Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-19
MRS. WAITE EXPLAINS
The Mary Washington. Monument and tn
Needs Of the Society.
An Endowment Fund REQUIRED t.
Provide for the Maintenance.
of the Grounds.

The following paragraph is going the
rounds of the press:
"Mrs. Waite, the widow of Chief Justice
Waite, says she has grave fears that the
Mary Washington Society, of which she is
the head, will not be able to complete the
monument at Fredericksburg, proposed in
honor Of the mother of the first President.
The ground about the shaft was donated on
the condition that the place be given an
endowment fund sufficient to keep a Gus
todian, who will see that the ground Is kept
in good order; but as this will require
sum of about $4,000. the society may not
be able to retain the land"
There are some erroneous statements in
this paragraph. Mrs. Waite, the widow of
Chief Justice Waite, Is a resident Of
this city. She has devoted a great deal
of time to the society, whose object it is to
erect monument to the mother of George
Washington. To a Star reporter, who
asked her the other day what the status Of
this work is, she said:
THE National Mary Washington Memo
about the same time the Mary Washington
Monument Association of Fredericksburg
was organized, and being on the ground,
secured the land surrounding the monument
with the unfinished anaf commenced sixty
years before As the National Mary Wash
ington Memorial Association. as organized,
seemed to have better facilities for raising
money. the Fredericksburg association, after
much consultation, agreed to deed the prop
erty to the national association on eondi-
ton that they erect suitable monument
within a reasonable time. and provide
sufficient endowment fund to provide and
take care of the property in the future, but
that in case of failure to fulfill the condi-
lions of their deed the property should re-
vert, with it's Improvements, in deciding the
monument to the Mary Washington Monu-
-latr, H.,
The Monument.
1.-The new monument, handsome shaft
of Barre gral.ite oyer fifty feet high. was
completed in 1893. and dedicated in the
presence of President Cleveland and other
distinguished persons May 10. 1894 We
now have the money to build a small cot
tage for the gardener and Waterman, and
hope to have it finished within the year,
but the endowment fund is yet to be found.
We must have the $4,000. at least. AS 1
said, we have the money for the garden
ground to be laid $put and improved with
trees and shrubbery. When We first COM
nlenced work we wished to make 1t ma
tional affair, and asked for $1,000 from
each state in the Union. No state has as
yet given US over that amount not more
than two as much, and many more COM
paratively nothing. Colorado has given
more than all the New England states to-
collected a small sum at the time of the
centennial celebration. in Boston, which
was afterward paid over to us upon the
completion of the monument. That Is all
we have had from that state. Collections
which might be made by entertainments,
fairs, concerts, colonial teas or danes
in the states which SO far have done moth
ing, or next to nothing, would enable LIS
to complete our work and turn it over to
the trustees, the President of the United
States, the Chief Justice of the United
States. and the governor OF the state Of
Virginia, all ex-officio.
WOmnn's Work.
'It is especially woman's work-the first
monument built to a woman by women.
AS a patriotic movement, will not the
women of this country come forward now
and help US complete the work of honoring
the mother of the father Of our country?
Honor our greatest man by honoring his
mother.
ut is very important that proper care
shall be taken to guard this great work
from destruction. We are obliged to have
it watched all the time. Vandalism is
rampant over all this land. I believe and
the relic hunter Is abroad. There is a
large rock near the monument on which
Mary Washington used to sit with her
Bible to read and mediate, where she IN
doubtedly sent up many prayers for that
noble SON. That has to be constantly
watched, or not vestige of 1t above
ground would be left at the end Of this
year"