Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-07
MARYWASHINGTON HONORED
Arrangements for the Monument Dedica.
tion at Fredericksburg.
President Cleveland VIII Preside
by Patriotic American Women.

| Inc arrangements being made at Fred
| ericksburg, Va, for the dedication of the
Mary Washington monument on Thursday
are extensive and elaborate. The enter
| tainment provided for the thousands of
guests expected is largely furnished by the
Masons and the Daughters and Sons Of the
American Revolution resident in the city.
There will be splendid Masonic banquet in
| the evening Immediately following the ded
I icaton exercises. and at night there will be
a colonial ball, which will, in all probability,
rival in beauty and brilliancy the famous
peace ball given in 1871 to Washington and
his French and American officers on the
| occasion of his visit TO his mother at Fred
! ericksburg when he was route from
| Yorktown to Philadelphia-the same ball at
which his mother made her first and only
appearance in public with him. Among the
noted guests who have accepted invitations
to be present during the day are President
Cleveland and several of the cabinet, Vice
] President and Mrs. Stevenson, the latter be-
ing the president general OF the Daughters
of the American Revolution; Chief Justice
and Mrs Fuller anu number of the JUS
| tices of the Supreme Court. There will be a
| large attendance of Senators and members
of Congress and other notable people from
| Washington, as special trains will be run
| 10 accommodate those who wish to attend.
| Gov. OFerrall of Virginia will be there
/ with his STAFF, accompanied by several COM
panieS OF the state guards and cadets. The
! Marine Band will go down on the special
| from Washington.
| Mrs. Amelia c. Weite, president of the
| lady managers and incorporatorS Of the
| NatiOual Mary Washington Memorial AS
| socla zion, under whose auspices the monu-
ment has been reared, Will be in attend
ance and will witness with no small pleas
ure the completion of gigantic undertake
ing-the raising among women alone a suf-
! fcient sum to erect a monument fitting the
| character OF the mother of the first Pres
ident of the United States. Associated with
| Mrs. Waite in this great work were many
noble women. all Of whom have labored in
| defatigably to complete the testimonial Of
| women to a woman eminently deserving of
all honor.
officers of the Association.
| The board of trustees of the association.
| which was Incorporated and chartered Feb
ruary ~, 1880, is composed of the President
| OF the United States. Chief Justice Of the
Supreme Court, and the governor of the
state of Virginia, whoever they may be.
and who act in ex-ofticio capacity. Mrs.
| Amelia G.. Waite is vice president; Mrs.
! Margaret Hetzel of Clifton Springs, Va.
secretary; Mrs. Roger A. Pryor. vice presi-
dent at large; treasurer. Mr.. L. Francis
Riggs, Washington; the other trustees are
/ Mrs. Matilda W.. Emory, Washington;
/ Miss Maud Lee Davidge, Washington; Mr..
| Reginald Fendall. Washington; Mr.. Blair
+, Lee. Washington, and Mr.. Frank Hatton.
lately deceased.
/ The lady managers and incorporators are:
| Mrs. Amelia G. Waite. president; Mrs. Ma
tilda w. Emory, first vice president; Mrs.
, Elizabeth Blair Lee, second vice president;
| Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, secretary; Miss Mary
| F. Waite. assistant secretary. Each state
I in the Union has vice president. as fol-
| lows: New Hampshire, Mrs. Blair; YER
mont. Mrs. Dillingham;; Massachusetts. Miss
Anna f. Ticknor; Rhode Island. Mrs B..
q. Wilbour; Connecticut, Miss ;. g. Clark Z;
\
Jersey, Mrs. Dewitt Clinton Mather: Penn
syIvania, Mrs. W. II. Mccartney: Maryland.
Mrs. Gray: Virginia, Mrs. V. NJ. Fleming
I North Carolina. Mrs. Y. Vance: South Car
| NJ. A. Lipsc0mb; Alabama, Miss Wheeler;
Mississippi Mrs. Claudia b. Money; Louis
/ lana, Mrs. j.. Washington Story; Texas.
I Mrs. Regain; Florida, Mrs. H. s. Chris
topher; Tennessee. Mrs. Mary b. Washing
ton; Arkansas, Mrs. Clifton r. Breckin-
| ridge; Kentucky. Mrs. Lindsay; Ohio, Mrs.
| Meade Massie; Missouri. Mrs. Stone: In
diana, Mrs. Mason; Illinois, Mrs. Lyman
| Trumbell; Michigan, Mrs. Thomas w.
| Palmer; Wisconsin. Mrs. John w. Mitchell
Kansas, Mrs. H. e. Cross; Minnesota. Mrs.
Oregon, Mrs. Dolph; Washington. Mrs.
Squire; Wyoming, Mrs. Cary; California,
! Mrs. Hearst; Nevada, Mrs. Stewart: Colo
RADIO. Mrs NJ. V. Macon. Five states.
| Maine. Iowa. Dakota. Montana and Idaho,
/ are without representation.
The Program of Exercises.
President Cleveland will preside at the
dedication ceremonies. Gov. O'Ferrall will
welcome the guests. and Virginia's gifted
son, Senator Daniel. will deliver the grafton
| Mr.. Lawrence Washington. a lineal descend
ant of Mary Washington, will speak, and
there will be music by the Marine Band,
and brief speeches by others.
| Mary, the mother Of Washington, died on
Thursday evening, August ~ 1889. At her
own request she was buried on a gentle
| knoll on the plantation of her only daugh-
| ter, Betty Lewis. The spot had been a
| favorite place of resort for the silent wo-
man and was in sight of her own home. and
| of Kenmore, the home of her daughter,
| where 1t IS supposed that Mary Washing
ton died. But ii is hard to understand why
she sought burial in the center of a field
far from her kin. and in a spot where at
that time no grave had ever been made
when her husband, Augustine Washington
slept the last sleep in the family vault Of
| the Washingtons on Bridges creek. in
| Westmoreland county, with a place left at
his side for her.
The little city of Fredericksburg mourned
| her death in Grape and bombazine for the
space of thirty days, and Congress. then in
| session in New York, did the same but like
| too many others who wear their grief like
! a ribbon. to be laid aside when passe they
! permitted the memory of Washing ton's
| mother to grow cold and only a sIInkcn
mound and tangled grasses marked her rest
| ing place for half a century. Mary Wash
| ington was, to be sure, plain woman, with
! few SraceS to please her ariStOcratic eldest
| son, but her devotion to him was the one
| tender thing of her life. He was her first
| born, her best beloved, yet he never so
! much as placed a marble slab above her
/ dead face to mark her grave from the other
| hillocks in the fieldi
Apparent Neglect of the Family.
! 1t is incomprehensible to us. in this age
and day that such a thing could be. But
| there Is not in history 4 line or word to
show that Washington ever thought of such
] thing, though he survived her for twenty
years. and died possessed of great wealth
I for a man of his day. If he had contem-
| plated such tribute at any time it would
J have been found among his papers. for
Washington left about as minute an &C
count of his daily walks and talks as any
| man who ever lived. 1t does not appear
/ that the daughter, Betty. or any of the de-
scendantS ever seemed to think 1t the thing
| to mark this honored grave themselves
/ though there was wealth enough among the
earlier ones to nave accomplished It, One
wonders a little that the loyal state of Vir-
J ginia did not erect monument to her men,
| DRY, for it once contemplated caring for and
pensioning her. 1t would have done so had
| not Washington, who then managing
| her plantations for her. written to Benta-
min Harrison, asking that no such action
| be taken.
He said: 81 am sure We would all feel
much hurt at having our mother a pen
sioner while we had means to support her.