Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-06-06
HOURS WITH MEN AND WOMEN OF THE
REVOLUTION.
wAsHINGToN's LAST SURVIVING BOND
WOMAN

WOMAN.
copyrighted. 1888, By Funk & WagnaHsJ
, On the 4th of March, 1858, stood fo
nearly two hours in the open area at the eas
ern front of the Capitol at Washington
with thousands of my fellow-citizens, peli
ed with sharp sleet driven by keen north
east wind, to witness the inauguration O
the fourteenth President of the Unite
} States. l had no ''friends at court'' T.
J secure shelter for me under the superb an,
spacious portico of the Capitol. where th
great officers of State, of the Judiciary, o
the Army, of the Navy, and foreign minis
ters were congregated.
4 For the purpose of this quadrennial coro
nation of Chief Magistrate OF the Repub
lie, rude platform of rough boards haC
been erected over the entrance steps of the
Capitol. The whole ceremony was severe
ly simple. The recipient of the exalted
dignity about to he conferred was clad in q
plain suit of black cloth. A small mahoga
nv table covered with a red cloth. of the
value of five dollars, and bearing Bible, a
brown stone pieeher full of cold water, and
a tenpenny tumbler, constituted the entire
paraphernalia. With his head barred to the
pelting storm, and his right hand lifted
toward Heaven before the Chief Justice o.
the United States, the new President
pledged his fidelity to the Constitution by
affirmation. Then turning to the multitude
present, an integral of the whole power
which he represented, he enunciated the
fundamental principles which should gov.
ern his actions The multitude shouted
prolonged plaudits. The President bowed
and retired, and that was the end OF the
matter.
How little-how exceedingly Insignificant
to the eye of the true philosopher and
hopeful apostle of freedom-would any
ruler by the grace of bayonets and gun
powder have appeared upon that rough
platform of New Hampshire pine, with all
his gaudy trappings and pomp of manner,
| by the side of Franklin Pierce, the chosen
servant of State of mighty people, who
stood there in all the dignity of true
sovereign, but undistinguished in form
and bearing from the humble citizen, by
ribbon or cross, by star or garter, by
scepter or crown
Among those who sat under the shelter
of the grand-portico of the Capitol on that
occasion was George Washington Parke
| Custis, the adopted son of the "Father of
his Country" the first President of the
nation, and tho only survivor of the execu.
tors of the great patriots will. He was
present when his foster-father took the
oath of Office administered by Chancellor
Livingston, in the street gallery of the old
City Hall at New York, sixty-four years
before. He had witnessed the inaugural
tion of every President from Washington
to Pierce. Unmindful of the wind and
sleet, he had crossed the Potomac from
Arlington House in an open boat, to assist
at the august ceremonial. l accepted his
cordial invitation to spend few days at
Arlington House, where l had been guest
a few times. / crossed the ferry at George
town on the first bright morning thereafter,
and found Mr.. Custis in his studio giving
some touches to his picture of "The Sur
render at Yorktown"
The mansion (yet standing) occupies a
commanding site over three hundred feet
above tide-water, overlooking the cities OF
Washington and Georgetown, with the
broad Potomac flowing between. The
building is of brick, and presents front
including the two wings, of one hundred
and forty feet The grand portico, having
eight massive Doric columns, occupies al
area of sixty feet front and twenty five fee
in depth. A park of two hundred acres
dotted with groves of oak and chestnut
trees, and cultivated on the river bank
slOped eastward from the front and be-
hind the mansion was an old forest abound
ing with patriarchal trees centuries old,
and covering hills and dales over eight
hundred acres. A portion of this forest
has since disappeared, and the soil is occu-
pied by the remains of thousands of Union
soldiers who perished in the great Civil
| War of 1876. On the verge of this
cemetery stands chaste marble monument
erected to the memory of Mr.. Custis.-
Near the northern end of the mansion stood
venerable weeping willow, the offspring
of twig p]ucked by a young British officer
from the famous willow planted by Pope
at Twickenham, and presented to the
father of Mr.. Custis by that officer at Cam
bridge in 1775. That twig, which the elder
Custis planted at Arlington, became the
progenitor of all the weeping willows in
the United States.
Arlington House was plethoric with pre-
cious mementoes of the Washington and
Custis families, consisting of some rare
works of art, plate, china, furniture, orna-
ments, and q large quantity of valuable
manuscripts. On the walls hung Kit-Kat
portrait, life size, of Colonel Daniel Parke,
the ancestor Of Mr.. Custis, who carried to
| Queen Aune the news of Marlborough 8
victory at Blenheim. 1t was painted by
Sir Godfrey Kneller. Near it hung a
picture of an old Reformer, painted by Van
| Dyke. There also were the three-qusrter
length portraits of Daniel Parke and
Martha Custis, by Woolaston. There were
other portraits of the Washington and Gus
tbs families. One of these was the portrait
of Washington in the costume of Virginia
colonel at the age of forty years, painted by
Charles Watson Peale. Near this picture,
suspended from the ceiling, was a lantern,
formerly the property of Lawrence Wash
ington, which hung in the great passage at
Mount Vernon fully eighty years. There
was also the black-walnut sideboard nsed
in the dining-room at Mount Vernon, of
elegant workmanship Washington's mas
sive silver tea-service, made at New York
in 1889 of the old family plate also pieces
of the Sevres porcelain dinner and tea-sets,
called the "Ciucinuati china" because
they were presented to General and Madam
Washington, with the elegant jeweled Order
of the Cincinnati by French officers, and
bore pictures of the order delicately paint.
ed. In all the rooms were pieces of furni,
ture and many other objects which were
once at Mount Vernon. In an upper cham
ber was the bed on which Washington
died, held too sacred for use and ir
another room was the large war-tent OF
marquee VI uuO OClI6Idl WHICH was used al
Yorktown. 1t was incased in two large
leathern pouches.
On my first visit at Arlington House, il
|1e4S, saw living relic of the Washing
ton family more interesting than all tht
rest. Mrs. Custis nee Fitzhugh, a charm
ing woman, Christlike in character and dis
position, and saintlike in her works O.
benevolence and her perennial goodness
then presided over the household at Airing
ton. She was like mother and a guard
ian angel in her care for the physical ant
spiritual comfort of their slaves, and was
blessing to the poor far and near. She wal
most gentle creature-sight in frame
sweet in the expression of her fair face
her voice was soft and musical, and she re-
tanned much of her early personal beauty
Her piety was fervid but unostentatious
and her presence was like sunlight in 3
room. She conducted family WORSHIP
morning and evening, while her husband
standing, invoked blessing at every
meal.
On the morning after my arrival at Ar
lington House in 1S48, Mrs. Custis, wher
ready to read the Scriptures, stepped to .
room near by and led out very aged col
ored woman, not of quite pure African
blood, who was much afflicted with rheu
matism. Mrs. Custis helped her to knee
by her side during prayer, and then assist