The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-28
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BY ZACK MCGEE.

BY ZACK MCGEE.
 washington. Feb. 2S-(SpeciaD- An "old, old, old lady" dear to the hearts of many a patriotic Southerner. who would have been dear to all. if they had known her. and who shoulj live long in the memory of the south ern heart, died here this week. and her funeral Is this morning. Miss Emily Virginia Mason, she was. hospital nurse with the Army of Northern Virginia, the author of the first popu- lar life of General Robert. E. Lee. who with the proceeds of the sale of that book took care of and reared numerous children made orphans by the cruel hand of war. She was 93 years old. and up to her last days was one of the most charming of women. the cen ter of group of old time ladies and gentlemen out in Georgetown. who have kept the faith of simplicity. kind- ness, grace. and courtesy. which be- longed so peculiar to that elder day in the South, and who have never bowed the head to the Baal of modern progress" noise. publicity and vul- garity which dance attendance around the throne of this post bellum God of Mammon. Washington. to that little group out there in the little corner of the city known as Georgetown. is in- habited by the vulgar rich and coarse politicians. They do not say so. Be- ing too well-bred for that, they only think so.
 When I first came to Washington. . little over three years ago, Wyatt Allen, a representative in Congress from South Carolina, who Is familiar with the quaint and picturesque about Washington. especially that which be- longs to a former time and who loves the relicts of former and more beautiful time. asked me to go with him to see an "old. old, old, old lady out in Georgetown. On our way out he told me how and why he first met her. Soon after the war when his father was in Congress and he himself was a school boy in the public schools of Washington. 1t was one of the re- Quirements that on certain days each pupil should recite or declaim some piece of oratory or poetry, just as we all used to do in the old days. The teachers were all Yankees" and most of the boys would declaim anti-slavery. anti-South pieces Wyatt was not much more of an "orator' then than he Is now. but when his turn came he would always declaim in the most thunderous and fiery style he could summon the red-hottest southern pieces he could find; and he found "Southern Poems of the War by Emily Virginia Mason. It was years after wards, after he became member of Congress, that he learned that this Miss Mason lived here in Washington, and he went out to see her. Since that time he has carried all of his friends whom he could persuade to go out to See her. He never had to use per- suasion to get them to go second tfme. Miss Mason was 90 years old when first met her: but I have never met a more fascinating woman. old or young.
 We climbed up set of much worn stone steps, upebver a high terrace. on one of the principal streets of George vtne-clad and crumbly. The white paint on the facings of the door and on the porch were cracked with age The house was built with the gable to the street. and there was little porch on the side. opening into a small gar den. We were invited by an old time servant girl with old time grace and simplicity into the little parlor. The furniture was of old mahogany mostly. A shade over the window softened the sunlight but we could see by it and the little blaze on the hearth that the cushions were little thread-bare in places but dustless and tidy. There was no sign of poverty. At least I was was not impressed with the idea of poverty any more than with the idea of opulence There was something so sweet and quiet and love-like about the room On the walls were pictures. old pictures. mostly family portraits, small, befitting the room and all about it. On the mantel were a few pieces of old bric-a- bac. and more of 1t and other things on an old-tme "what-not" fin the corner. did not feel like sit- ting down In such a room as that some how. I seemed to be entering a. relic chamber in which the memories of those who were gone were so sacred that 1t might not be reverent to sit Hut in a moment there entered the iady moving gracefully and smiling RraciousIy. extending her lean, but symmetricaIly formed hand. She was of medium build. and her carriage. her dress, her whole personality were sucn ns to make me feel that the lights had suddenly been turned on, and here was no relic of the past so much as lv- Ing. breathing. feeling human , woman blessing the world with her charms and feeding human hearts with her love just as much today as when she was twenty. There was sim plieity about her dress. not any more old fashioned than was becoming. not new fashioned enough to suggest the idea that she was trying to be young. She was just simply natural without a particle of affectation of either youth or age Her hair was white her com plexion was fair, though her face was wrinkled. and she had pair of dark eyes among the brightest I ever saw. Ninety years old. but beautiful still, and her face responsive to every shade of emotion she simply transfixed me. and Hound her hand still in mine even after she had sat down.
 Come back again. Say you will. now" she said as we were going. 'Remember this; we always have tea at five. Don't froget the hour. Come any time. but you will not get any tea unless you are here on time" And I