The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-01-22
THE STORY OF MARY TOW.
II II Her Picture ?--"Oie virginny"a Mine
OF Historical Wealth.

II is not without reason that some ma
tons trace ancestry and kingly lives on
the spindle side only. ignoring the side
OF the Sword" altogether. or attributing
to 1t only feeble emphasis. We hear OF
the mother OF the Gracchi," the moth
er" OF Romulus and Remus the mother
Of Apollo and Artemis, and OF mother
earth. The tongue that is not mother
tongue is but poor babble. and the wit
that is not mother" wit is witless In
deed Is II the haunted Medea or the
hippant Jason that Is the more majestic
Of the two constituting this classical
coupled Who transmitted the traits that
made Goethe and Hugo and Coeridge
famous beyond their kind and a delight
to all generations?
Is II not therefore an unimportant fact
that biographies should be written OF
Mary the mother OF Washington. the sight
Of whom forced Lafayette TO exclaim that
he had seen the only Roman matron liv-
ing In his day This was In 1884. only
few years before those sublime women
of France, Madame Elizabeth, Charlotte
Corday and Madame Roland illustrated
the majesty Of the sex by laying their
heads beneath the guillotine OF the Place
de Ia Concorde.
Marion Harland rescues the misty out
lines of this noble lady's countenance
from the oblivion into which they had
fallen and restores and vitaiizes them
with the skillful touch OF the trained
literary hand. Her charming biography
Of the shadowy Mary Ball. second wife
of Augustine Washington, has all the
distinctness Of newly-burnished silver.
Et la medaile austere
Que trouve TN laboureur
Sous terre
ReVeie I'm empereur.
The image polished into brightness on
the broken and oxidized coin is not that
Of Roman emperor" but OF Roman
empress--of a woman endowed with sim
gIIar force Of viii, great moral dignity.
comrs nding calmness and inherent
stref m OF mind, which she transmitted
strai 10 as an arrow to her remarkable
son. No one can say that Washington
did not inherit these traits from his early
widowed mother left the hapless guar
dian Of five children when she was but
little over thirty. She lived TO be eighty
three, and to see her son George the VIC
torious general of the Revolution and
the idol of his age.
Mrs. Terhune writes her story In the
interests OF 1.-The National Mary Washing
ton Memorial Association" and writes II
well. Old Mrs. Washington had faded
into indistinctness behind the gracious
figure OF young Martha Gusts, and many
a myth ran about the hero's mother; but
this Is the very reason why the light OF
her countenance should again be uplifted.
and should shine again with the true
and beautiful radiance which II shed
over her contemporaries. Mrs Terhune
diligently searches Sparks, Irving. Loss
ing, the recent genealogical records, fami-
" memoranda and local tradition, and
out of these she reconstructs a tapestry
not blazing with color nor palpitating
with life, but stirring and vivacious
enough 20 suit the temperament OF so
austere figure rs Madam Washing
ton" (for so she was called in the cour-
tier-llke language OF the time. Her
tomb had fallen into neglect; an ignoble
controversy RACED over the very owner
ship OF her bones: asperities few hither
and thither through the sacred silence
which should have enshrouded her ashes;
and IL was high time that the Association
for the Preservation OF Virginia Antiqui-
ties or some other Association should
undertake TO lift the fallen memory stimuli
taneously with the fallen memorial tomb
OF the most august Of American women.
This Mrs Terhune-an accomplished Vir-
ginian-and her associates have most
gracefully done In the present volume.
NhlSh 10 Pliitcu anu DySA' ~ NiiD Auo'io'
OF John Esten Cookies romantic Lady
Pocahontas." issued BY the same publish
ers.
Virginia is still full Of a mine Of such
wealth as is revealed by this brief BIZ
ography-old historic family places. presi-
dents houses, original documents. family
portraits, patents and historic bfic-a-brae
invaluable TO the antiquary. Mt. Vernon
is but one sample OF its gathered treas
ures, duplicates OF which might be as
semhled round the memories OF Madison,
Monroe. jefferson, Mason. Harrison, Clay,
Randolph and many a "signer'' whose
half-obliterated signature still peeps
through history. In spite OF ingenious ar
guments to prove its identiA, we have
our doubts whether the portrait preiixed
10 this book is really the face Of Mary.
the mother Of Washington.