Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-29
MIR. Smiths $500 Volumes Relating to the Great
Scotch Poet the Envy of Scholars
in Two Hemispheres.
EXTRACTS FROM AN APPRECIATION
BY FORMER SENATOR HANSBROUGH

revolutionist made to pause 1t is the
bulwark Of ratiocination. of the principle
of deductive philosophy. the anchor of
the reposeful mind, the healing balm of
the soul There Is nothing in 1t of the
| ephemeral: there is everything that sug-
gests the immortal.
! Reading 1.-The Cotter's Saturday Night
F.! one readily understands why 1t is that
| the sons Of Caledonia the world over defy
| their country's bard.
Swamp Land Transformed.
William r. Smith was born in Scotland
| in 1923. He came to the United States
in 1856. while Franklin Pierce was Presi-
dent, and has known intimately quite all
| the leading statesmen since that period.
| He is the governments arbiculturalist,
| though there is no such federal Office.
! His title to recognition in this respect is
| derived from his long service as the super
| intendent of the Botanic Garden, located
at the foot of Capitol Hill. in the shadow
| Washington the site of the garden was a
| miserable swamp draining into Tiber
| creek. at that date the capitals foul.
| infectious. open sewer. 1t was the abode
| OF Shiny snakes and other crawlin'
| things" the breeding ground and hot
| bed of malaria. He has transformed it
| into a thing Of beauty, filling it in with
| fertile SOIL planting 1t to trees and
| shrubs.
Mr.. Smith has been a professional
gardener from his youth Before coming
to America he served two years in this
capacity at the famous Kew Garden near
London. Like many others of his calling
he is a lover of nature. AS Burns is the
poet and champion of the struggling poor.
| in like measure Is by w. r. Smith the prop
agator and friend of plant life. During
| the half century and more that he has
piled the husbandman's art in Washing
ton and elsewhere in every state and ter
ritory of the Union he has set out in this
reclaimed morass and miasmatic fen
thousands of rare, scarce and valuable
trees and other plants gathered from
every latitude and CLINE. From this
arboretum millions of useful shoots and
seeds have been disseminated over the
land.
Home of Collector and Collection.
One hesitates even to disturb the peace
full quiet that pervades the little brick
mansard-roofed house that shelters the
precious Burns collection and it's modest
collector. Mrs. Ramsey. comely, middle
aged woman, who observes the biblical
injunction and gives everything to the
poor" answers the doorbell. At once the
visitor is made to feel that he has been
expected; that the ancient thumb worn
tones on their inclosed shelves, the yell
lowed prints and engravings on the
Walls, the DuSLS ana OlneT memeulOS per-
tanning to the bard of Ayr, have been
waiting for his curious inquiries and ad-
miring gaze.
1t Is an unpretentious structure, Of no
greater value, perhaps, than any of
thousand cotter homes in the rural dis
tr1cts of Scotland, and not unlike them
architecturally. / venture the prophecy
that when time has dealt with this quaint
habitaton the transplanted sons Of Scotia
will not neglect the sacred spot, nor the
memory of its present distinguished occu-
pant.
Nearby is the great greenhouse where
the gardens products are nurtured Here,
too, tradition breathes its challenging
message to the wayfarer. The green
house owes it's existence to Senator Will
liam Pitt Fessenden of Maine He was
chairman Of the committee on appropria-
lions, warm friend of Mr.. Smith, and
when the latter asked for eleven thousand
dollars with which to extend the old
greenhouse and make of 1t a fit shelter
for his plants against winters blasts,
Senator Fessenden inquired: How much
will be needed to complete it," Thirty
six thousand dollars" was the answer.
IN give it to you in lump" was the
senator's businesslike reply.
Scene Of Notable Events.
1t was here in the presence of Mr..
Smith that Senator Fessenden told Sen
Ueoi vi AAiiCo VI 4OWd tudI tie attempt u
impeach President Andrew johnson was
"a dirty business" And it was In the
Burns library that Mrs. Jefferson Davis
looking at Fessenden's picture, which has
hung over the old gardeners desk full
fifty years. said to Mr.. Smith that, ow-
ing to his great ability, William Pitt Fes-
sender was 1.-The most dangerous man in
the north" Here 1t was, also, that Com
modore Wilkes. the famous explorer.
made the statement, in the presence of
Senator Pearce of Maryland and Senators
Fessenden and Morrill,, that George Wash
ington himself having created and located
the Botanic Garden it must never be de-
spoiled.
Among the most cherished objects of
the place, a little way to the northeast
of the great greenhouse stands the cele-
brated Crittenden oak, the product of an
acorn brought from a Kentucky forest
in 1851 at the instance of the patriotic
Scotch gardener, and put in the ground
by Crittenden himself. 1t was planted on
out of the civil war, had witnessed an
impromptu meeting between Senator Crit
tenden, Representatives John A. Bing
ham, Robert Mallory, Mr. Smith and
others. Peace was the subject of discus
sion. Senator Crittenden had introduced
his now historical compromise resolution
prohibiting slavery north of thirty-six
degrees thirty minutes, while on the
force bill in the House.
Advocates the Compromise.
Mr.. Smith, who loves peace il it can
be had on just terms. and equally fight
IL it cannot be avoided, besought Mr..
Bingham. at the instance of Alexander
II. Stephens of Georgia. to withdraw his
bill and accept the Crittenden compro-
mise. The effect Of this would have been
to leave the slavery question in allegiance
until peace could be restored on equita-
BILE grounds. Both Bingham and Crit
tenden were anxious to do what they
thought was right, but the war disease
in the House and elsewhere was so viru-
lent that the modus vivendi fell through.
1 have said that Mr.. Smith, now recog-
nized as the foremost American Burn
sianist is a lover of nature. 1t Is equally
| true that he is a lover Of his fellow-man,
proud Of the achievements of the great
body of the people. 1t could not be 9TH
erwise with one who is welded to the
memory of the lyric wizard of the wind
ing Ayr, as IL it were thing of human
sentence. Next to his love of Burns, the
| sublimest of poets, the old Scotch nat
uralist venerates the name and fame Of
our own majestic Lincoln. the matchless
American. Both were of humble origin
and in their respective spheres they at
tanned to the Hottest eminence One
struck the shackles from millions of
slaves; by his simple. poetic appeals to
reason the other stripped religion of its
prejudice and set the nations singing.
I;xy;v 11x