The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-09-07
WASHINGTON LETTER.
The Bicycle and Davy Burns Cottage.
Chanpe OF tho Chinese Minister.
Tho Siberian Commission.
Especial Correspondence

Mnlle much Is unJustly lad nt emo
door OF the bicycle, it has been Indirect
ly the cause Of the downfall and disap-
pearsnce Of one of Washington IS most
historic homes, the cottage OF old
"Dayy" Burns. whom George Washing
ton immortalized ~ THAT obstinate
Scotchman Davy BurnG.
Tho old man owned farm embrace
ing the land now occupied by tho White
House, treasury, state, war aud navy
departments and stretching from the
Potomac to what il low New York ave-
nue.. Tho story Yoos that tho first presi-
dent tried to persuade tho old Scotch
man to donate half OF his farm ~ q site
for the capital OF tho now nation. ex-
planning again and again to him the
enormously increased value tho remain,
ing portion Of his land would have. Tho
hard hoadcd old miser heard all that he
had to say. but Washington eloquenco
was without avail, for ho remarked,
les not sick foo is Davy Burns AZ
to be thinkin as half j. his farm is
worth more than the whole" TO an
unrecordsd retort of Washington's Davy
replied with whitening soorn. IAN who
would yo be. George Washington, if 20
had ia married tho Widow Oustis?'
The Ioonoclasdo CYCLIC.
Until recently, just south of tho new
Oorcorsn art gallery, below tho mall
stood tho identical cottage in which old
Davy lived and died 1t was inclosed in
ample grounds. and today the old gates
and Waterman lodge guard tho en-
trance to tho once beautiful gardens and
the driveway leading to the then con,
sidercd magnificent Van Ness mansion,
tho homo Of Davy Burns only child,
Marcia, who became tho vito of John
z. Van Ness. II handsome young mem
Dor OF congress. who afterward Was
mayor of Washington.
Wealth did not change old Davy, and
he lived Oh contentedly IN his little one
story cottage. satisfied to watch with
grim pride tho great men and jowcled
DANES who drove by in their carriages
to his daughters sumptuous entertain
ments III tho big mansion Just across
tho garden.
Today Davy Burns cottage is no
more. having been ruthlossly dcmo.ish-
ed to make way for tho bicycle club
that has taken the old grounds and
transformed them into racing track
Tho hoary cid trees have fallen, and the
old fashioned flowers that had for half
century run riot i'll tho neglected gar
den have been uprootod and cast out
Tho once fine home of Marcia Van Ness,
under whose hospitablc roof such t;i-
NOUS guests as jefferson, Hamilton,
Burr, Thomas Moore. as we'll as the
Taylors, CAROLS and Calverts. were en-
tertained. ia left dismnntled. open TO
the elements. the prey of ruin and de-
cay, too soon to share the fate of old
Davy's cottage Already tho once IA
nous Italian marble mantels and rich
carvings have disappeared. and the ten
antleas mansion. with its weather stain
ed walls, looks sadly down upon tie
unscntmcntal wheelmen, who scorch
over the track beneath without "a thought
of tho stories of long vanished years
the old house could tell
Tho Chinese Minister'S Change.
Much TO tho surprise of every one,
the new Chinese minister has given up
tho famous homo of the legation OH