Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-26
Written for THE EVENING" STAR
LOG CABIN HOSPITALITY.
Senator Evarts' Social Campaign Dur
ing the Next Administration.

Senator Evarts' Social Campaign Dur
ing the Next Administration.
HIS oLD-FAsHroNED LOG CABIN AT SWANS NECK
ON THE poroMAo-How HE INTENDS TO EN-
TERRAIN HIS GUESTS RESORT FOR WEARY
oFF1cIALs-THE PRODUCTS OF THE ESTATE.
The administration of the grandson OF sold
11ppecanoe" is to have pleasant surprise. II
is the Inauguration of a ''log-cabin" and
"hard-cider" social campaign by Senator
Evarts. In the summer of 1887 the senior
Senator from New York purchased beautiful
tract OF land on the Maryland side of the Poto-
mac, just north of the old Fashioned and case
mated granite fortress. Washington, almost
opposite Mount Vernon, and eleven miles
from the capital. Immediately after the NOM
lnaton of Gen. Harrison Senator Evarts made
up his mind to build on this estate. on a COM
handing swell on the eastern littoral of the
lake-ilke stream. an old-fashioned Harrison
campaign log cabin. He supplemented this pa
trlotlc purpose with further determination
that II Gen. Harrison were elected he would re-
verse the popular campaign axiom of half a
century ago, from the log cabin to the White
House., to social axiom of the new admins
tratlon, from 1.-The White House to the log
cabln: but il he were not elected he would
make the cabin the funeral pyre of his hopes
and expectations by applying to it the consum-
ing torch. The grandson OF the sire of 1910
was elected. The log cabin on the curved sky
line of the picturesque peninsula of Swans
neck, the rude architectural elevation Of which
attracted the wondering attention of the thou
sands of pilgrims on the passing steamer to the
tomb OF Washington during the Harrison cam
palgn OF 1885, is now nearing the completion Of
Its interior finish. BY the time Benjamin Har-
rison is fairly established at the helm Of state
the log cabin of Swans neck will be opened to
n IL iati nyrIis had
proprietor.
THEN AND NOW.
When the elder Harrison was at the apex
of his popularity as the standard-bearer of the
wings of 1910 VIM. NJ Evarts was a student at
law. He was about to enter the practice of his
chosen profession. At Yale and Harvard he
had been the recognized orator Of those insti-
buttons. In the forensic efforts Of moot courts
and hypothetical litigation he was a star and
when the spirited political campaign of the
hero of Tippecanoe came around his youthful
eloquence was enlisted in behalf the old war
rior. In the recent campaign he therefore felt
peculiar interest, and in his Tippicanoe cabin
on the banks Of the Potomac he will therefore
doubly enjoy the presence of the chief admin
istrator, the chief fabricators and the chief in
terpreters of the laws, with the lesser lumin-
aries of official and unofficial life at the
capital, as his guests. The descendant of Tip
pecanoe and political admirers of ''Tyler too"
VIII give anu an dssOClaClOn I'd
the log cabin on Swans neck, which will be a
feature OF, the history of the incoming admin
istration.
THE ESTATE OF SWANS NECK,
$50 acres, acquired by purchase by Senator
Evarts, lies in the embrace of the romantic
estuary of Swan creek and the Piscataway, in
Prince Georges county, Maryland. On the south
1T abuts on the government reservation Of Fort
Washington, an extensive stone work of the
style of the defensive constructions of the
beginning OF the century, with ditch and port
cullis embrasures, and classmates, pastions and
parapets for hundred dogs of war, and bar
racks, store-houses and magazines for formi-
dable garrison. Looking across the wide ex-
panse of the river the historic home of the first
President may be SEEM And to the north, in
dim outline upon the azure canopy, may be
discerned the symmetrical dome of the capitol
and the lofty obelisk to the memory of WASH
ington. And landward rises the low range of
hills which extends from the Anacostia to the
Chesapeake.
THE CABIN
is 60 feet long and Is feet wide, and u feet
between the joist. 1t is fashioned after the
Tippecanoe campaign order of architecture of
forty odd years ago. 1t is built of logs hewn
in the forest of the estate and raised and
chinked in the olden style. 1t has the charac-
teristic chimney and Fireplace. 4x7 feet, capa-
BILE OF receiving hickory logs cut on the estate
to that traditional and historic length. The
interior arrangement is suggestive of hospi-
tally and good cheer, the dining which
is 3Ox25 feet, being the salient feature of the
plan. A sitting-room and library and sleeping
rooms occupy the rest of the space. The COM
modious kitchen, with great fireplace and
cranes, and splits and servants quarters, occu-
pies an adjunct to the main structure. Over
head is a loft which, as Senator Evarts sug-
gests, will be rendered accessible by an auto
matte hoist, and can be utilized as a stow-a-
way for any Of the guests who may grow
fatigued or stumble by the way. The interior
of the cabin, unlike the primitive originals,
will be finished in native woods from the place
worked in Oil.
NATIVE PRODUCTS.
Mr.. Evarts has his whole plan of operations
incident to his log cabin and social campaign
perfected. "The native products Of the es-
tate" he said, "are wild ducks from the es-
tuary, 'possums among the gum trees of the
woods, coons in the hollows, and sweet pota-
toes and peanuts on the uplands. That will
make a dietary display of indigenous growth,
moistened with hard cider from prospective
orchards, which may be said to be the speciality
OF the estate. We might entertain Congress-
men on peanuts, to which am told the soil is
peculiarly adapted A congressional peanut
roast, with baked 'possum, basted coon and
hard cider would make the constituent features
of menu la Tippecanoe. The wild ducks,
when we get them, will answer for ceremonious
occasions, when formality takes the place of
food but for substantial diet we will fill up the
guests on sweet potatoes, peanuts and hard
cider"
NEED OF A MILITARY ROAD.
''The great problem" says the Senator, snow
paramount, is the facilities of communication
with the cabin. The present means of trans
portation is a native outfit procured at an out
lay of the munificent sum of $105, which am
informed consists of horse, buggy, harness,
whip, and robes. The distance from the Fort
Washington landing is less than a mile. The
great question is land route from Washington
to the cabin. Two hours drive would compass
the distance with a good road. There is an
axiom OF government handed down from such
an eminent authority as Washington. In time
of peace prepare for war; Now, Fort WASH
ington lies just beyond the estate at Swans
neck. Why not military necessity
to construct, in these piping times of peace,
threatened with Samoan complications, 10000
miles away on the other side of the globe, a
road from the navy-yard bridge to the old
stone fortress ON the other side Of Swans
neck. Or, another thought in the solution of
this perplexing problem, why not carry out
the proposition to utilize Fort Washington as
an Indian school? Congress would then need
a good road to reach the scene of their civiliz-
ing efforts upon the aboriginal denizens of the
far west. A supply of fresh roasted Swans
neck peanuts by way Of passing hospitality
might aid in willing away the time in transit.
Great campaigns have been lost and won on
the construction Of public highways, but the
national road along the eastern shore Of the
Potomac, from the hayward to the national
magazines, and Fort Washington, by way of
Swans neck, is great military necessity, and
IL L. H. k.l all =.