Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1878-01-11
Historical gketthes.
WRITTEN FOR THE SENTINEL"
WRITTEN FOR THE SENTINEL"
HOUSE ESTATE
AND ITS
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
BY WILLIAM KILG0UR.
REvERIE.n)

'Can man its shattered splendors ronovate--
Recall its qlories back, aud vanqush time
and fate"
It was one of those sweet unbroken
Sabbath evenings towards the close of
October, when for the first time wendell
my way along the now solemn avenues
of Arlington the living picture, which
everywhere presented itself, though
tinged with sadness, was still redolent
with splendor.
An Autumn sun bad filtered its gold
through hazy heaven, on the hillside,
along the vallies, in the deep gorges. in
the wide woods the carnival of color had
begun, over the water came the music of
the vesper chimes, falling as softly as the
shades of Summer night. The gentle
winds whispered through the ancestral
trees in messages as sweet as the ripple of
a girlish laughter, and the birds singing
in the branches seemed but the echo Of
those tender and touching hymns of
praise with which the day had been
ushered in by the good of earth-it was
such an evening as 10 which life loses
the sharp edges and angles of care and
thought and lapses into the indistinct
sweetness of dream.
Resting upon the roots of an old oak
upon which age had long since written
her monogram, and whilst listening to
the great poem of nature, that grand
song which echoes through all creation,
memory came rushing over the pillows Of
the past wildly recalling to my mind that
figure eloquen. in itself that illustridus
parsonage who stood in the van of one
of the most gigantic civil commissions that
ever shocked the civilized world or star
tied mankind
Here we're the scenes so familiar ia
his eye--here the spot where the ardent
love of his youth was crowned with sue
cess, here were born to him his children
whose inheritance has been plundered
from them only to be restored under the
slow and stern mandate Of the law
here then let us pause and learn some
thing Of its history and its memorable
associations.
Arlington is one Of the historical es-
tates of the country, covering an area Of
eleven hundred acres, it afforded prior
to the war one Of the most fascinating
and picturesque landscapes along the
Potomac.
It's entire front bordering upon the
river. was here and there studded with
stately naples and willows, under whose
shade many and many time, when there
was
"no breeze upon the fern,
No ripple on The slream,'
or when the mellow orange light had
climbed the sky, and was flooding the
world with a mild glory, had love told
its impassioned and untutored story, find
ing perhaps its only response in the
crimson wave which mantled the cheek
or the gentle beating Of some timid little
heart-thither would resort those massive
and intellectual giants, Randolph, Web
ster, Clay, Calhoun and hosts Of other
master spirits. whose mighty minds in the
calm contemplation Of nature gave birth
to eternal principles.
Immediately in t,e rear. looking west
ward, was a wide and extended meadow
land. which ever gave evidence Of care
full and skillful cultivation, aud at
certain seasons Of the year was nothing
more or less than magnificent agricul-
tural parterre.
From the bosom Of this natural am
pbitboatre, swells 10 graceful symmetry
the commanding Heights Of Airing
toD." aud at the time 10 which / refer.
was dotted all over with large groves Of
'.-ks bearing the mark Of centuries
bv side came the tiny riyulets leap