excuse
that no has sat in u chair occupied by Washing
ton; that he has drunk from mug used by
Washington or that he has in bis extreme youth
talked with an aged person who distinctly remem-
bered Washington. but there supcrerogatory acts
which do not take the place Of this primary obliga-
ton. When we consider the number Of roofs that
Washington has apparently slept under; when we
reflect upon the infinite toll and travel which tie
great aud good man must have undergone TO place
this proud privilege within the easy reach Of
every American citizen, the omission 90 avail
oneself of it is simply 6cspicable. The Valley
Forge experience has always been deemed a
spectacle Of noble devotion and unparalleled
self-sacrifce, but I have preferred, / confess,
TO lay awake nights thinking Of this unscish hero,
rising ere il was yet day, huryiag away accompa-
MED only by his $50 colOred body servants, each
with longevity and garruty depicted on their faces,
hurTyng away 20 reach the next town in tiIso TO
make another roof tree historical. / have thought
of him pursuing this noble duty with dgnihed
haste, pausng only to pat the heads Of toddng in-
fants who in after years destined TO distinctly
remember it, until the tears haVe risen 10 Hy eyes
So that when / heard that WashngtOn'5 Head
quarters at Morristown was TO be sold at public
auction on the 25h determined to 60 and gee it. IL
was my first intimaon that it was still in existence;
1 had perhaps often passed it without knowing the
fact for it is popularity Of this kind Of property
that its historic quality is always sprung upon.
you like a trap; that you are hardly safe
III any old tenement that you drop uncoa-
sciously into the Washington chair, or in
bibe serenoly from the Washington mug,
and that the fact is brought sharply upon you Ike
pin in the cushion OF a fly in the milk. IN ;le
course Of time this expectation naturally eNctes
morbid activity Of the intellect; but only once 90
remember being mistaken in the result. It was
in a SicrTan solitude, where ! had cucamped and
where was solicited to take supper in tho newly
built cabin of an Eastern immigrant. AZ supper
was supplied with an ordinary looking chiua mug
of a pale blue Willow pattern. THAT mug said
my host. "has a little story connected Oh 10. 1t
has been in our family nigh on hundred year. IL
belonged to my grandfather. At the sieso Of Yo.A-
town, be lived convenient to the battlefield, and
the guns was posted all around the house. AL Of \
guddent-D Il remember" l interposed hastily
Suddenly q commanding form daTkened the hJue
doorway, and a dignihed but courteous voice asked
! for drink Of water. Your grandfather rose
"IFwas ron' on 10 say.' continued my host
calmly, chat the boomin' O. them guns broke
every bit of china in the house and that grandfather
had TO buy new set next day, and this yer one is
| the last of them" Iput down my cup and eazad
| long and earnestly at the man. His face was calm,
! thoughtful and even sad-a slight trcmulousneS OF
the left eyeld, and a depression Of the lower angle
of the mouth on tho side, easily attributable to
historic emotion were the only evidences Of feeling
| But here was a veritabe Headquarters Of Wash
! irgton-based on no local tradition, but standing
! boldly in history. There had been temporary
! Headquarters at the Freemasons Tavern on " the
village creen.D But the house gone. the Free
masons were dust these fifty years. and on the viii
lage green the gray shaft that commemorated the
| MorrstOwn dead of the last civil war obterated
! tho past. How then remote,iand bloodless looked
| that jersey paign of n beside the names on
this obelsk. How rusty those old blood stains ap-
pearod beside the bright red still warm current Of
to-day. hurried past it, and out into the leafy
road that led to the historic house.
1t bad been my original intention to take with ne
q certain humoIst-a man who had made some
little reputation by habit of sco1ng az certain re-
vered objects by humorous analysis Of their ehecs
upon Others a man who kept you in h-gh spiHs,
and left you vapid and uncomfortable, man whose
company was a dissipation that brought dreadful
tomorrow morning after II man who was always
TO DO depended upon, but never to be trusted
l concluded however not to take him with me-
You'll be sorry you didn't" he said gloomily, rs he
leaned against fence with the settled melancholy
| of his profession. You're not to be trusted alone.
I'd bike 70 get shy at g. W. some time Look
aronnd his garden-nOt cherry tree to be seen Tell
me that he can get over that habt-that he didn't
sleep with hatchet under his pillow, and ge5 up IN
the dead of night to DO it. And then be had
no sense of humor When the staI were doing CO.
nundrums down there one night, and Greene asked
! him Why gooseberry was Ike q Hos5ian, u.dnt
| he reply 'Gon Greene, cannOt tell a alle-there IS
| absolutely no connection in nature between t-e
two and spoil the boys Of their little 1n - Aud
so left him mutterng, with look in his eye as u
ne were even then elab2yating humorous account
of my visit based entirely upon speculation oi my
| character and bearing every external evidence VI
greater truth than my own nAu.u'e'
But hero was the house. A C,uay walk aau a cOn'
tic ascent under few old trees ,cL to the porch On
that bright day of yellow June lis hard outlines and
scant decoration were somehow lost IN th' H. c!0us
atmosphere. The doJr stood opcl, and entered az
once a spacious hail-almOSt the OILY ina'ca'oa0f
| the dignity Of its former occupant It divided the
mansion east and west, and thr0agh q re1r door as
large as the front gave q view upon q descending
| lawn and orchard and simmer Of the MIippMy
River in the lower distance. In the lC-'oSt ay II
| Summer" said the gentle hostess " thlro aiTay5a
! breeze through the hall Surely Na.aIe'
at least, was not forsetf4l !. NaS Pleasant
| TO think that when the feNid July SUI
scorched the elaborate pink and blue 'i.,d Ioo' OF
| tho modern villas in the avenue }oHd,; tAat 10
mountain breezcs from those wooded l'S @ iAat ne
had made historic, loved to meet all l.ay and
Iingor here. During his time tn Goo. W. re'rF
| Ha.