Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-12-18
Er-u. EL.t.riaI c-rr..l.onl.nce Of lh. ILm-..
WAsHINGToS, December ).


One of the mellowest of early winter
DAYS tempted me to revisit the historic
Arlington Mansion, once the palatial
and hospitable home of Robert +.
Lee. 1t is visible from almost any
point in Washington, although several
miles distant on the sunny side of the
Potomac. Its massive white Grccian
columns, half hidden by the native
forests on the north and south, are un-
obscured by the evergrcens and few
monarchs of the primeval Virginia
wilderness which survive on the gentle,
undulating slopes from the heights
down to the silver line that divides
Washington from the Mother of Pres
dents. The beautiful Capitol and the
Arlington Mansion face each other
aud present the most attractive views
from their respective emincnCcs. Look
ing from the western windows of the
Capitol, across to the crescent of hills
that skirts the Virginia side of the
Potomac, Arlington first attracts the
ewes of the observer, and the distance
of several miles i none too great to
lend the grandest enchantment to
what wa- the proudest of Southern
homes but twenty years ago. The
ravages Of the gnawing tooth of time
the widened seam between the once
faultless lines of masonry; the blister
ed and scaling colors which deform
the surface of pillar, wall and door
the countless marks of decay which
tell the story of the deserted home and
the stay of the stranger-all these are
cifaced from the picture by the distant
gaze, and Arlington looks as beautiful
and as home-like a. it was when lee
made his last sad journey across the
river as an officer of the army that
pointed to him rs one of its brightest
ornaments. Like Scott, on whose staff
he was the most beloved and trusted,
Lee was a Nirginian and his resigna-
tion was one of the kcenest blows that
had been felt by his chief Both were
sorrow.stricken at the separation to
draw their swords upon each other
and there is little doubt that Lee
would have halted at the threshold,
could he have foreseen that his devo-
ton to his mother Commonwealth
would have made him the Captain in
a struggle for new nationality that
must have perished more ingloriously,
had it won its battles, than was its re-
call to the Union by the sword.
IMPRESSIONS OF ARLINGTON.
/ had visited Arlington but once be-
fore and the day was memorable
one. Charleston, the nest in which
treason had long been Matching rebel
lion, had just been captured after
many disastrous failures to possess
that Confederate stronghold. While
standing on the broad, unevenly-tiled
portico of Arlington, looking out be-
tween the great columns to the Capitol
that seemed then for the first time in
four years to be safe from the insur-
gent, the hour of noon was struck by
the signal gun of Fort Whipple, hard
by, and as quick as sound could fly to
report the command, thousand guns
responded from hill to hill, shouting
their hoarse song of victory over the
Lost Cause. What appeared to the
casual observer as simply cluster of
wooded ridges along the Virginia
shore, belched forth their columns of
smoke and thundered to the world the
glad tidings that free government had
not perished from the earth. Nearly
half generation has passed since then,
and change has wrought sublime
Z achievements in all sections of the
country during fifteen years of peace
but Arlington is only fifteen years
older, as il told by the ceaseless offices
Of decay, and there the story ends.
Its history has not abated in public
interest. 1t is still the one home, next
to Mount Vernon, around which clus-
ter the fondest memories of Washing.