Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-02

| ut was the saddest day in all my life"
| There had been a tacit understanding that
| in case Mrs. Snow should pass away first
/ her companion should inherit for her own
| use as long as she lived the little cottage
| she now occupies.
Mrs. Damon is a remarkably well-pre-
served woman considering she is more than
nienty years of age. She is quite erect in
| carriage, with a strong. Intellectual face,
| such as might be expected in an own cousin
| of Charles Sumner, and a most kindly eX-
| preston. especially when smiling. She en-
| joys fair health, although at times she suf-
| ferS from neuralgia due, in large measure,
| to the condition of her teeth, her means
| having been inadequate to enable her to
| give them proper attention. Her appetite
| is quite good, but she is subject to frequent
attacks of indigestion. At such times her
| friends seek to induce her to remain in
| bed, but she has such a dread of becom-
| ing bedridden and completely helpless that
| she persists in remaining up and about the
| house.
| Mrs. Damon has been a great reader from
| her earliest childhood. She has absorbed
| everything that came to her hand, and
| through the medium of daily papers, pub
| lie documents, Congressional Records and
| other litera ture given to her secondhand
| has kept we'll abreast of the times and is
| today we'll informed concerning important
| events political and otherwise present and
| past. Last winter the glare of the sun on
| the snow appeared to seriously injure her
| eyesight and now she is dependent upon
| the kindly offices of neighbors, who come
! to her cottage and read to her by the hour
| to her great pleasure.
| Never Seen Mount Vernon.
| Ordinarily, Mrs. Damon is somewhat deaf
| but when she becomes interested and ami
mated in conversation the deafness seems
| largely to disappear and she hears very
readily. Her memory Is remarkably acute
| especially touching events occurring half
or three-quarters of a century ago. To
| her the incidents of the Mexican war are
but yesterday, and she can follow many
| of the armies of the civil war through their
entire campaigns.
| Mrs. Damon recalls, without hesitation,
| the names of practically all of the Presi
| dents and many of the great statesmen
since 1880 and is informed in a remarkable
degree concerning events contemporaneous
with the administration of each President.
Not only does this widow of the revolution
possess a memory which is literally an en-
cyclopedia of events for seventy-five
years. but she has original ideas and con-
victions upon the great questions that have
occupied the public mind during that
period and commands language and force
to express these views clearly and inter-
eStingly.
The ninety-one years of Mrs. Damons
life have been. spent in one little spot on
| the mountain top. In her earlier life she
occasionally journeyed to Cuttingsville or
other railroad towns and she has upon a
few occasions made trips to neighboring'
|
| interruptions for a day sandwiched IN be-
tween decades of years she has known no
other surroundings all these four score and
ten years except the pine-clad Green noun
tains.
Mrs. Damon has often expressed desire
! to visit Mt. Vernon, the old home and
present tomb of George Washington, and to
see the Capitol and White House in Wash
| ington She had also wished very much
| to visit Mrs. Rebecca Mayo of Virginia, her
| partner on the roll of revolutionary war
| widows who died last year, but the slender
| means of 40 cents per day would not per-
| nit the necessary expenditure for railway
| transportation and until Mrs. Mayo's death
| the last two widows of the war for Ameri-
| can liberty were compelled to limit their
acquaintance within the scope of the mails,
exchanging an occasional letter.
OF all the strange features in connection
with the remarkable story of the life of
| this aged woman perhaps the most strik-
| ing is the fact that her existence has been
practically unknown in the state where she
was born and where she has lived for
nearly 81 years. Ten miles from her noun
tain home not dozen persons could, APP
parently, be found who had ever heard of
Esther Sumner Damon. the solitary sur
viving widow of the revolution.