The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1889-10-24
THE ENDURING HOME.

According to ssGath," Personality IT, Not
to no Found In the City.
It is city property which Ia perish
able thing. and not property in tho
country. Hardly o house. which is
preserved. which has historical or
pious "reminiscences remains in any Of
our cities. The John Hancock house
of Boston had to 60 at last; tho old
South Church might as we'll be torn
down Us to be what it is, kind Of ped
ding bazaar. The Hamilton House in
New York barely escaped sacrifice by
being turned over to a church. But
country houses are generally found
whore they stood when the man Of his
tory put them up
You never could find Shakespeare's
house in London If he ever had owned
one there. The bard OF nature returned
to his cattle market town and there ac-
CURED and altered one OF the best resi-
dences. and to this day 1t stands EVIL
dence which. like the old mans tomb.
pulverizes the small beings who would
get days fame by explaining Shakes
peare away. / have always noticed
that when went to hunt up the evil
dences Of men OF celebrity found them
nearly perfect in the country and hard
ly ever recoverable in the city. II you
want to sec where John Jay lived SO
much longer than his contemporaries.
go to his farm at Bedford, forty miles
above New York City.
II you seek for Dewitt Clinton's roof
tree. do not ask whero it is in New
York. but 60 out to Maspeth, in Long
Island, and there. close to the big cem-
eteries and oil retineries. stands exactly
as 1t was the statesman's home, where
no doubt he had more self-respect than
In all his political victories He died
very young for such q man. occupying
the Office Of Governor. which is seat
of nett.es. You will find Oliver Perry's
birthplace still standing among the
rocks and sand-hills in Rhode Island.
Mon who only lived in towns left no
moro footprints than are to be found
upon the brick pavementA Hence the
ever recurring desire not merely to buy
. place IN the country, but to build one
and 500 it nodded to ones own images.
Garfield had a house at Mentor. which
will probably stand for two hundred
years, in some OF its parts. even though
IRE should consume most OF it. He
said that IN order to work of the men,
tai fatigue Of Congress he had to 60
back and pitch hay upon the wagon as
he did when boy. You can locate
Garfield for the next several centuries
by his country homo. but where can
you locate Chester A. Arthur. who al.
ways lived In town. and whose house
merits a glance on Lexington avenue,
New York, being indistinguishable from
thousands OF Others. having not one
feature that is distinctive or ornamental
about It.
But Mt. Vernon remains all that We
can put our hands on OF Washington.
except his old buckskin brooches.
Posterity he had not; the painters like
Stuart sublimated the man to their
conception of what the public expected;
but when you 60 to Mt Vernon you
have only to fill up a chair with living
man somewhat worn out In the general
service, you can smoll him. handle
him and criticize him. You can not
say, I'm this closet he kept his whisky;
here he turned and expressed suspi.
cion to the servant that somebody had
been tampering with the whisky. This
fire place he poked up with that old
shovel. Here on the porch he sat OF
evenings and heard tho chatter OF
some French or German traveller. who
expected before he went to bed. at the
risk OF his eye-sight to put down
every thing that Washington grunted
and assented to. or II he tilted back his
chair and crossed his Gath In
Cincinnati Enquirer.