Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-07-24
WaShingtOn's Headquarters.

June 24th, as follows:
81 have been to Washington's headauar-
tiers, at Morristown. The adult American
who has not at any time stood beneath the
same roof that once sheltered the Father
OF his Country is to be pitied and feared.
The opportunities for performing this
simple, patriotic act are so ample and va
ried that studious disregard of them is,
l am satisfied, consistent only with moral
| turpltude Such person may, indeed,
o11er as an excuse that he has sat in a
chair once occupied by Washington; that
he has drank from a mug once used by
| washington, or that he has liz his extreme
| youth talked with an aged person who
distinctly remembered Washington, bat
these are supererogatory acts which do
not take the place of this primary obliga-
| ton. When we consider the numbers of
| roofs that Washington has apparently
slept under; when we reflect upon the in
| finite 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 oneself Of it is simply despicable
| The Valley Forge experience has always
| been deemed a spt ct Gle of noble devo-
ton and unparalleled selfsacrifice, but |
have preferred, | confess, to lay awake
nights thinking of this unselish hero,
rising ere it was yet day, hurrying away,
accompanied only by his $50 colored body
servants, each with longevity and garruli-
| ~ depicted on their faces, hurrying away
to reach the next town in time to make
| another rOOf-tree historical / have
| thought of him pursuing his noble duty
with dignified haste, pausing only to pat
| the heads of toddling infants, who in af-
| ter years were destined to distinctly re-
member it, until the tears Have risen to
my eyes.
80 that when | heard that Washington's
headquarters at Morristown was to be
sold at public auction on the 25th, | de-
| termined to 60 and see it. 1t was my first
intimatiOn that it was still in existence; [
had perhaps often passed it without know
ing the fact, tor it is peculiarly Of this
kind OF property that its historic quality
is always sprung upon you like a trap;
| that you are hardly safe in any old tene
ment; that you drop unconsciously into
the Washington chair, or imbibe serenelv
from the Washington mug, and that the
| fact is bought sharply upon you like a
pin In the cushion, or fly in the milk In
the course oftlme this expectation natural
ly excites morbid activity ofthe intellect;
but only once do | remember being mis-
taken in the result. 1t was in a Sierran
solitude, where | had encamped, and
where | was solicited to take supper in
the neWly-built cabin of an eastern immi-
grant. At supper | was supplied with an
Ordinary looking china mug ola pale blue
willow pattern. That mug said my
host, has little story connected on it. It
has been in our family nigh on hundred
year. 1t belonged to my grandfather At
the siege Of Yorktown, he lived conven-
lent to the battle field, and the guns was
posted all around the house. All of
suddent--" Il remember,n | interpOsed
hastily: ''Suddenly a commanding form
darkened the little doorway, and a digni
fed but courteous voice asked for a drink
OF water. Your grandfather rose" Il
was goin' on to say continued my host
calmly, that the boomin' 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 even sad-a
slight RIGHTEOUSNESS ofthe left eyelid, and
a depression of the lower angle of the
mouth on the same side, easily attributa-
bic to historic emotion, We're the only
evidences Of feeling
But here was a veritable headquarters of
Washing ton-based on no local tradition,
but standing boldly in history. There
had been temporary headquarters at the
treemason's tavern on S'the village green"
the gray shaft that COmmcmOrated the
MorristOwn dead of the last civil war OBJ
liberated the past. How then, remote and
bloodless looked that Jersey campaign of
II, beside the names on this obelisz
How rusty those old blood stains appeared
beside the bright red, still warm current
of to-day. hurried past it, and out into the
leaty road that led to the historic home
1t had been my original intention to
take with me a certain humOrist-a man
who had made some little reputation by
habit OF soothing at certain revered objects
by humorous analysis of their effect upon
| others; a man who kept you in high
| spirits, and left you vapid and uncom-
| Portable; a man whose company was dis
| sipation that brought a dreadful to-mor-
| row morning after it: a man who was al
| ways to be depended upon but never to
be trusted | concluded, however, not to
| take him with me. Youth be sorry you
didn't" he said gloomily, as he leaned
against fence with the settled melancholy
of his profession. "ICure not to be
trusted alone. I'd like to get shy at G.
W. some time. Look around his garden
| hot a cherry tree to be seen. Tell me
| that he can get over that habit-that he
didn't sleep with Ratchet under his pill
low, and get up in the dead of night to do
it. And then he had no sense of humor.
When the staff were doing conundrums
down there one night, and Greene asked
him why a goOseberry was like Hes
sian,' didn't he reply, Gen Greene, can
not tell a lie-there is absolutely no con-
nection in nature between the two,' and
| spoil the boys Of their little fun?' And
| so left him muttering with look in his
eye as if he were even then celebrating
humorous account of my visit, based en-
| tlrely upon speculation of my character
| and bearing every external evidence OF
| greater truth than my own narrative.
| But here was the house. A canny walk
| and a gentle ascent under few old trees
led to the porch. On that bright day of
yellow June it's hard outlines and scant
| decoration were somehow lost in the gra-
cious atmosphere. The door stood open,
and | entered at once a spacious hall
almost the only indication of the dignity
| of its former occupant. 1t divided the
mansion east and west, and through rear
door as large as the front gave a view
upon descending lawn and orchard, and
a simmer of the Whippany river in the
lower distance "In the hottest day in
summer" said the gentle hostess, there
! is always a breeze through the hall"
| Surely nature, at least, was not forgetful.
1t was pleasant to think that when the