The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-15

| Tree rom the bustle of the camp anu the busy scenes of public life
 But in April, 17s9, a messenger rode up to General Washington's front porch and made the official announcement that he had been elected President of the United States, and was requested by Congress to assume his duties. Eight years after ] ward, when he was 65 years old, he re- turned again to farm life on the Potomac but only two years and nine months Of lie remained to him. During that tune 1t is said he never went further than | twenty miles from home.
 The briefest visit to Mt. Vernon is sui | fcient to prove it's charm, and to cause
 the visitor to understand why General | Washington was so content 10 live there.
 Even in those days of great landed es- | tates in Virginia, Mt. Vernon with its 5000 or 10000 acres was a principality. The place was divided Into five farms, over each of which an overseer exercised s'i- i perVision. Each overseer reported to 1 superintendent and the superintendent | mad weekly reports to the proprietor | Upon the estate there were S00 slaves. At | his grist mill General Washington made.
 
 of persons on the estate, 5000 barrels of | flour for sale. His dstillerY produced | 1900 gallons of whisky. which sold for four 1 shllings a gallon in Virginia gold. There were upon the various farms 500 or i0O | sheep Among the blooded animals were jacks and jennets from Malta and Spain, sent to Mt. Vernon by LaFayette as | presents It was a great plantation, and it's affairs were conducted upon the gen- erous scale that obtained among larg | land owners of the south. As rule General Washington spent the greater portion of the day in the fields atten1- | ing to the duties of landlord. In the late | afternoon he was usually to be found on | the wide front porch, where thirty Wind sor chairs were kept for theu SC of such visitors as might chance to drop in. The architecture of the manor house at Mt. Vernon Is as simple as were the tastes of it's distinguished owner. With nothing of vain display 1t speaks of per sonal refinement and good taste. The house is ideally planned. Its wide, air hall running through the center it's wide piazza supported by white columns, It's library and living rooms are all inviting for their comfort. The hanqueting nall Is somewhat more elaborate, but in 1t the humblest neighbor who was invited to dinner might feel as much at home as ILaFayette. Rochambeau, Hamilton or any 
 chamber. with it's great tester bed, was room furnished for comfort rather than luxury.
 My house." wrote Washington in a letter to his mother after the Revolu- tion, may be compared with well resorted tavern, as scarcely any strangers who are going form north to south or south to north do not spend a day or two here" Such was the hospitality of the Washington nome. After he became President there were still more visitors The fact that Mrs. Washington and I dined alone" was worthy of recording in the former Presidents diary. Among his frequent guests were his former comrades In arms and persons who brought news of foreign officers who had served with him. Interesting light is shed upon life at Mt. Vernon in those days by the diary of Julian Niemcewicz aid- de camp to Kosciuszko when the latter raised his revolt against Russia. After Kosciuszko was released from prison he came to America, accompanied by his faithful Niemcewicz, and the latter set down at great length his impress sions of Wash ington's home.
 Niemcewicz says the rooms were neatly and prettily furnished He dwells particularly upon the beauties of the lawn, the trees and the gardens, SCciN the greatest interest, and of the won derful fields of corn fertilized with her ring. General Washington was partic- ularly fond of showing his gsests his well kept gardens. The whole planta- tion, the garden and the rest, prove well that a man born with natural taste may guess a beauty without hay ing seen its model" says Niemcewicz, "the general has never left America, but when one sees his house and his garden 1t seems as if he had copied from the best examples of the grand old homesteads of England" To the visitor from Europe the rigid obser- vance of the Sabbath at Mt. Vernon seemed strange. In the evening there was no music, nor even game of chess. Not a little of the Polish pat riots diary Is given up to descriptions of Miss Custis, "a young lady of the most wonderful beauty; one of those eelstial beings so rarely produced by nature sometimes dreampt of by poets" In the evening Miss Custis played to him upon the harpsichord and one night he dreamed he was in Poland, but strange to say, felt regret at being there.
 The vault in which the body of Gen eral Washington and that of his wife
 -I-,..