The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-11-22
MISS VAN LEW, A SPY.
HER HOME WAS AT RICHMOND
 VI.
"Reminiscences of Her Romantic Career
 During the Rebellion.

For thirty years RlchmOnd mas cast
 a daily glance up toward it's seventh
 hill and felt that peculiar thrill which
 the child feels in the presence of a haunted bsuse, For thirty years Rich
 mond has conned over the known facts
 and wondHred of the unknown has told
 the children of q new generation all
 that was accessible of truth and started
 them dreaming upon what might be
 hidden away in the great bleak garrets,
 the solemn shuttered chambers, the
 caVernous cellars, the secret archives,
 reached through narrow paSsageWays
 and cryptic man-traps; and when, as
 on rare occasions, there ventured
 abroad gaunt, bent and attenuated
 figure, with thin face of drawn parch-
 ment and a keen look out of a myste-
 rious soul down into the depths of oth-
 CT souls-the abiding genius of the
 place-few, indeed, there were to recall
 in her the beautiful Elizabeth Van Lew,
 the fair spy of General Grant, the
 southern girl by adoption who was ab-
 olitionist at heart, and who contributed
 more than the world will ever know to
 the salvation of the Union-one of the
 most remarkable personages of the cen-
 tury.
 This superficial report is entirely un-
 worthy of her; it should be a volume,
 written by Walter Scott, and bound
 in pure gold.
 During the first quarter of this cen
 tury there came to Richmond a New
 Yorker of Dutch descent. His name
 was John Van Lew, and he was the per sonifcation of thrift and integrity He
 prospered nightly. Making pilgrim age to the north in search of new ave- nues to fortune, and incidentally wife, Van Lew was entertained by the celeb- rites as distinguished compatriot, and promptly fell in love with the daughter of Hillory Baker, the brave
 mayor of Philadelphia, who died at his post during a yellow fever epidemic when all others who were able had fled fhe city. Back to his southern home the fortunate Dutch merchant took his bride, and here built upon one of the proud hills of Richmond a mansion such as struck dumb with awe his fel- 1ow-townsmen, who, for all their pros perity and natural southern leaning to- ward luxury and extravagance, had never seen anything approaching it in regal appointments and princely per- lection of detail.
 Here the bride passed many happy years, adored by every one from the highest dignitary of the federal gov ernment down to the meanest slave of the manor, and here was born the daughter who was destined to wield such a powerful and mysterious influ- ence upon the affairs of the nation in its gravest years of crisis.
 In that day of "open- house. hospital ity there was no mansion below Wash ington that extended to the distin- guished stranger such sumptuous well come as the house of Van Lew. It was the ideal spot for days repose, to and from the southern cities in that day of slow travel by coach, and the list of celebrities who sat at the beau tiful damask and brought the latest gossip of distant states-as far removed then as foreign countries are from us now-or who lolIed under the Towering acacia, oleander and grateful beech through whose irregular vistas was seen a gorgeous stretch of southern landscape, down over the terraces, thanked by the silvery James-the very catalogue of these honored guests would fill volumes.
 And here, like a princess, the fair daughter of the house, Lizzie Van LeW held sway with that maturing charm of Hthe daughter of the northern stock de- veIoping under the tropical influence of the southern sun-a 1.-the, agile crea- fure with a wit that was dangerous to trife with and a vivacity that made her the dream idol of every youth within hundred leagues of Church hill.
 Already in her early teens the girl displayed the talents and indomitable courage even to audacity which during the rebellion kept a hundred officers of the confederacy and President Davis himself in mighty quandary. The ed ucational advantages of Richmond be- ing inadequate, as her father believed, Miss Lizzie was sent north to school in one of the fashionable districts of Phil adelphia, as befitting one destined to hold forth in the splendor of her south ern surroundings.
 This education had more than one ef- fect-it made the naive and roguishly | winsome girl a woman of unerring 1n- | tuitions of dauntIess determination and | of such original charm in coquetry that | brought to her feet every eligible in the | land. Why it was that with scores of offers from men who have since become | factors in the affairs of the nation she allowed signing gallants to turk about | the princely domain, fight dues and . curse their rivals, ready to let blood for the very favor of her smile, and still uncaught will never be known.
 Some F'renchman has said that the ideal coquet never marries-that the homage of hundreds is preferable to the yoke, even with a paragon of man. Iy chivalry and power. Be that as it may, if fair Lizzie Van Lew ever loved, and a little corner of her heart was clipped off by disappointment, after she had shattered completely so many others supposed to be stronger and lraver, she nuTsed her wound we'll, and 70 her dying day her few lifelong inti- mates never knew the reason why Aunt Lizzie" remained a Van Lew in- stead of amalgamating her family his- ory with that of almost any illustrious name in the nation with whose bearers she and her people were on terms of