Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-02-23

Washington street. Close by is the
old Christ church where, in his ma
ture years, Washington served as a
vestryman. On a field not far of
he held his last military review.
Across a shaded green in the state
ly old court house, he cast his last
vote, and there his will is filed.
Alexandria, by undisputed consent,
is the natural site for the memorial.
Washington moved to Mount Vernon
when he was sixteen with his half
brother, Lawrence, and until the
chill, raw day of his death it was his
home, and Alexandria was his home
town. He became a member of it's
council, represented it in the house
of Burgesses, endowed it's schools,
established its fire department and
was master Of it's lodge.
The men who will form the assoc-
iatfon met today in the same Alex
andria, Washington lodge room where
Washington occupied the masters
chair. While no fixed plan could be
announced prior to the assembly of
all the grand masters, it is in short
the purpose of the lodge to raise
$1,000, 900 to build and endow the
memorial. The institution will be
unique among the memorials Of the
world and will permit every grand
jurisdiction to honor every Mason it
esteems to be deserving with leaf
in its hall of fame, a photograph and
a biography.
The gathering of such men of pro.
minence in the old lodge was i'm
pressive. Alexandria Washington
Lodge No. 70. made Washington it's
worshipful grand master in 1888. At
his request in 1871 it laid the corner
stone OF the District of Columbia and
two years later assisted In laying the
corner stone Of the national capitol
In 1899 it performed the Masonic
ceremonies at his funeral.
In its halls, crowded with prec
ious mcmentoes, his memorial was
organized TO-DAY. There hangs the
old charter granted by Edmund Ran
dolph, grand master of Masons in
Virginia in 1888. Close by, its pend.
ulum cord cut and it's hands pointing
to twenty minutes after ten in the
evening-the hour and the minutes
OF his death-stands the old bed
chamber clock. No money could buy
this silent old tale bearer. Nearby
In case is the little trowel he used
at laying the capitol corner stone.
In another are his wedding gloves,
his pocket compasses, farm spurs,
a piece of his tent used at Yorktown,
his old fashioned medicine scales
and an eloquent token Of MS Sever-
ence for his motner-a little knife
she gave to him as a reward for his
obedience and whi,h he treasured for
fifty-six years.
The Williams picture. painted from
life in 1894, hangs on another wall.
1t cannot escape the eye, for it is
much unlike the accepted likenesses
Of Washington. 1t shows the man in
his extreme old age and is the only
original life picture extant, in Ma
sonic regalia. His Masonic apron,
embroidered in gold with French and
American flags entwined, presented to
the lodge in 1912, by his nephew.
Lawrence Lewis, hangs nearby. The
only original painting of Lord Fair
fax, Washington's early patron and
friend, is also there.
The masters chair, occupied by
General Washington in presiding
over the lodge, stands in a glass case,
from which 1t is removed only on
extraordinary occasions. It is 1872
years old and was in constant use
for III years. Scores of other
things of his day, the old chairs and
benches Of the lodge still in use the
front door key Of the bastile, present
ed in 1925 by Lafayette, which have
valued beyond estimate.
There has been a sentiment against
choosing a new site for the memor-
ial, but for great many reasons the
one proposed on Washington street
is better fitted to the purposes of a
national undertaking and the nScesi-
ties have out weighed the patriotic
sentiment and nave won graceful
consent to the new site.
Today's first meeting, held in the
lodge room, adjourned at noon and
all went to Mount Vernon by a spec
ial train. The party Of distinguished
men walked along the bluff that over
looks the majestic river, and laid q
wreath upon the tomb. They then
returned to the lodge at Alexandria
for comforting of degrees
Tonight at the annual banquet of
the old lodge, Secretary of War Dick
inson James D. Richardson, sover-
eign grand commander. Scottish Rite
Masons. Representatives Charles C.
CARING and Champ Clark, and the
Rev. John Wesley Hill, D. D.. OF
New York, will speak.