The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-05-27
FREDDOUGLAS ATHONIE.

PubllShed IN a Cincinnati paper IN Z
letter from Washington, is the follow
ing:
Very few white men in a warm eli
mate have as good home as Freder-
ick Douglass. He does not inhabit a
mere house, he lives in a respectable
mansion. Having been an industrious
and methodical man, aware of the val
ue of money, he has saved his earnings,
whether procured by authorship, or
lecturing, or manual labor, or office
holding, and his residence at Anacos-
tia, or Uniontown, is the best house
there. 1t commands beautiful view
of the city of Washington: and of the
broad rivers which form the bounda-
ries of Washington and meet at its Ar
senal Point. Under his eye lies the
whole city, the monument. the dome of
the Capitol, the Navy Yard, near and
far buildings, and the rolling blue
heights of Maryland and Virginia. In
the rear of the house is a good, large
stable, aud the outbuildings show at
tention to comfort and evcl luxury. l
might suppose that this property, as it
stands in no particularly stylish por-
ton of Washington City, was worth
$4,000 to $4,000. The house itself is
rather of the Southern character. built
think, of brick Or stone, with a door
in the middle and a porch in front, and
pediment over the middle Of the edi-
! fee. Ringing the door-bell, woman
| of brown tint came to the door and said
that MIR. Douglass was within. We
entered and hung our hats and coats
upon the hat-rack and turned to the
| right. The house consists. perhaps, of
four rooms on this lower or main floor,
with no less number of rooms above.
To the left of the hall is the parlor
proper, and behind that is Mr. Doug
lass's library. To the right is the sit
ting-room; 1 suppose the dining-room
may be behind it,
The old gentleman, whose age. 1
think, is seventy-six. received lis both
| with a mixture of Christian kindness
and pleasant dignity, which made me
| think, as sat near him for some time,
that he looked like the King of NADIA
| gascar or some land we have dimly
heard of where the white mans inter-
course has not propagated seltishness
and greed. He is a large man. cast in
the mould of man of command and
affairs: his hair is now of grayish
white and is carefully combed and
| worn somewhat long 1t falls back
upon his broad shoulders. His FORE
head is not very high nor vet very
prominent, but rather subordinate to
the general health in his face and
body. He has long nose, slightly re-
trousse, but with nostrils open and
taking in things. His chin aud Jaws
are rather firm and as he speaks he
rather inhales and smiles, and thus
conveys something of an impression of
nervous earnestncss. Although he is
one-half white, the colored portion of
him is probably the most vigorous
element. His eye is dark and gleam-
ing and beepeaks another and hotter
land.
When l. entered the house with Mr..
Gorham he introduced us care fully to
| the different persons there-quite a.
little party. We had gone to see him
without invitation. and therefore broke
IN upon his ordinary Sunday family
| circle. There were three white ladies
present, one of when was Mrs
Douglass. The other ladies heard,
the conversation smiled affably, but
made few or no remarks. Mrs
Douglass is lady of tall form, well
made, but neither stout nor thin.
her complexion is a little reddish. She
| gives you the idea somewhat of a
woman who had been the matron or
superintendent of some philanthro pic
institution in which charity plays the
principal part. She dresses herself
plainly and modestly, and in the inter-
course of the famil ~ shows the sub
ordination OF younger person to her
husband. She speaks of him as ''Mr.
Douglass watches and hears what he
says with careful respect, and we had
been talking to him, perhaps, fifteen
minutes before she made any remarks,
when, in some matter of the
"reminiscences of his slave life, she
called his attention to an interesting
matter he had omitted. Further on
she said: ''Gentlemen as you are
friends of Mr.. Douglass, will you let
me have have your autograph and
led the way to his library. She has
hair of dark brown tint, and there is
|
and the Western woman about
her, which gives you the idea
1T the wife of some man
fort. bnt who had executed and nearly
finished his mission. He did not say
ruc: to her in the talk. The other
white ladies present were near the mid
die age, and, suppose, might be rel
atives of Mrs. Douglass. A handsome
granddaughter of the ex-hIarshal was
there. with soft eyes and soft, warmly
tinted face. very neatly dressed. After
we had been waiting half an hour, she
said that she had to drive to Mount
Pleasant in her little phacton, and came
up and X sS.d her grandfather, her
daughter. as supposed it was, also
came up and kissed him rev.
ercntly. The old man now has four
living generations about him.
His library would be quite
a creditable one for the editor of a
newspaper or ordinary literary man.
All over his house are the indications
of gratitude to the white men who sup
ported the cause of the African race
Garrison M" Lundy and Thaddeus
Stevens and Sumner and others occupy
places on the wall. The house is as
carefully furnished and is fully as re-
spectacle AS any white mans home.
1t is a remarkable exhibition of our
comparatively new times that right at
the city of Washington. in the midst of
fine landscapes, should have come to
settle this mn. who more than fifty
years ago. with his life in his hand,
undertook to establish himself and
procure some OF the benefits of civiliza-
| ton.
Demosthenes, the Grecian orator, cured his
stammering by having his mouth full of
pebbles, and many are the modern orators