Tombstone epitaph., 1890-07-12
QUIET MOUNT VERNON.
Humorous Anecdotes Told by Colonel Houingsford
Incidents Connected with the Modest Little Mansion on the Banks of the Potomac-The One Neutral Spot
 During the Civil War.

 During the Civil War.
 Persons familiar with Mount Vernon during the time of Colonel Hollingsford miss the stories of the humorous super intendent in revisiting it's different To- calities, and feel that pilgrims who have not these associations lose great deal. Indeed, writes Mary Lansing in the Youths Companion, the stories told of each narration with the relish of fresh anecdote haunt the spot like whispering ghosts.
 Who that approaches the house and pauses at Washington's favorite resting places can forget the reverential pride with which the worthy Colonel repeated the fact recorded to the glory of the Nation, that through the long civil war Mount Vernon was the one neutral spot where Unionist and secessionist met as brothers, and where all sectional strifes were forgotten?
 Upon reaching the tomb, as if to apol- ogize for it's simplicity, the Colonel would tenderly say: And you remem- Der, Washington said in his will: And the tomb shall be of brick" Then pointing to the eagle within the tomb, he would tell you with great thrill that the only dissertation of the spot committed during the war, though the soldiers of both armies met daily be- fore it, was that relic-hunter climbed i; over the gate and carried away one claw i of the eagle"
 1 s'Not in malice," he would add, "for he boasted of it on his return to Vir- ginis. He took it simply as relic hunter"
 i Then the Colonel's mirthful humor would bubble over the seriousness of the scene, and he would say with an unforgettable twinkle: 'I say distinct ly, 8 relic-hunter! I was asked the other day who Alec Hunter was?" . From this place he would point out the ice-house which gave rise to Mark Twain's famous story of the lady weep ing there in passionate sensibility, mis- taking it for the tomb; and the spot where Washington threw the silver dol lar across the Potomac clear to the other i side, linking with it the story ot MT. Evarts, who, when asked if he believed it, replied quickly: "Why, yes! A dol lar went 8 great deal farther in those days!'
 i Wandering on, he would point out the : storied shrubs and trees, the magnolia planted the year that Washington died, which, only ninety years old now, is coeval with the century; the trees planted by the Emperor of Brazil, Dom ] Pedro, and by the Prince of Wales.
 "They died and were planted again; died; planted again; died. Royalty can not flourish on this soil; but look here," he would say, 'the temperance ladies planted this and it lives and iourishes, and, every day, we give it little drop. They wish me to say, however, that the bottle of Washington's which General - saw taken out of the wall probably contained-vinegar!"
 There were all sorts of things taken out of the wall after the falling of the ceiling in the banqueting-room, in 1883 or 1884, slippers, snow-shoes, belts, skeleton of mouse in . bottle, etc., all of which were displayed as curios.
 The "hatchet story" Colonel Hollings- ford maintained, belonged to an earlier day than Mount Vernon, and the scene of it he laid forty miles further down the river, on the farm where Washing ton was born and where the veritable hatchet was plowed up from the soil.
 His version of 1t was very different from the traditional cherry-tree story. Wash | ington, so he said, had a little colored servant who was the partner of all his i childish pranks, and when the kfather solemnly asked about his favorite tree, George boldly replied: "Ike did 1t with my little hatchet."
 In the Colonels story-bag there were many pleasant anecdotes of Parson Weems, whose Life of Washington was1 the delight of early days, and l among them there was one which he - old with infinite zest when he would
 md himself among party of church ! men.
 The good parson preached on one occa- sion at little neighboring church about five miles distant from Mount Vernon. The coach was sent at the close of serv- ice to bring the parson to dine with the family of Washington. Riding alone and loving to talk, he fell to catechising John on the coach-box.
 "Are they religious people st Mount Vernon?" he asked.
 "Oh very, very, massap was the re- ply.
 "Well, what denomination are they : at Mount Vernon?"
 "Oh, every denomination, every de- nomination at Mount Vernon"
 "Ahi and what may you be, John?"
 "Mel O massa, hain't any religion st all Is an EpiscopaliaD." i Perhaps no story was dearer to his loyal heart than that of the superb mantel 1n the banqueting-room, carved in Italy oi the finest Carrara marble. On it's long voyage from the Mediterranean shore it met with many perils, and was captured by pirates who then roamed the high i seas in search of plunder.
 The old adage says: ''There is honor even among thieves" and 1t is not probable there beats human heart that has not some good in it, if rightly touched. So when these wild pirates saw the honored name of Washington upon the box, reverence and love over powered greed, and they shipped it al once to Washington's address A Woman Physician in China. i Dr. King, an American woman, occu' pies the somewhat enviable position ot hysician-in-ordinary to one of the most
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