The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-09

upon the scene with view Of making
their neigh5orhood select and aristo-
cratic, the prices of real estate will be
advanced rapidly beyond the reach of
the average government elnploye. This
circumstance. coupled with the fact that
great memorial bridge will soon spal,
the Potomac to the very gates of AT.
lington, gives added reason for the be-
lief that in the near future the village
of the freedmen will be blotted out,
and the unfortunate inhabitants scat
tered to the four winds of heaven.
For many years it has been a constant
source of wonderment to me that George
Washington selected a low, marshy
place for the site of the national CAPT.
tai, when right across the river, on the
regal heights of the Virginia shore, a
better site could have been obtained
The home of Gen. Lee was thing OF
beauty. From the heights which over
look Washington magnificent view
down the Potomac, by day and by our
numberless starlight and moonlight
nights, view unrivaled in any coun-
try or upon any continent, constantly
enchants the heart and soul as well as
the eyes of the beholders. Yet, famil-
lar as he was with every foot of ground,
and knowing all of the then present
and prospective possibilities of the city
to be builded, George Washington de-
Gberately selected this low, marshy
site; place which would have been a
nudhole forever but for the skill and
energy of Alec Shepherd. backed by the
indomi table will of President Grant.
1t is true that the national capital is
wonderfully beautiful city, but it has
cost millions of dollars to make it in
habitable and beautiful. l have al
ways suspected (pardon me, cannot
help it,, / have always suspected that
George Washington must have been I'M
duly influenced, in some way, in his Sc
lection of this point for the site Of the
capital of the republic.
But, to return to the Arlington estate,
the cemetery, which occupies but one
fifth Of it, and the other portions which
are being grasped by the home build
ers. The people of the freedmen's vii
lage were originally led to believe that
they could acquire title to the lands
which they occupied. Little frame
houses were built for them by the
Freedmen's bureau. "a by 90 feet, one
and half stories in height, and con-
tanning eight t.aoms each. These houses
were sold to the negroes for from S35 to
$50, and usually two or more families
purchased a house. They were very
pretty little cottages at first, but are
now ramshacl1ly and rickety, as well as
dirty and disease breeding. There are
also remnants of the comfortable little
homes which were erected before the
war by the Lees for their slaves. But
these, too, are "reminiscences The vii
lage is built on either side of single
street just on the brow of the verdure
clothed heights, and may be seen from
the river front on this side Of the Polo
mac, in the evening, when the sun is
to our backs, while it shines upon the
hilltop and gives unto this peculiar ag-
gregation of humanity its unselfsh and
indiscriminating goodnight kisses. The
single street is sort of communistic
front yard for the people. It is not en-
numbered with the heavy rumbling We
hicles of trade, out is usually covered
with clotheslines, dangling from which
are emblems indicative of the use of
soap and water upon neither garments;
and garments which are fringed with
the rawlings of time and ordinary
wear as well as extraordinary tear. I
saw pair of drawers upon one of the
clothes lines which would never prevent
their wearer from taking severe cold
while sitting upon damp ground or cold
stones. There were stockings as heel
less and soleless as the drawers were
seatless. There were shirts and chemises
which no amount of thread, handled
by the most dextrous of fairy fingers,
could ever be made fit to wear on the
civilized side of the river. The endeavor,
however, of the colored people to wash
and be clean was the only thing worthy
of commentator which T observed.
SMITH d. FRY.
Hungarian Types of Beauty.