Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-10-31
BRET HARTE'S DISCOVERY.
Revolutionary Reminiscences.-Geo'
Washington and JOSIAH w. Per-
kins..A Confusion OF Images.
How . Hessian came to
an End.

From the N. Y Tribune.
have seen her at last. She is l07
years old, and remembers George
Washington distinctly. 1t is some
what confusing, however, that she
also remembers a cotemporaneous
Josiah w. Perkins of Basklng Ridge
N. j., and, think, has the impress
sion that Perkins was the better
man. Perkins, at the close of the
last century, paid her some little at
tention. There are few things
that really noble woman OF lot,
never forgets.
1t was Perkins who said to her in
1895, in the streets of Philadelphia,
s'Shall show thee Gen. Washing
ton?" Then she said, careless-like,
for you know, child, at that time it
wasn't what it is now to see Gen.
ashipgton, she said, $50 do, JOSH
ah, SO do" Then he pointed to a
tall man who got out of a carriage
and went into a large house. He
was larger than you be. He wore
his own hair-not powdered, had
lowered chintz vest, with yellow
pants and blue stockings, and a
broad -brimmed hat. In summer he
wore a white straw hat, and at his
farm at Basking Ridge he always
wore it. At this point it became
too evident that she was describing
the clothes of the all-facinating Per-
kins, so gently but firmly led her
back to Washington. Then i: ap-
peared that she did not know exact
iy what he wore. TO assist her, |
sketched the historic dress Of that
period. She said she thought he was
dressed like that. Emboldened by
my success, I added hat of Charles
H., and pointed shoes of the XIth
century. She indorscd these with
such cheerful alacrity that l drop
ped the subject.
The house upon which l had
stumbled, or rather to which my
horse-a Jersey hack accustomed
to historic research-had brought
me, was low and quaint. Like most
of the old houses, it had the appear
ance of heing encroached upon by
the surrounding glebe-as lift were
already half in the grave, with a
sod or two in the shape of a moss
thrown on it, like ashes on ashes,
and dust on dust. A wooden house
instead of acquiring. dignity with
age is apt to lose its youth and re-
spectability together. A porch with
scant. sloping seats from which even
the Winters snow must have slid
uncomfortably, projected from
doorway that opened most unjustifi-
ably into small sitting room. There
was no vestibulc or locus posniten.
tie for the embarrassed or bashfnl
visitor; he passed at once from the
security of the public road into
shameful privacy. And here in the
mellow autumnal sunlight that
streaming through the naples and
snmach on the opposite flickered
and danced upon the floor, she sat
and discoursed of George Washing
ton and thought of Perkins. She
was quite in keeping with the house
and season, albeit little in advance
of both-her skin being of faded
russet and her hands so like dead
November leaves that ! fancied
they even rustled when she moved
them.
For all that she was quite bright
and CHEEKY. Her facultl es still quite
vigorous. although performing ir-
regularly and spasmcdically. twas
somewhat discomposing, I confess,
to observe that at times her over
jaw would drop, leaving her speech
less, until one of the family would
notice it and raise it smartly into
place with slight snap, an opera
tion always performed in such an
habitual, perfnnctory manner-gen-
orally in passing to and fro in their
household duties that it was very
trying to the spectator. 1t was still
more embarrassing to observe that
the dear old lady had evidently no
knowledge of this, but believed she
was still talking and that on resum-
ing her actual vocal utterance she
was often abrupt and incoherent, be-
ginning in the middle of a sentence
and often in the middle Of word.
sometimes" said her daughter, a
giddy, thoughtless young thing of
s5, "sometimes just moving her head
sort of unhitches her jaw, and FIVE