The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-06-06
Correspondence Of N, Y. World.1
The Tomb of Washington.
"hat the Women of America Have Done
and What Sill Remains 10 Do,


every day at 10 o'clock. There can be no more
charming way of passing one of these sunny
days than by taking the trip to what the guide
book grandiloquently calls the American
Mecca. This title was justified during the
centennial rush by the number and eagerness
OF the pilgrims. Now that the interest in all
associations of the past, which was an epidem.
ic last summer, has to a degree subsided, the
deck is only comfortably full. One OF two
Dlase Washingtonians, party of sight seers
from Baltimore, half dozen Englishmep,
souris.s anu attaches OF the legation, some
armed soldier from Fort Foot complete the
number. The boat swings off its moorngs
and starts briskly down the river. Arlington
rises on the further right hand bank, and below
TO the lett is the arsenal where. says the guide-
book, Mrs. Surratt was hung for the murder
OF President Abraham Lincoln" 1t seems hard
that this poor woman shoulk be malgined even
10 the guide to the American Mecca" Sure
ly 1t would have been as easy to write ''hung
on suspicion of having casual acquaintance
with the murderer of President Abraham Lin
coln." As it is tall Englishman in Glen
garry cap glances indifferenty at the cannon
balls piled along the shore. What are such
tritiing incidents in republican, history to him?
ask of his companion.
II did, and l-a-a-fed," says the other, with
preternatural solemniiy of countenance that
contradicts his words
In this quarter of the Potomac no name ex.
lists but Washington. The Mary Wsshin gton
puffs TRANQUILITY down the stream. The Martha
washington whistles derisively as she passes
up. The City of Washington, followed by a
trail OF black smoke, hurries past the ancient
town OF Alexandria, where on the door of a
6hapioated warehouse we read Washington
& Son." Further down we pass Fort WASH
l1gton, with its picturesque ramparts surmount-
ed by what some one has compared to "ponder-
GUS black ginger-beer bottles" with the corks
out.
Seventeen years ago very Jolly party from
Washington took the same trip. 1t was in
1860. The boat was the Harriet Lane, and the
expedition was in honor Of the Prince of Wales
then visiting the country. There was band
OF music on board, and champagne, dancing
and general jolliticatior. When the boat
reached its destination there was no pier, as
there is now, and the party was obliged to land
in boats, one of which the royal gnest insisted
upon steering himself. Safely deposited on the
bank, they found the American Mecca" little
more than wilderness. An overgrown path
way led up the hill Even the tomb seemed
neglected. with the marble mausoleum behind
the rusty iron bars, on the end of which in vio-
lation of all the rules of good taste, appeared
the name OF the owner of the marble-yard in
Phlladelphia, where 1t was made. How char
acterlstically American, no doubt thought the
visitors, toadvertise ones trade within even the
sacred precincts of Washington's gravel The
house itself was in sad need of repairs. The
pillars OF the portico were giving way, the roofs
were crumbling with age, the incosed passages
which connected the main building with the
out-houses were in ruins. The garden in which
Washington in his retirement took tender
pride, was Oyergrown with grass and weeds.
The condition of the whole estate, once so we'll
cared for and cherished, was glaring mortifi-
cation to those whose duty it was to show it to
the visitors and reproach to the country
whose indifference has let it come to such
pass.
1t will be remembered that at that time the
place had been comparatively recently pur-
chased by the "Women of America" from Au-
gustine Washington, whose means were inad-
equate to preserving the estate. The Mount
Vernon Association, headed by the first Re-
gent, Miss Cunningham, had taken possession,
but their hands were tied from lack of funds,
all the money 100000, which they had by in
tense exertion been able to raise being only suf-
fcient to buy the land. A small revenue was
secured from the daily boat which brought visi-
off by the war, which broke out few months
afterwards During the five years that fol-
lowed the Potomac was battlefield and Mount
Vernon was completely closed to outside inter.
est and to outside care, and things went more
to ruin than ever. 1t was during the war that
q soldier succeeded in entering the tomb aud
carrying off one of the talons of the eagle on
| the shield of the sascophagus.
| The outlook on landing has changed very
much for the better in seventeen years. A car
riage road winds up to the house from the neat
little pier Some trees by the roadside are
marked, From the grave of Napoleon At
the tomb the crowd halts and peers curiously
through the bars, while the guide in loud
monotone gives the somewhat unpleasant de-
tails of how many leaden cofins had served
their purpose before the stone one was suggest
ed BY the generous marble. man from Philadel-
phia, whose name, by the way, had been effaced,
leaving an ugly smear across the foot of the
monument. The crowning glory of the place at
this season is the garden, the delicious old
fashioned flower garden, with box hedges at
least hundred years old, and roses such as one
never sees elsewhere-great branches of pink
bloom, which If reproduced arti6cially would
pronounced quite unnatural The air ia heavy
with the scent of mock-orange blossoms and
full of the hum of bees
at the house everything now is the pink of
neatness and good order. 1t would of course
be waste of time to describe again the much-be-
written mansion. Washington himself spoke
Of it in writing to Nine. De Lafayette as Q
"small villa" This describes it exactly. Those
who expect an imposing structure are disap-
pointed. There are many far finer specimens
of the old colonial house elsewhere in Virginia.
The rooms as rule are small and the ceilings
low. As much of the original furniture as pos
sible has been collected and replaced. Every
year adds to the amount-a sideboard contrib
uted by Mrs. General Lee, the little table upon
which were placed the medicine bottles during
the last illness, the bell-rope which hung by the
death-bed, etc. The collection of relics bids
fair to rival in the way of dilapidated shoes that
in Independence Hall last year, and in the way
of old clothes that of the Patent Office at pres.
ent. 1t is really to be regretted that more dis
elimination is not shown in this Juror for me-
mentoes of the past. We look at great mans
sword and his field-glass and his saddle holsters
with interest, reverence perhaps, bat when il
comes to pair of shabby trowsers hung up by
the band, and very long and very stout stock
ing, marked Sc. Washington, 2, 97," the risibl-
ity of the most devout pilgrim cannot fail to be
excited.
Apropos of the same subject, the courteous
superintendent, Colonel Hollingsworth tells
some most astonishing tales of relic-hunt ters,
notably of the "interior" class called out by the
Centennial. One man was making off with q
rail from the banisters, and on being remon-
strated with remarked that 1t was Government {
property and that he had as good q right to it
as any one else-an argument SO firmly estab-
lished by precedent that it was hard to dispute.
Another visitor, woman this time, actually
climbed over the gate, nearly as high as her
head, which as very necessary precaution was
placed across an upper-stairs doorway, and sue
ceded in hiding the ornaments from the man
telpiece in her pocket. With relic-hunters as
with Observation-Disclosures, conscience does not
exist. Neither furniture, doors, shelves, wood
work, pictures, nor even the handsome bas-re-
lief on the dining-room mantel-piece have been
SdCItu lOOm tu6 uauu VI bu6 WulttilQR NH1Qal.
OF the horsechestnut tree planted by the Prince
of Wales before the tomb not a vestige remains,
the last twig being ruthlessly torn from the
ground last year. As a precaution the guard
supplies himself now with boxes of relics, such
as sticks, acorns, moss and stones, which he
pathetically implores the visitor to take away
with him. Next to the relic-hunter the infor-
mation-seeker is the most strictly Objectionable
of MounG Vernon's visitors. Some of the ques-
tions asked are truly marvellous. One lady,
after gazing fxedly at General Washington's s
sword, wished to know with some marks of in
credulity, if he were really in the army. On
being assured that he was, she wished to know
which army-'the rebel army or the Union
army?" 81 am afraid, madam" said the Su-
perintendent with pardonable prevarication,
that he was very much of a REBEL" Another
desired to see the room where Lafayette died.
After some. difficulty she was induced to be-
leve that Lafayette had only paid visit of q
couple of weeks to Mount Vernon and had
died years afterwards in Paris.
"Ob, WE'LL" she replied, sit doesn't make
any difference, somebody died here, at any
ratep'
Still another better informed but more sus-
ceptible fair lady shed copious tears over the
ice-house, in the belief that it was the old
grave.
The Mount Vernon Association have held
their annual session for the transaction of busi-
ness during the past week. They expect to be