Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-02-21
GADABOUT'S COLUMN
Written for the EUsniag Star. ]

A l.
ment to Wsshington's mother, suggests som
"reminiscences, particularly as the Delegate
from the District of Columbia will be chairman
Of the subcommittee.
This old lady, Mary (BaD Washing
ton, was a second wife; the General her
first son, and she passed nearly all her
life after his birth in and opposite Fredericks
burg. She was comparatively illiterate, as a
letter extsnt shows. Washington's boyhood
was spent around Fredericksburg, and he went
to Mount Vernon in 1I4S, three years before
Georgetown was laid out, to keep his richer
brothers. company. Inheriting that estate n >
was within forty miles OF his mother when at
home, and in those days country gentlemen
thought little OF such ride, however bad the
roads.
AT the age of fifty-seven Washington. fol-
lowed by his servant, left Mount Vernon with
his mounted servant man to pay the last visit to
this very old lady. He rode ali night, leaving
the messengers from Congress at his warm fire.
side, wEO had come to tell him of his election to
the Presidency. AT morning he embraced the
fond old lady, then aged IS, who was living in
twO-stoTy brick house at the corner OF Charles
ana Lewis streets, Fredericksburg. Her de-
ceased son-ln- law, gun contractor in the rev.
Oluton. had left much property there. She was
suffering from cancer at the time. He told of
his new responsibility and the call to quit
Mount Vernon for New York. She said: s'My
son, you will see me no more" The same daY
Washington rode the forty miles return trip
and reached Mount Vernon in the evening, to
take his coach for the North the day following
is IL probable that in this twenty hours of
horseback exercise the General consulted his
pocket flask? Is ii likely that he cared for the
opinion of history when he took a pull? Beau
titul episode! The war-wOrn veteran wetting
his whistle. In the light of this event let us look
more tenderly at those CALLED trousers of his in
In four months Mrs Washington was in her
grave, inferred upon a swell OF land marked by
rocky and romantic ledge, where, it was said
often md
neglected are the plain mothers of great men
We can think of her tenderIy, musing there on
the courtship OF her husband and the wonder
ful child she brought forth, and the lonely love
OF God drawing near her Oh age, as mysterious
as aHother bridegroom approaching her girl
hood.
FOrty-three years sfterward President An
drew jackson left Washington on a steamboat
to lay the cornerstone OF her monument As
the boat stopped at Alexandria a dismissed
lieutenant, Randolph, went on board to whale
old Hickory. He chose a chivalric moment
methinks, when a man was going to a funeral,
but there Is no accounting for tastes when your
name is Randolph. The boat proceeded to Po-
tOmac creek, only nine miles from Frederick
burg, and the President was received by the
lmmemoTial committee OF unfinished mOnu-
ments. Next day they marched with military,
females, etc. to the grave, and Mr.. Basset made
speech, explaining the virtues and matron
fame laid down with those poor bones. Gem
eral jackson, who was a Knight Templar for
women, spoke with the elOquence of those days.
and deposited an inscribed plate In the hollow
corner stone, saying.
Fellow citizens At your request, and in
your name, now deposit this plate in the spot
destined for it; and when the American pilgrim
snail, IN after ages, come up to this high and
holy place, and lay his hand upon this sacred
column, may he recall the virtues OF her who
sleeps beneath, and depart with his affections
purihed, and his piety strengthened, while he
lnvokes blessings upon the memory of the
mother OF Washington
Mrs. SigouIney then struck her harp in the
distant parts OF Connecticut, referring to Spar
tan zeal, Pater Patria, Mecca's shrine, and
many things which disguised the subject. The
monument, like all that we ATTEMPT, was too
big for the subject should think from pic
ture, designed TO be forty or fifty feet high. 1t
Is OF white marble, with a base of large hewn
blocks, plinth and four short columns support
ing an entablature. This was represented a.
complete, or nearly so, in le53. An Obelisk is
to suTmount it, with doves at the cornice below
and above bust on which a bird has aIighted
Mr.. Losing wrote -" Why the half -hewn
marble has been allowed 10 remain so long
unfinished that Nandal relic-seek ers have ruined
1t, cannot comprehend" But this remark i
generally made on American monuments; il il
sad, but not original.
Fredericksburg is a much older place than
Georgetown or Frederick or our upper Potomac
places. 1t was founded by law in 1921, and
named for the father OF George Ill. The act of
incorporation says that II was to be "a cOnve-
nlent place where traders may cohabit and
bring their goods to-" Here resided Generals
Mercer and Weldon, John Forsyth and others
1t was the best bOmbarded town in all the civil
ington and sixty one from Richmond. Unfortu-
nstely, the railroad beyond Quantico does not
connect with the day train to that point
THE RUMBILICAL TWINS.
Charg and Eng were gallant twins
Discovered in Siam,
And Eng grew up at Sabbath school,
While Chang he loved a slam;
A gristly riyet joined the twain,
The which would not unscrew,
So pious Eng was always slain
When Chang got on slew.
In politics Eng was Wing,
And Chang Democrat,
And when they held an argument
1t ended in spat,
And often when the vote was close,
And both sides scored a brother,
The court decided, UiUd c0ce,
Ihey must contest each other.
Poor Eng he loved Quaker maid
Who would not roost with Changv,
Because he came to bed so drunk
And said his prayers so slangy;
They compromised, and took pair,
And lived in great detection,
The brothers wanted divorce,
The sisters a dissection.
And Eng he loved to sing hymn,
And Chang to tight a chicken;
Whenever Eng exhOrted Chang
He got martyrs lickin';
If in the church Eng led his class
To see the one with JUNCTION pray,
And tother sleep and hiccup.
They called hundred surgeons in
To pass the righteous sentence,
II 'twouid be safe to take knife
And cut their own acquaintance.
The Doctors OF their hyphen felt
And came to this solution:
Twas an action twixt the Little Belt
And the navel Constitution.
AT last Chang would not sleep at all,
So much he was q soaker,
And kept his brother sitting up
To while him at draw poker;
And when he died the wretch remarked;
"The Lord must raise our bodies
And shall have all Eng's reward,
And likewise all those toddies."
The ladies sold the frail remains
To serve human mission;
The Doctors beat Sir Barnum out
And gave an exhibition;
They found the belt a derrick was,
Two sacks-one thin, one thicker
And Eng had had to brace the beam,
While Chang contained the liquor.
Hence one remarked upon the chain
With gravity rabbinical,
That on one side, at least, the strain
Must be ascribed rumbilical.