Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19
One Of GeorgetoWn's Most
Historic Mansions.
FILLED WITH TREASURE
ITS BUILDER WAS AN ORDNANCE
MAKER
Art Objects From Japan - Marie An
toinette's Clock-President JET
ferson as a Fiddler.

VeTitable museum of things old ana
new ancient and modern. colonial, Euro
pean and oriental. is the FOxall house in
Georgetown. now the residence of Lieuten-
ant MCCarteney, who married descend
ant of one of the most picturesque charac-
tiers of the early days of the republic Rev.
Henry FoxaIl. one of the founders of
Georgetown. bosom friend of Thomas JET
ferson. over century ago had his ord
nance foundry above Georgetown, and for
awhile his partner was Robert Morris. He
Rad come to the city at the instance OF his
friend Mr. jefferson. and together these
two cronies tinkered at the workshop Pres
tdent Jefferson had put in the basement of
the White House for his own recreation
and together they fiddled evenings when
the President visited the old FOxall man
sion. Spring Hill, that now stands a ruin
by the canal. but with stairs and mantels
Still beautiful.
We learn much of Jefferson the man from
this intimacy He was keen for expert
rnents. and a story is told of his delight at
"A Swedish stove he had seen somewhere IN
Ills travels Nothing would do but that ME-
FoxaH should make several according 10
the description his distinguished ana enter
prising friend gave him. Four stoves were
made which heated the rooms as Colonel
Sellers stove of later fame-by Inauguration
only-and the stoves We're quietly sent 10
the cellar. JeffeTSons stoves were not
equal 10 his state papers.
Commodore Perry Waited.
Perry delayed the battle of Lake Erie
until he could get guns from MIR. Foxall' s
ordnance works. He would have no others
FORGED guns they were and the finest then
made They were hauled in OK carts to
the lake. and with them the British got the
HAT rcy of
ed in surprises Furious at the effective
work the Methodist preachers guns We're
doing the British general sent detach-
Inent "a destroy the foundry ROOF ana
Branch Just as they came to the bridge
Heavy storm came up and the troops turned
back As it happened. the foundry was the
only place in that section that was spared
As a thank offering for the sparIng OF ms
property Mr.. FoxaiI gave the touhdry
Methodist Church to the city
A Cnrf renee which held meeting at his
touse once discussed the propriety OF 4
minister manufacturing firearms III L
max guns To destroy mems bod-es, give
churcas~ to save their souls, declared TINS
sturdy disciple of the church militant, and
he wen On with his gunmaklng-
The Ga gentleman was fond of buying
slaves wlnm he would set free after teach
ing them "A trade. Long years after one OF
his OLD slaves boosted of having driven the
Marquis d Lafayette TO visit his old mis-
treSS Mrs FoXall on his visit IN Isl An
other Of the Foxall slaves was steward for
Captain Herndon. the father-in-law of Pres
iIent Arthur.
The house in town was built by Mr.. Fox
all as q gift for his daughter. Mrs Mcken-
pey In this house. itself very old. hVe
generations have lived. and in 1t are crowd
ed the treasures of all the generations Mr..
FoxaIS granddaughter, Miss Mckinney.
married Or. Chas. II CTagin 2J0 years after
the arrival Of the ship that brought to
Americl the ancestors of both bride and
groom DR. Cragin and Mr.. Nckenney.
va ~.
two families.
Treasures of Older Days.
A IlrSe and especially complete colec
ton Of 1872 pieces of old Spode china is one
OF the treasures of the house 1t is care
fully locked up now, since the old colored
NANNY was discovered feeding the dogs
and cats from it to save the beautiful new
china just bought. Nanny never could
comprehend why dat old stuff should be
iocked away and the new subjected to the
risk Of daily wear and tear.
OH miniatures and pictures are every
hand Two curious English pictures. dou-
bic. as ship on a raised glass foreground.
with the seascape on surface at the back
and some distance away. are so old that
their history is forgotten. but as only the
cross of St George shows On the ships flag.
they evidently antedate the reign of Eliza
beth
Robert Morris. too. has left handsome
contributions to the treasures OF the house.
for through him come souvenirs of Marie
AntOirette given him during his stay in
Paris Her clock. made by lie Roy. with
the double eagle of Austria in gold on the
front. heavy gold ornaments and tasseis
pendent over the fine marble Of this ex-
Quisite toy. the works full jeweled keeps
the calm. democratic hours of high noon in
America in 1892 serenely as it checked
of the golden morning and then the Grim
sunset of the queens days in those
blood-rcd years of long ago.
From Ancient Janap
But all this seems recent. so very recent,
when goes into the Japanese room filled
with gems of art collected by Lieut.. Nc
Carteney during his stay In Japan Here
are curios that run back for centuries and
centuries; gems of lacquer and china and
carving with mysteries of Japanese herald
ny that make the Europeon article seem a
simple thing after all There is the fve-
toed dragon OF the imperial family-not TO
be COMPOUNDED with the four-toed dragon
which belongs on non-royal arms. Only the
imperial beast might boast the full num-
Der. There are the leaves within a circle
which tell the Initiated the family to which
the treasure once belonged; again. sixteen
chrysanthemum leaves within the hoop
showed the emperor's property.
There is a short. stocky sword with which
probably many a Japanese gentleman has
committed hari-kari. 1t is over four hun
dred years old and a daimiol's sword by
token OF the superb carving and the intri-
cate crest There Is a famous plague of
some dead and ng-forgotten artificer In
which in the short space of about eighteen
inches in diameter the artist endeavored to
snow the graduation from heaven to hell He
s'u very well In his quaint Japanese fash
ION. considering the limited spa ce he had
eor artistic beauty ii is unsurpasse and II
Us perfectly certain that nobody TODAY ga n
MAKE another like It, There is a mirror
Snat might have been the one the beautiful
Aasako gave In exchange for a dream.