The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-01-14
BILKINs IN WASHINGTON.

Impressions of Washington.
Washington, D. c.. JAM IL, 1909.
Correspondence Of Thej Caucasian
Enterprise
am havin' tn e time (ov my life in
this CRATE city. beveeve 1 would
stay rite here If I coulh git $4,000
Job ter run the govern ment. know
that Mr.. Roosevelt Jam Mr.. Taft
would like ter hev/ me ter do the
rough wurk an beAr the blunt. Ov
course, Mr.. Taft liz fnot here yit. Mr..
Roosevelt will hold the job ov Pres
erdent till the 4th, ov March, an then
he IL goin' Oh big rabbitt-hunt that
may last fer somfe time.
Washington ID nifty purity city
an they air lots ov purity girls here.
too. U hope Betsy won't read this.)
I rode Bob 4own ter Mount Yer
non Yesterday I wanted ter see
whar George Washington lived. Hit
IL only fewj miles frum Washing
ton, an IL rid de beside the Potomick
River. Hit il purity place. I look
ed fer the cherry tree that George
cut dowG vi Ina hatchet when he
wuz a bIg: lit wuz a fine tree an
the oldf na Washington, Georges
daddy. thoaa ht the wurld ov hit. He
had iist II ght little George a bran
new hatcb5 e an George concluded ter
try hit Oa the cherry tree jist fer
luck, UT wurked awl rite an the
fine III wuz soon laid on the
grof T The old man Washington
we! NJ the woods an cut hickory
a We ong ESQ a politishun told me)
ar. - .actised fer a day with dumb
BE-, 70 he could lay hit on George
ia lde shape. But little George
-, smart. When the old man
Ellington took him out behind the
~ an axed him who cut the cherry
Ct he said: Hit wuz me, pap; I
Eught you bought me that little
otto Ichet a-purpose ter cut cherry
les, fer the birds eat the cherries
rt up before they air guide an ripe
cry year anyway" The old man
III yashington wuz so tickled because
tile George owned up that he told
eorge that he nit go a-fishin' every
Fay fer week, purvidin' he'd catch
lomethin'.
The old Washington homestead il
"a purity place, an il kept up by the
Government az near az possible jist
like hit wuZ more than a hundred
years ergo. In them days they wuz
no whit House" in Washington an
George bein' the first Preserdent, he
jist lived at hiz home-place an walk
ed into town every day an sat err
round in front ov the stores an
swapped yarns with the merchants,
fer that wuz erbout awl he had ter
do. In them days the country wuz
thinly settled an the politishuns had
not got up their muscles az high az
they hev them nowadays. Very few
ov them knowed that the country
had Preserdent, fer hit took several
years fer the news ter git awl over
the country. Even when they heard
hit they wuZ lots ov people who
didn't know what hit meant; they
had an idea that maybe hit wuz
some kind ov new varmint that had
bin caught in trap. But I guess
Washington made a very good Pres
| erdent. In them days they wuz no
big corporations ter look after an
| George Washington would stay at
home an plow or cut hay a guide
deal ov the time an let the tax-pay-
ers run the country.
I had hearn that George Washing
ton could throw rock clear across
| the Potomick River when he wuz a
boy. rode down ter the river op-
hit would take a purity long throw.
But maybe some other politishun
started that report fer campane pur-
poses.
l went through Washington's old
home. Hit hez lot ov nice old-fash-
seed the uniform he wore when he
wuz a soldier, a general in the Revo-
lutionary War, a-fightin' the British
so this would be a free country, an
a lot ov other things. But I never
could find the hatchet that he cut
that cherry tree down with. I expect
that the old man Washington throw
ed hit into the river, fer he'd natural
1y be erfraid that he'd go ter mil
sum day an cum home an find er
bout half ov the orchard cut down
fer boy does love ter use an axe
or hatchet-until he liz big enuff tel
do sum chopin worth while, an
then he gifts too weakly.
I stopped a little while in Alex
andria, Va, which il betwixt Wash
ington an Mt Vernon. Thar iz bi.
brewery thar an several other things
The brewery liz very popular with ;
certain class ov prohibitionists VIII
think hit il wrong ter drink any
e thin.
= From the Virginia side ov the Pc
'oinlcK River you can git a fine viey
o' washington an hits many prett.
buildings. Hit makes a picter fine
tnan any you'd see in a moyin' mic
ture show, especially if you hev stop
y ped fer an hour or so in Alexandria
It az l did. I told the bar-keeper tha
| first visited that I wuZ a strange
In them diggins an that I wuz
dymakratick pollytishun an prohi
: blt'onist frum North Caroliny. H
e le " sorter scared an could Sc
# hih u nblin', showin' plain that h
# wuz <:us. Then he stepped te