The Delta independent., 1901-06-21
v.ndais at Washington.

Nearly every tourist who visits
Washington wants to take away
souvenir. Souvenir stores in the na-
tional capital are as plenty as saloons,
but your true souvenir hunter wants
something that he has culled himself.
BY preference he will hammer, hew
or slice II of from some monument or
landmark. That is why it costs Uncle
Sam a fortune to guard his treasures
of history. wonder and beauty. What
ever public building you enter, your
cane. umbrella. or whatever you may
have that would make a good ham,
mcr, is taken from you and checked.
and at the Congressional Library and
Corcoran Art Gallery you are watched
very closely. lest you might get an op-
portunity to use you" heels. These
two places are particularly enticing to
the vandal, with al! their statuary and
carved marble
Unfortunately the Washington Mon
umcnt has not been so well guarded,
consequently 1t is badly SCARED by
the depredations of the souvenir
iicnds. Inside 1t is very dim in spots,
the light being supplied by an occa-
sional incandescent lamp. along the
stairway. 1t is in this atmosphere that
vandalism llourishes. Like white
squares and the blacks of a huge
che, ker board stand the memorial
slabs presented by the states in the
Union at the time of the monuments
erection. and by the societies and or
CARNATIONS of the nation wishing their
names to be immortalized at the ma
tional capital. There are more than
100 Of these. and many Of them are in
liStr of
Missing heads, arms, legs and drapery
from statuary bear eloquent witness
10 the appreciation of visitors who
were so favorably impressed with the
monument that they couldn't tear
themselves. away without taking some
thing with them to remember 1t by.
Just exactly what value. real or senti-
mental. the left ear lobe of the God
dess Of Prosperity, for instance, can
have for any person Is hard for n sane
man 20 understand. Somebody got 1t,
however.
At Mount Vernon there Is small
army of spoilers" on the lookout for
the worker of souvenir iniquity. A
Quarcr admission is charged and the
money goes 10 defray the expense Of
guarding the place. In Washington's S
old hume there is one thing that strikes
the notice by Its contrast TO the pre-
vailinG simplicity. 1t is the carved
maniclpiece of Carara marble in the
dining room. One who is not a van
dal cannot gaze upon it without an
athematizing the whole race Of relic
seekers. Even with watchers in every
room some Individual managed to get
In his work." and knock OF the head
of Il galloping deer in the center of
the group. The animal remained head
less for months. Then one day back
came the head In u little box post
marked Paris. The culprit had real
lied the evil of his ways, the villainy
of his vandalism. Said the accom-
panying note. 1T did not occur to me
in my own country. where everything
is SO perfectly preserved. the outrage
that it is to mutilate historic places
for relice. Here nothing is preserved: :
everything Is clipped and marred and
broken by travellers like myself. I re-
turn herewith. etc" Signed-not at all.
The head was stuck on. the glue
stained the marble. and the milk white
deer has q yellow streak around his
neck.