The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-15


 the British West Indian ports.
 Washington was possessed of a pune tilous mind, if one might be allowed the
 expression; he seemed to think out every possible situation in advance. This rob-
 bed his actions of grace, gave cut-and- dried manner to everything he did. Mrs Alexander Hamilton, who owned his sil-
 yer wine coolers when she lived here on : H street and often told her young friends of little characteristics of the great man and anecdotes she came in | possession of when her husband was aid to Washington and she was with her friend, Mrs. Washington, in camp. This lady said Washington never received with Mrs Washington at her receptions dur ing the days of the republican court" '" but was always in attendance as a caller
 to pay his respects, dressed in the prop CT costume for visiting and wearing a
 dress sword and carrying his lace trim
 med cock hat under his arm. The func- tion was Mrs. Washington's, and this he kept in mind. Mrs. Hamilton was once asked if she ever saw General Washing ton dance and she replied Not in the
 sense of tripping the light fantastic toe, but that he often walked through the figures of the minuet as 1t suited to per
 lection his stately habit of mind and body"
 Among the items mentioned in Wash ington's will was stock in the Dismal Swamp Land company and in the Nation
 al Intelligencer of this city. In 1925 the sale of shares in this land company was advertised, to be held in Alexandria, by order of the executors, Bushrod Washing ton and Lawrence Lewis. It was further stated that the dividencs paid had been very considerable" The stock did not seem to find ready sale, for the auction nr74
 ders about this land company where there was little but water. Probably the ripa- rian rights and the cypress trees lured the investors, or it might have been
 plan to bull the quinine market by pro- noting the spread of malaria
 Washington owned some land in this ! city but he bought at the wrong time, ] when land was inflated on Capitol Hill,
 and held it so high that would-be pur- chasers went westward to invest, in I stead It was stated recently that these two lots were not now worth what Wash i ington paid for thm, but realty Is boom ing all over the city beautiful, so this is no longer a fact
 Now that there Is a plan about to be consummated to readmit Alexandria into the enjoyment of the privilege of belong ing to the District of Columbia, the shades of the 222 broad-minded citizens of the county of Alexandria, who in 1S46 waged losing fight against retrocession, must be well pleased, if mundane affairs interest them Hardly ever In its history has there been as much feeling as during the campaign that year on the question,
 '"To be or not to be- divorced from It's
 distinguished but rather overshadowing neighbor- A paper of the period quaintly remarks: This subject leads to admir- able speaking on the hustings-" The mi rority party had flags displayed wherever possible, bearing the words, What Washington has done, let no man undo.''
 Certainly the banners were truthful in
 calling the act of making the District of | Columbia to include Alexandria Wash
 ingtons- for ii was he who made procla-
 nation from Pffladelphi' that. ''after | duly examining and weighing the several situations he had thrown the fed
 eral territory across the Potomac from
 Alexandria" The first dedicatory act of
 the ruarhing the federal territory oc
 cured very near to Alexandria, at Jones
 Point. where the cornerstone was laid
 with great rejcicings and fine Masonic
 ceremony. Daniel Carroll and Davis Stu
 art placed the stone, and because in
 those days of healthy morality 1t was
 the fashion. If nothing more. to call for , divine assistance on all public undertak
 ings- a sermon was preached by the elo-
 quent James Muir.
 1t seems odd to understand why or how A1e1sn ndria can be regarded as inside of the original survey, ii seems so far away, to the average mind, but as giving a real idea of the bulk of a ten niles square area If the Washington Monument is talk
 en as the hub of the plain, 1t will be
 easier of comprehension. This point was
 near the center according to the original l plan, for Andrew E1licott set up a mound | and stone to mark the point or center of | the area This mound remained until
 1870. when the leveline of the ciey and 1 filling of holes began, and General Bab- | cock thought the mound and stone a l base to hold derrick to hoist things to ! the Washington Monument, and very un- i slightly, so he ordered 1t carted away. i There was once Englishman named ! Charles Janson, bitten in speculation In | American land, for the founding of the : federal city had great influence on the
 London money market, and much money
 changed hands over the affair on the i other side of the Atlantic. We'll, this I gentleman had his revenge in writing
 a book of impressions of America, and ! he was as pessimistic about Washington
 City as was Moore two years earlier and
 some of our other literary visitors of more recent tines. MT. Janson declared 1 that 'ft will never become a place of commerce or importance while Alexan- | dria lies on one side and Baltimore on ! the other" The gentleman further states ! that '-tbe choice of the site of the federal city, in my opinion, was made, and the
 capitol built in the center of the United
 States" And this quality of seeing no
 further than the visitors nose is not yet
 outgrown-