Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-01

A Description of the Venerable Struc-
ture that has a History.

ture that has History
A Washington special of January %,
says: ST made casual mention Thursday
of the Presidents Church, but it is such
quaint old pile that it deserves some
thing more. It was built in the early days
of Washington, when the city was in pros
pectiye, and it and the White House sat
in lonely state cycling each other across
waste that in winter was bog and in
summer dust hole. The early Presidents
were among its members, for as long as
Virginia held the floor the executive OH.
GERS were staunch Church-of-England
men, and Sunday mornings there was
great prancing of four-ln-hands, nash
ing OF Iiyeries and Out-riders, letting
down of stems, a squeezing of farthingales,
and bowling of powdered heads and pretty
faces with patches dotting their roses
to get out of the carriages and into the
church; then the maccaroni of the day
would have their buckles to dust, their
queues to adjust, their lace rutt1es to set
tie; their swords to push in place, and
then the President would enter and the
service begin.
0Later the splendor abated, but the state
increased, and when Dolly Madison ruled
the old church was still in the van. Then
in 1925 came the interim Of jackson,
democratic alike in his faith and politics,
and then the little church went up and
down in the scale of Presidential after d.
ance and n0n-attendance, until again 1t
is the gathering-pOint Tor the strangers
who want to see the President-and say
their prayers, and the residents who want
to say their Drayers-and see the Presl-
dent. 1t was the scene of the baptism
of Chusik-the beautiful, the interesting,
the clever Chusik-who was baptized
thirty times in almost as many denOml-
nations, and returned to her tribe laden
with the presents given her by her god
fathers and gOdmothers in baptism
DESCRIPTION OF THE EDIFICE.
cit is built of brick, 'daubed' succeed
sounds better, but it is not as truthtully
descriptive) with clay and pebbles; a
doric front is denied by a belvidere of
strictly Moorish design, and thorn tree
grows at its side. 1t fronts on Sixteenth
street, and at the back of it is the home of
Mrs. Col. Freeman and her sister, Miss
Coleman; at its side stretches the lovely
length of turf and shrubbery that make
Lafayette square a garden spot. by IL
passes the meridian from which we begin
reckoning our lOngitude-a meridian
which gives its name to Meridian Hill, so
famous in war days, and which, after
running through the front door OF the
White House, fords the river and loses
itself among the Virginia slopes.
sit has all been remOdeled inside, and
the chancel is done in arabesques of brown
and gold; great three-fOld stained glass
window rises high above the altar, and
summer and winter the first rays of the
sun steal into the church vested in cOlors
as gorgeous as those of the Jewish HER
archy to light the early service held there
every day. A reredos of hard wood rises
above the altar, and high against its fret
work CLEANS a great cross of bronze and
gold, with pyX-rays about its arms, and
the Monogram of Ages, I. II. S. wrought
| in gold in their centre.
"Wings sire tch to right and left Of the
chancel, seating about 100 persons each,
and-as in the English churches-the
'sittings' are sold at fixed price, each
purchaser acquiring a right, which does
not cease even with his life, but which he
can will to time indefinite and persons in
Vulnerable"