National Republican., 1873-09-30

ulut tlUtl uOuDlC-UTtNSICu COht WIN Nll0o0
buttons. During Jefferson's first term, a
freshet In the Potomac, and sudden torrent
OF rain, which lasted whole day, so raised
tile Tiber creek that II flooded Pennsylvania
avenue from the Capitol gate TO Sixth street,
and made river on the south side OF the
Avenue. Laborcrs on the Capitol building |
wishing TO get to their homes, attempted 10
wade this torrent, and were carried of their
feet and fOated down the stream, where they
caught In the bushes and branches Of trees,
and held on pcriously through the whole
night. Mr.. Jefferson rode down TO the spot
on horseback. and offered els head for each
man saved, and the use Of his horse to any
them.
Mr.. Hines remembers Mr.. Madison, with
MS hair powdered on all occasions, walking
UP street when Secretary of State, from his
residence TO tho White House, where he kept
ms oiiicc He remembers Mr.. Monroe walk
White House, while Secretary Of State, limp
ing httle, and with his left side always fore
most. He remembers the General Post Office
when II was kept In the War Office building,
along with the Patent Office, and has seen
~ Mr; Gidson Granger enter his boarding house
In the Seven Buildings"
In 1853 Christian Hines and his brother.
Matthew Hines, took advantage OF the lattcr's
confinement to his house to jot down together,
from their united memories, all the early
houses and families In tho capital. Matthew
Hines died In 1883, and his brother, with pious
industry, recorded their "reminiscences.
The first roadway made on the Avenue was
by cutting down the bushes and briers with
scythes, and carting gravel, chips Of free
stone, and refuse from the new buildings to
make footway. The footways were made
tirst and the middle Of the street filed aud
leycled afterward, until the - )lc resembled
one OF the army-roads made IN Virginia dur
xNuH II
planted down the Avenue In 1901, and Mr..
Jefferson was frequently there, looking at an
old man named bnntin setting out the Lom-
Dardy pQplars. jefferson was fond of going
to the spot where all the improvements were
made, and his poplar trees lasted for very
many years. but y was rumored that they
would not procreatc, being female trees only.
lie remembers the forest trees growing In
beautiful clusters on the site Of Wecker's
restaurant, and has passed through noble
virgin groves In various parts Of the city.
The Iiber creek, now almost entirely filed
10, was then large sheet Of water, clear and
deep, great sycamore trees extending their
roots beneath the banks; and he has seen
scows, laden with marble and limestone, towed
up the creek and fastened to the roots. Wild
ducks would settle where the Centre market
now stands, so close to the shore that people
used TO throw stones at them; and he has
seen nat. .bottomed boats, at high tide, towed
Il
at such tunes David Burns farm and houes
iay on like an island In the delugc. Mr..
Hines does not clearly rccollect that he ever
saw Davy Burns, the owner Of the farm on
which the most important part Of Washing
ton was laid out. He Is satisfied, however,,
from hearing people talk about Burns former
condition, that he had been poor, and, like
the majority Of the people Of tho region, was
fond OF ardent spirits, and often took too
much. His jug had been known TO roome
with much regularity TO Georgetown, 70 be
oiled with whisky, and this fact led TO much
unnclghborly comment when, after some
years, the farmers fine daughter, Marcia, rode
over 70 the burg 10 have her dress fitted.
Burns farm extended from the present Van
Ness mansion to the Mausoleum, where he
was Afterwards buried, ION II street, near
Ninth, )and thence to the Centre market, on
the Tlber. 1t therefore included the site of
the new State Department, Winders building,
the Gorcoran Art Gallery. the White HOUSE.
the treasury, the most valuable lands after
ward built over by Corcoran and others, the
Centre market-house, Willard's hotel, and the
most valuable parts Of the Avenue.
Mr. Hines remembers the execution OF Nc.
Girk, wife murderer, at the foot OF Capitol
Hill, early In Joffersons administration, and
he attended the first play ever acted In the
city, where Joseph jefferson and Junius Bru-
tus Booth acquired much OF their art. The
play was given In the shell Of Blodgett's un.
finished h0tel--that Blodgett who had pro.
proposed 10 jefferson to habllltate
whole street with houses-on the Post
Office hill, In 1909. Hines and the boys smoked
their way Into the hotel by getting into the
basement and removing loose boards from the
floor.
l asked the old gentleman to tell me how
tho stone from Aqua creek was raised M
Capitol Hill. He said that II was taken i'll
far up the Tibcr creek In scows as possible
and then run up sort Of platform railway ~
tho holsting done from the summit. 81 III
The Potomac channel was formerly on tho
Virginia side Of Masons island, and on that
side au emigrant vessel direct from Europe
landed passengers In the early days, many OF
whom gave respectable families to Washing.
ton. Mr.. Hines keeps In his room the por-
traits Of Lorenzo and Peggy Dow, whom he
many time In Holmead's burying-gronnd, at
Twentieth and Boundary streets, the bodies |
from which were removed within my own
memory. lie has heard Lorenzo preach In |
the old Hall Of Representatives, many Con- |
grcssmen listening. Mr.. Hines remembers |
ton old and now extinct graye-yards on the |
site Of Washington - ole OF which |
(Pearce's) covered q part OF Lafayette square, |
and was an attachment OF an apple orchard. |
Pcarce was o saddler at Georgetown and |
teacher beyond the Eastern Branch. Where |
his old farmhouse and orchard stood the |
finest part Of Washington Is now established. |
Jenkins farm adjolned the Patent ONCE site. |
Funk's property--the house built Of small |
imported Holland brlck--covered Observatory |
Hill.
Mr.. Hines listened at Decatur's window, |
with other persons, In 1919, and heard the |
low, dying groans OF that gallant sailor. |
With the poor people Of Washington" he |
said, decatur was not as popular as with the
rich; yet there was certain austerity about
him. He would 6ght duels, but he was brave
enough without that"
Mr.. Hines family bought farm from Dir. |
Thornton, the architect OF the Capitol, and |
had to forfeit II for want OF funds to make |
the final payments. The farm stood out near
the foot Of Meridian Hill. He also invested,
with his brother, 1900 In the Potomac Canal
Company, and lost It, and dug q spadeful Of
earth at the Little Falls with the spade John
Quincy Adams had Just used. He remembers
Adams going Into swim, as he was won't near
the present Monument grounds, and there Is
q tradition that the President once had his
70 get 10 the Executive Mansion In
q somewhat undigniaed state of nudeness.
He remembers when General James VIII
klnson had his headquarters on the Obserya-
tory hill, and also the arrival OF the nrst
steamboat at the city wharyes, the stages
running to Fredericktown, as they. do no
longer, and the maintenance of regular sail
ferry over the Potomac at Georgetown. The
old gentleman showed me beautiful etching
OF John Randolph, who had bought lot and
put up house on the Hines property-which
house burned down afterward-and stated
that lady had made the picture by improy-
Ing the opportunity Of Randolph's daily trip
along the Avenue. He Is represented with
long, bony legs and thighs and shallow chest
"a mere skeleton-and riding splendid
blooded animal, whose sickness is In strong
contrast to his mcagreness. Randolph's cap
Is pulled down over his eyes, like students
green patch; but he rides like natural yir-
glnia hunter.
Such were some Of the recollections OF this
feeble, stalwart old man, who sat before me
with high black cravat, veins largo, and
feebly moving In the hands and throat; gray
but abundant hair, and gray whiskers Of q
healthy hue. He looked poor but not In need
poor chiefly In days, which he counted with
out apprehension, saying, "The Almighty
means to send for me very soon now."
Cooking Apples.
The great English physician, Sydenham,
says the Rural Home, allowed no other ali,
ments to his patients In the febrlle stages OF
luinsy, erysipelas and smallpox than could !
be found In boiled apples. There are great
many. ways OF using apples for food, and !
some novel ways yet to be dIscoy-
IN x,gtE la. l