The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-02-21
By DAVID D. LEAHY.

lie Gusts plucked the toothsome goose
berry; / saw the old spinning house and
the wheels and looms which converted the
wool of 500 sheep into CLOTHES for 80
slaves; l was in the slave quarters, the
tool houses, the plantation wagon shop
and linen house so costly kept by the
woman Martha, once the belle of the Vice
Regal mansion at Williamsburg. In
Christs church l sat in the Washington
pew, set my watch by the ancient sun
dial and in short, L made myself so much
at home that l began to regard myself as
one of the Washington family.
Among the greatest pleasures of my
visit was this incident, that l am prom
Used a seeding or two of lineal descent
from one Of the twigs planted by Wash
ington and if ever I get home l will have
applied to its tender roots the magical
propagation qualities of Dewey avenue
soil Among the greatest regrets of my
visit was in ascertaining the irreyerent
fact that the pretty little story of Wash
ington. his Ratchet and the cherry tree
was a fake, woven out Of the imag ination
of one certain Parson Weems. an Eng
Iishman, who preached for a good salary,
the English press on this side. 1t i'm
presses me with the possibility that in the
future some person will laugh at, if not
scott at, the hard-earned reputation of
one Samuel Harvey Horner of Wichita,
as the Friend of Truth
/ spent several hours in the mansion.
1 saw every room, every picture, every
piece of furniture, every bed and every
heirloom.
In the main hall the first thing of in
terest 1 saw was the key to the Bastile,
presented to Washington by. Lafayette,
who was commanding the National Guard
of Paris when it fell. What wonderful
recollections it brings up--the street st.
Antoine, the sans coulottes, the ill-fated
De Launey, Pelleport. Regnart, The Man
With the Iron Mask, and before them all
three dynasties of tyrants-some great
and some small-including, in round fig
ures, some sixty sovereigns, each hold
ing the life and death and happiness of
his subjects in a hand that had power to
write letters &c catchet And then there
was Richeliu. the blood-red comet with
his spies and his headsmen
This famous key is seven inches long
and of different workmanship. 1t is kept
in a glass case and attracts more atten-
ton than anything else il the mansion.
In the East Parlor near by-or the mu-
sic room as it was usually called-are the
rosewood flute that Washington enter
tanned his friends with the little table
that he and La Fayette often played
whist upon, the harpischord that Wash
ington paid 81 600 for and gave to Nellie
Gusts as wedding present, and a cabi-
net containing a lock of his hair, the spec
tacles that he wore, the heel of one of
Mrs. Washingtons slippers and many
other things of interest. In thia room he
played his flute for persenages of no less
historic Importance than jefferson. Madi-
son. George Mason, Alexander Hamilton.
Lord Fairfax, nathaniel Greene General
Rochembeau, Patrick Henry and Benja-
min Franklin.
In the West Parlor, and, curiously
enough. across the hail from where the
key to the Bastile hangs, is the famous
rug and portrait presented to Washing
ton by the Sixteenth Louis of France and