The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1909-02-19
The tiny VILLAGE
Of 5RlNG7D,M ENGLAND,

A., ,.,s of the presidency lett washington
,,,;th ~ .mnle instincts and habits OF the coun-
49, ,,oonota and man of business. he "role 10
friend in those latter days that ne hau ioulu W..
Vernon in need of careful attention Oh MS ie.uin
from the army Friends were weicone, ou' nv
must eypect simple fare-a DIT Oh Aiu''oh anu
glass of wine were all the table Doasteo Aa..i
still after Washington had dehnltely lalu as,ue
the cares of state, Col. Carrlngton louhu d. Hl'
Vernon still marked simplicity Inc veteran upon
tho occasion of Carrington's visit went to bed at
r,;ani,bt instead of nine o'clock extending his
time three hours in honor of his guest. MRS.
washington always spoke of her official life with
ts Ievees and formality. as her lost days ana
Mrs Darlington found her in her own rooms, Win
q chambermaid knitting in one corner, and lltue
negress learning to sew in another. The nrst lady
of tho White House was even then knitting gloves
and stockings for friends and dependents 1t was
of this period or perhaps few years carrier, that
an English actor tells pleasant story. ne was
on the public road somewhere near MI vernon
when private coach was upset. Inc occupants
fine lady and her escort, almost angrlly demand
ed help. While the actor was doing what ne coula
a large man rode up on horseback, dlsmounteo
rendered effectua aid for which he received scant
thanks, and started the ill-mannered pair upon
their Journey Then the stranger turned 70 the
actor recognized him and recalled the fact OF nav
inc seen him more than once upon the stage by
this time the actor in turn had recognized the man
on horseback as Gen. Washington. The incident
closed with the actor on his way to dine at MI
Vernon.
"For most of us to-day that giant figure In the
BACKGROUND of our short national history suffices
to hide the perspective of the earlier Washington
in his successive stages as colonial American.
Nevertheless the plain planter and provincial SOL
der. called upon to lead new nation in war and
in peace, and to take an unwilling hand In world
politics, must always have thought of his later
life in relation with his humber past. Whoever
would know Washington in his entirety must not
content himself with reading American history
from Bunker Hill to the middle of John Adams
administration, and standing barred before the
tomb at Mt. Vernon.
"He must visit the Northern Neck, where
Washington, even at his greatest loved to live an
equal among his neighbors; he must see Freder-
icksburg, with the still standing homestead OF
Washington's mother and the house of his sister;
he must take the delicious walk from Wakefield
wharf to the lonely birthplace monument in the
great wheat field overlooking the Potomac, see
the very plantations that the schoolboy of TAO
looked upon hear the mad mockngbirds as he
must have heard them. Above all, such student
must navigate the lovely waters of the Potomac
in it's lower course, where the stream and its
tributaries spread and branch like an inland sea;
must hear the homely speech of the native popu-
lation to whom the name Washington connotes
not only the dead hero, but their living neghbors
of one blood with the first president"