Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1886-07-15
MOUNT VERNON.
A VISIT TO THE HOME OF GEN
ERAL WASHINGTON.
The Tombs Of George and Martha
WashinGton-A Tour OF the
Rooms Once Inhabited by
the First President.

The swash OF two big paddle-wheels,
multitude Of people upon deck chairs;
sun-lit brown river; and the wide
mouthed cannon, peaceful sward, and
white soldiers quarters Of the United
States Arsenal slipping past. tits thedaily
pilgrimage of the w. w. Corcoran down
sixteen miles Of the broad Potomac to
Mount Vernon. the shrine Of American
liberty, the Mecca or the democracy.
After putting sleepilY along some half
dozen miles, the w. w. Corcoran ef-
fects a landing at the time-forgotten old
wharves Of Alexandria. The landing
appears to be purposeIess. Nobody EN-
barks, nobody disembarks. During the
irresolute, three minutes pause the
steamer makes, we note that Alexandria
is given over to moss and inanition.
There is not 50 much as a cloud of dust
on the wide road that used to debouch
such lusty commerce upon the river
when the city rivaled Baltimore and put
forward no mean Fretensions to be the
seat Of the Federal Government. Wash
ington cast his first vote here in 1854,
and his last forty FIVE years later. Aswe
leave Alexandria the ubiquitous photo
grapher, who is also a statistician, in
forms US that "she has increased forty
seven in ten years, mostly niggers at
that"
Past Fort Foote, the towns dismantled
defence; past a shad boat with crew
pulling like a man-o -of-war's; past gray
old Fort Washington, blown up and
abandoned by our men in 1914, when the
British sailed up the river in relocated
defiance and captured Alexandria; and
we are four miles from Mount Vernon.
From this point one gets lovely glimpse
of Washington, twelve miles away, the
twisting river between, the great dome
of the Capitol swelling superbly above
the city, the pure shaft of the Monument
striking the faint sky with sublime au-
dacity that gains by distance. Our rear
ward contemplation is SO ecstatic that an
unpretcnding white country house on the
Virginia shore slips by unnoticed, until
the tolling Of the steamers bell and the
hosting of her flag announce Mount YER
non.
The tomba of General George Wash
ington" and "Mertha, consort of Wash
ington, need no description. From the
guides remarks, however, ! select the
facts that both bodies are above ground; ;
that the bodies Of thirty relatives Of
Washington's family and his wife's re-
pose in the inner vault, Of which the key
is cast into the Potomac; and that since
the theft Of one Of the eagles talons on
the coat of arms which surmounts the
tomb of the first President double iron
guard has been placed upon the entrance
to the vault. Washington's body rested
in the original family vault until 1881,
when an attempted desecration induced
a tardy fulfIlment of his wishes as to his
final burial. Just outside the present
vault stand four plain white marble mon
uments to Bushrod Washington, the
nephew and heir Of the General, John
Augustine, his son, Eleanor Parke Lewis,
the daughter Of Mrs. Washington, and
Mrs. M. L. A. Conrad, her daughter.
Then we troop to the house, and travel
in droves from room to room, ever mar
shaled by the oratorical guide. To say
that the 'lMansion- house" is an irregular
pillared wooden structure. painted to
initiate white marble, ninety-six feet
long and thirty deep, is to convey its ap-
pearance as correctly and inadequately
rs possible. 1t is a rambling old structure,
many-roomed and many windowed. The
wide cast piazza is paved with flags
brought from the Isle Of Wight and
commands a magnificent view Of the
river. The family and state kitchens
are connected with the house by curved
colonnades, but the servants quarters are
detached. Each room is the charge of
the vice-regent Of a State, the name Of
which is lettered above the door, like the
patron association Of ward in a public
charity. Some few original articles re-
main in the house, but the furniture,
which is complete, is mainly rcpFoduc-
ton as nearly as possible Of the pieces
that were probably used by the family
In most cases the taste shown in this
matter is excellent, and the bcd-hang
ings, prints, candlesticks, and time
pieces are quite in the spirit Of century
ago. A melancholy exception must be
made to the this III the case Of Georgia,
however, whose vice-regent has garnished
Lady Washington's sitting-room with a
crimson Brussels carpet and plush
trimmed furniture Of uulnistakable mod
ernness
In the main hall hangs 4 glass case
containing the great ponderous rusty key
Of the Bastile, presented to Washington
by Lafayette when the prison was de
stroyed in 1889. In the banquet hall is
a model Of the Bastile cut from one Of
its granite stones, also the gift Of Wash
ington's gallant aide The liquor case
Lord Fairfax gave Washington IS here
too, and a genuine MayHower chair, and
Rembrandt Pealc's famous picture Of the
General rebuking subordinate. In
Nelly Custis's music room the harpsi.
chord her step-father gave her On her
wedding day still remains, and Wash
ington's flute rests upon It's antiquatcd
cover Upstairs the orator fingers long
est and the crowd gathers thickest about
the door Of the room the Father o. his
~ "A A \.