St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-06-12
MOUNT VERNON.
Mrs. FIandrau and the Work Ac-
complished by Minnesota.

Mrs. FIandrau and the Work Ac-
complished by Minnesota.
To the Editor of the Globe.
At the risk of repeating what may be to
many an old story, the vice regent for Mime
sofa would like to give a short sketch of
Mount Vernon, and especially statement
of what Minnesota has accomplis he'd during
the past year That Mount Vernon was
owned and occupied by Washington until
1855, when it was bought by the Mount Yer
mons Ladies association, is fact pretty
generally known. That its purchase was
brought about through the patriotic idea of
woman, acted upon by the patriotic women
of nation, is a fact not so widely known.
Al the time of the purchase everything was
ilapidated, mansion, cabluS ana fences,
rank weeds were Overrunnlng the land, and
the very tomb of Washington was Wondering
and crumbling into dust. The tomb Of Wash
ington falling to piecesl The greatest OF
good men. and the best Of great men," 1t is
said that q republic is proyerbially forgeual
of its heroes and, indeed, it would seem so.
The distinguished foreigners who made
pilgrimage to this Mecca were sc0ndalized,
and marveled at a nations ingratitude.
But TO 90 back to the practical point Of
how all this has been changed. With not one
cent of capital after the purchase money had
been paid, the regent, and the three or four
vice regents who had been appointed, went
TO work to beg-and 10 hope more than any
thing else. Money did not flow into
the treasury. The country had heard
so much about Mount Vernon
and the purchase money that 1t was tried.
Many and interesting are the accounts given
by the older vice regents, and of the desOl-
alton and hopeless feeling of the original
four or five who met at Mount Vernon and
tried to devise ways and means to repair the
mansion and the tomb. For years they
struggled. poor and feeling that their under
taking was not q popular one. But devotion
and courage in any cause are almost sure TO
win, and today the very few who are left Of
those who remember those days Of trial.
have the satisfaction of seeing the home of
Washington restored 10 its original beauty,
not only the mansion, but the grounds, the
deer park, The green house, and even the
negro quarters, which last Improvement was
made by the school children of Kansas two
years ago
1t was many years before the place began
to assume any resemblance to its former
order and beauty. so small was the fund, and
so gradual the repairs, and it Is easy 10 I'M
derstand that the expenses of such place.
kept up subject to the inspection of the
world, are not trlfiing. Expenses of the most
unexpected kind arise, such as the necessity
Of building walls in order to prevent great
loss of land, for there is a substratum Of
saponaceous clay underlying the hills along
the Potomac which has already caused three
land slides
In restoring Mt. Vernon, the effect has
been to make it as nearly like the Mt. Yer
non of Washington as it is possible. The
rooms were restored by the different states,
and are called the Virginia room, the Penn
sylvania ROOM and so on. The Southern and
Eastern states naturally were the ones 10 do
this. aud the only Western states thus repre-
seuted are Illinois and Wisconsin. AS there
are so many more states in the Union than
there are rooms at Mt VERNON, the newly
represented ones have never expected to have
such privilege. However, it has
fallen to Minnesota, and in this way.
In Continental times, and in the
early days of the republic, the spinning
house was as indispensable as the kitch en- in
a Southern home, for here was made every
thing in the way of clothing for the negroes.
To the right Of the lawn and quite near the
garden and greenhouse lies the Spinning
house of Martha Washington. Nothing has
been done as yet to restore it. 1t will be,
however one of the most attractive rooms to