The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-07-12
THE MT. VERNON ESTATE.
The Proposed Free Entrance-Some
Nlisapprehensions Corrected.

Washington dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.
1t has been frequently repeated that the
tomb of Washington is the only tomb in the
world for the privilege of visiting which
| fee is eXacted. Even in the strict technical
sense this is not correct, and no one who has
travelled but knows what "a pretty penny" 1t
costs in one shape or another to pay deyoirs
at the tomb Of saint, bard, orator or chief
| tain. Mount Vernon is unlike all other spots
where the bones Of the venerated dead re-
| pose. 1t has not only the tomb, but the home
of Washington. The graves of other great
men-of those whose last resting place on
earth is the object of popular devotion and
solicitude- totally different surround
ings, and require no special income. West
minister Abbey enshrines the mortal remains
of the illustrious dead of England and the
historic edifces of France and Italy have the
custody of their great departed. At Mount
Vernon there are two hundred acres to care
for. 1t is a country home and farm. There
is the old mansion to be looked after, and
greenhouses, gardens, lawns, roads, wharf,
descendants of the Washington family SER
wants, with their little dwellings, cattle, all
necessitating a constant drain upon the re-
sources of the association in carrying out its
design, to maintain the estate as Washing
ton left it, and m axe it a visible tradition for
the enjoyment of generations to come. The
tomb itself was originally poorly-built af-
fair, and is a never-ending care and expense.
A Il repairs which are made to the old man.
sion, the barn, the other out-buildings, the
fencing the roads, are scrupulously made to
to the original, and if Washington could re-
turn in the flesh to the place he so loved, he
would find it all exactly as he left it, except
ing few additional articles of furniture and
bric-a-brac, which have been placed in some
of the rooms, but Which are also mostly of
the style of his day. In view of the actual
facts, it is almost unaccOuntable how many
false impressions have been obtained as to
the amount and management OF the Mount
Vernon funds. The New York Herald has
asserted that no report has been made of the
finances for six years. To the contrary, full
report has been made and printed year by
year of all the receipts and expenditures of
the association, and have never seen more
simple or satisfactory exhibit of the affairs
of any corporation. Mrs. Margaret j. M.
Sweat vice-regent for Maine and secretary
of councils, is just about to send to the prin-
ter her minutes of the session for this year,
with the report of receipts and expenditures.
The minutes and the report are a model in
style and comprehensiveness, entering into
every detail with a cogency and perSpicui-
ty which can leave nothing to be asked.
Omitting the centennial year of 1876, when
about $4,000 was added to the endowment or
permanent fund, the average of current re-
ceipts and expenditures has been about the
same. Last year the expenditures were
nearly $4,000 in excess Of the receipts. The
wharf, which is subject to extensive damage
every winter and spring by reason of ice and
freshets, cost $1,976 to repair; $40 was
spent on the tomb, $1,192 on the mansion
and 81, 153 in keeping the grounds in order.
The endowment fund, which constitutes the
balance in the bank is now between thirty
and forty thousand dollars. Outside of the
$4,000. placed to its credit in the centennial
year, it has been made up altogether Of vol
untary contributions. The nucleus of this |
Charles Manchester, of Philadelphia, the ia |
ther of the regent, Mrs Laughton, and a |
contribution of $500 from John Mussey, of |
Maine, the father of Mrs. Sweat the vice-re- |
interested themselves in securing a:cretions |
to this fund. Mrs. Laughton has obtained |
the largest number of individual subscrip |
tions, and it is rarely, if ever, that year |
regent for Maryland, does not hand in con- |
tribution for it. 1t is invested in the bonds |
of the United States, and the object is, when |
1t attalns sufficient proportions to meet ex-
penses to repeal the admission fee to Mount |
Vernon. From the time of the purchase all |
visitors coming by land have paid only % |
cents. Visitors by waterway 81, of which the |
boat owner receives &c cents and the assOcia- |
ton "a cents. Nine cents of this latter is ap-
piled to the repair of the wharf. The round
trip by water is thirty miles. Before making
the existing contract for the transportation
OF water passengers, the association invited
estimates and proposals, and IN awarding
the contract were influenced by the belief
that it was the most advantageous presented
for their consideration. The contractor was
required to construct a boat especially adapt
ed for the purpose, and the association re-
served a supervisory control. Nothing is
easier than to criticise and the Mount Yer
non Association has had to bear its full
share of carping and complaint. Its mem
bers are not infallible any more than those
who attack them, but little inquiry and in
VeStlgatlOn only is necessary to dissolve all
Of the material indictments brought against
their management. Their method has been
to make the atmosphere of Mount Vernon
like private home, with the halo CT Wash
ingtOn forever around it. To repeat, there IS
no other tomb in the world like that at Mt.
Vernon. No tomb can be more tenderly and
more efficiently cared for than this, and this
care is under the personal and gratuitous SUI
perylsion of those who represent sthe women
Of America, through whose noble efforts the
purchase money was raised. No man, no
woman, no true American, who stands with
reverent head by the tomb of Washington
will object to contributing % cents; not in
Iced as fee; not as the price of a show;
not for the pecuniary benefit of anyone, but
rs his or her individual mite to keep the home
Is he left it, The tomb Of Washington is
really the only tomb in the world which COW
9rs an illustrious hero or statesman that pri-
IBAe greed and selfshness does not profit by,