Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-08-23
PASSED THE CEsTURYsMARk.

1t seems incredible that there should
live today a woman whosaw George
Washington and remembers how he
looked. But such seems to be thecase.
Her name IL Sarah Doron Terry, a
resident OF Philadelphia and one hun
dred and eight years old. She was
recently interviewed by a writer for
Frank Leslie's Weekly who says "she
Is as active as In the days when she
was a handsome, buxom lass, with
rosy cheeks and snappy black eyes,
and danced with Lafayette at the
citizens ball. She was born when
the ink upon the parchment that
bears the Declaration OF lndepend-
ence was still black. She has seen
her country emerge from the first
thrOes uf the birth of the democracy
into the dawn OF the new life. She
was a girl budding into the bloom Of
early womanhood when the nation,
not yet matured, was cast into the
agonies of the war OF 1912; and keen
eat in all her remembrance is that
night in Philadelphia when the story
came that the British had won a
great victory and were advancing
north. She recalls how the town
was in darkness, while women and
children were huddled together like
frightened lambs, praying for the hus-
bands and fathers far away. She
saw Victoria, a plump, rosy little
girl OF twelve, with tlaxen hair and
blue eyes, playing around the gar
dens OF Kensington Palace"
Mrs. Terry said at that time she
was a companion to Mrs. Petersen,
the wife OF the Danish minister. She
never thought then that the littl'
princess would become queen OF Eng
land. "She had the sweetest child
face | ever saw, and she is IA good
woman ii there ever lived one in this
world"
But the old lady's memories IRE in
the past, says her interviewer. Her
heart lies in the graves Of her father,
the famous soldier of the Revolution
airy War; of her husband who carried
a bullet from the field Of 1912, and Of
those who passed away fifty years
ago. OF the world around her, Of the
men and women who fill it, she cares
. nothing. To her, they are as the
figures Of a dream, the creatures Of
another universe, OF a life in which
she has no part. In her mind 1t Is
but yesterday that George Washing
ton asked her mother to cook him a
dinner. She remembers how the gen.
eral stood by the side Of his horse at
Market and Sixth streets, bowling In
his grand manner to thecrowd. And
she tells what a fine figure of a man
he was.
She well remembers the dashing
Lafayette. She never saw anything
to equal his eloquent, beautifulbrown
eyes, that seemed to look you
through and through" or his hands,
long, slim and delicate. And how
he could dance the minuet ~ shecried,
half rising from her chair at the rec
election.
The old lady hasn't a very good
opinion OF the men of to-day and
thinks they would not compare fa-
vorably with those u her youth.
In closing the interview the cente-
marian said: "They tell me have
been made a Daughter of the Revolu-
ton. Well. they might have saved
themselves the trouble. 1t Is very
kind of them but l don't need to be
elected a daughter. | am a daugh
ter Of the revolution-the only genu-
Inc daughter left. How can they
hiohS NV tNNC oNcI. lHty Sdii Z
take me back to the past, they can't
bring me forward to the present. l
have no place in this world oramong
these people. / want to close my
eyes"
How like n dream the above reads.
Yet there can be no doubt OF its relia-
bility. Next December will be the
one hundredth anniversary of the
death Of George Washington, and
Mrs. Terry was eight years old when
he passed away. What a change
has taken place in this country since
then. Is it any wonder that the old
lady says she has no place among
these people," and wants to ''close
her eyes?"
Boys suits and waists at Leh-