The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-04-26
wasn,ux,on Y.errer.
tFrom eur regular correspondent.)

papers are having over the SquaDoic VI
McAllister's four hundred and the New
York aldermen over the question of pre-
cedence at the Centennial Celebration of
Washington's Inauguration, the interest is
deep and wide spread and the observance
of the day will not be restricted to the
| crowds in New York. The day will be OBJ
served here not only as a public holiday,
but as the anniversary of a supreme event
i'm American history.
1t may be the agitation over the celebra-
| ton that has so largely increased the num-
Der of visitors to Westinghouse old home,
Mount Vernon on the Potomac. Twas sur
prised on a casual visit last week when |
counted seventy-five people i'll the party
and the guide told me that the number, in
any sort of weather, during the past VIM
ter, as long as the boat had been able to
run, had not fallen below fifty. Think of
the pilgrims to this tomb in a year; not
unintcrested visitors, not tourists who
merely drop in to see such places in travel
ing, but people who come hundreds and
oftimes thousands of miles to see this spot.
l was struck by the eager interest taken
in every feature by an English advocate in
the party. On the boat going back he said
that more than anything else he had look
ed forward in visiting America to seeing
Mount Vernon. He had his pockets stuff
ed full of photographs by Mr.. Dillon and
bulbs purchased from the estates conser-
vatory, and looked supremacy happy. To
tell the truth, the foreign visitors are far
more enthusiastic admirers of Washington
Than are Americans. While a great mum
Der of our own scholars have been keeping
up a post-mortem hunt for his faults, the
students of other countries have regarded
him only as the grandest historical figure
in the annals Of modern struggles for lib
erty.
The old place at Mount Vernon is, how-
ever, eloquent evidence of the esteem in
which the father of his country is held by
his people. Every year secs improvements
made on the estate. The mansion stands
at a considerable elevation above the river,
but the descent is in no place very precipi-
tous. Within the last two years a private
donation has entirely restored the old deer
park of Washington's day OH this old river
front. A great stone wall and a fine iron
fence, with a particularly imposing gate
way, now i~ncloses the park, and a score of
deer may be seen.
So in the mansion. The donations are
continually coming in, and the pieces of
old furniture and bric-a-brac are so numer-
Gus as to unduly crowd some of the rooms.
If generous souls would now buy back the
library, which was sold sometime in the
thirties to the Boston library, tho furnish
ings would appear as complete as possible.
The old tomb where the remains of George
their removal to the present tomb, has
been fully restored within the last two
years. In fact the thought and zeal ex-
hibited by the ladies of the Mount Vernon
womanhood.
The old church at Alexandria, from
which just a hundred years ago last month,
George Washington issued and rode away
fully preserved. / was seated just back
of the old Washington pew last Sunday,
and | tried to imagine how George must
have longed to be out of that pew on such
Sundays, when the spiritual food offered by
the pastor was particularly stale, and when
he had but to look out of the window to
see the budding leaves of the trees beck
oning him away, and but to listen to hear
the birds calling each other among the
headstones in the churchyard outside. If
George had not been busy living out an
historical existence, | believe he would
have induced himself to cut the long SER
vice and go away for a walk.
Visitors to the old church have to pay
at least five cents to the sexton to see the
church outside of service time. A close
inspection of the placard conveying this
information showed me that the vestry-
men must have been much exercised in
their minds regarding the price to be
charged. Evidently the price was first
fixed at 25 cents, then at fifteen, and again
at ten. Thus we see that competition is
not the only arbiter of prices. The fee,
however, is an absolute necessity. The
sexton told me that he was obliged to
watch every movement of visitors. Peo-
pie allowed to go into the Washington
pew steal the buttons off the cushions, in
blissful ignorance of the fact that only the
hair inside is a part of the original up
holstery. Several years ago, when the
sexton had happened to leave the church
door unlocked, some enterprising traveller
entered and tore the old plate off the pew
door. Vandalism is a crimc peculiar to
no people, but it reaches the sublime in
i%mpudcnce when it works in a church.
The movement to build a grand national
road. two hundred feet wide, from Airing
ton Cemetery to Mt. Vernon, a distance of
about 16 miles, is meeting with favor, and
the proposition to have each State, with
the Government, contribute to it, will
probably be accepted. WESTON.
The Secretary of Agriculture has ap-
pointed DR.. w. b. +. Miller, of Camden, to