davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1912-11-24

these houses slopes down into little val
ley or wooded ravine, through which an
older Chain Bridge road used to run. On
the right hand are woods, grown up since
the war. for this country, like nearly all
the country around Washington, was
stripped of its timber that this might af-
ford no cover for an enemy, and also
that it might present clear field of fire
from the forts. batteries and infantry re-
doubts. The road is heavy. of clay, sand
and gravel. with now and then steep
grade and some picturesque turnings. At
the top of the crest you will notice
gravel bank on the right, place where
hundreds Of tons of gravel have been
scooped out for road making and repair
ing. Above the top Of this gravel pit you
will see tree-groWn and weedy mounds
and ridges. Get through the barb-wire
fence and climb up and you come upon
the parapets of Battery kemble, the out
lines of the work being clearly defined
The battery faces west and south. On
the west is broad valley, as valleys go
in that hilly country, and steep hillside
dropping down into d deep ravine that
leads toward the south. This point is
about one mile due west from ST. Adams.
East by a little south across the vale
there is a gray, rambling old house and
outbuldings, looking like hamlet, all
dox home. the home of the wartime
owner of the land. and this particular
tract is still in possession of Maddox
heirs. The house sets back, and it's front
drive opens on the Ridge road six hun
dred yards southeast of Battery kemble.
This house was occupied until recently
by Policeman Edwards, but is now occu-
pied by Daniel Owens. an employe of the
District engineer department.
A few rods beyond the ruins OF Battery
kemble you come to the junction of the
Chain Bridge and the Ridge roads and
soon ahead of you, come into view the
two white marble buildings of the Ameri-
can University. Following what is now
Nebraska avenue to the point where Mas
sachusetts avenue intersects it you turn
to the left. The !ine of Massachusetts
avenue is projected across and westward
of Nebraska avenue, but only clay road
runs there This road passes through the
ruins of Fort Gaines. The ridges and
bitches on both sides of the road are all
that is left of this once important field
fort.
A few yards further you come to the
Evening star., 1912-11-24

shell of an old house. 1t faces south.
and three big oaks grow in the front
yard, and the tall trunk of long dead
tree is twined with ivy. The house is
one-story and garret. with three dormer
windows standing out from the shlngle
roof. The shingles are rotting, moss is
growing over them, and trumpet vine
is climbing over the east end OF the
house. Brick chimneyS stand at the east
and the west ends. The doors and the
windows are broken There is no glass
in the window sashes. What were green
shutters hang on rusty hinges. but all
the Stats have been broken out. A little
front porch is tottering nearly ready to
collapse. The remains of a brick walk
laid herringbone fashion leads from the
porch through what was garden. but
moss and grass have nearly hidden this
walk
Inside the house the floors are rotting
and are broken through in places. so
that one may look down and easily fall
into the dark, wet cellar numbered with
debris. Plaster has fallen and lies plen-
tifully scattered on the floors. The rooms
are big. cold and desolate. This house
was once happy home. Old houses
have their tragic ups and downs just as
do their masters. Ivy clings to the brick
>
where lived the owner of these wide
tracts of land now grown valuable.
Nearby are the American University
buildings, and the view to the north and
west is that superb prospect which trav-
elers along Nebraska avenue get-a view
that extends across the Murdock Mill
road and far away to the hills that rise
beyond Little Falls brook, two miles
west.
In the ruined Murdoch garden is a cir
cular pit that was probably we'll. long
caved in, or it may have been an ice
house. In the garden also Is a matted
tangle of honeysuckle and myrtle. which
suggests that a family burial plot may
have been there. West of the house is
a redoubt grown up with dock and the
red stalks of poke bushes fruited with
purple-black berries.
You should turn now and retrace your
way to the junction of the Ridge and the
Chain Bridge roads and journey south
on the former. This course carries you
by the Maddox house Your road leads
through woods, and on crest command
Evening star., 1912-11-24

time during the early evening hours
it will be high in the evening sky,
where 1T will pour out twenty-five times
as much light as the planet Saturn and
exceed by more than twenty-three
times the brightness of Vega, which is
our brightest northern star,
In the telescope Venus now has the
appearance of a bright little moon.
slightly more than half full. The
round edge of the ball is very brill
liant, as we approach the line which
separates the day side from the night
side of the planet the surface be-
comes much darker. Yet it is uni
versally recognized that this world
is always surrounded by so dense an
atmosphere that we have never been
able to penetrate with our telescopes
TO the solid ground below. If there
are any living creatures on this world
1t is doubtful whether they ever see
the sun or stars, for their skies are
always cloudy.
All apparent markings which have
hitherto been observed on Venus are
almost certainly merely cloud forma-
Evening star., 1912-11-24
~ ||IEd;zl= WITH THE RAMBLzEZ|@[(.g3d{fff[l
y RI cM Ahh/]KnkcSMaLunm Z@@@&HH&f

1857 the Polish sculptor DmochowsI
came to Washington and fingered around
the Capitol seeking some art commission.
There was no question of his merit, but
there was no opening for him In this
country he adopted the name Saunders.
why. The Star man does not know, and
some of his work is signed with his birth
name and some with his adopted name
He returned to Poland took part in ore
OF that country's fights for freedom and
was killed in battle. While In this coun
try he lived for some time in Philadel
phia and his wife and child are buried
there.
The Lincoln bust is from life, and be-
cause of this is priceless. Ii was sculp-
tored by Mrs Ames who was a hospital
nurse in Washington during the civil war
and who was friend and an acquaint-
ance of Lincoln.
But anyhow the plank pedestals must
60.
Evening star., 1912-11-24

part Ol the DlStTlCt Oh So-
lumbia traversed by the Ridge
road, the Chain Bridge road.
Loughborough road, and the
New Cut road was at the
time of the outbreak of the civil
war dense woodland. There were
some clearings devoted to tillage
and pasturage, but it was, on the
whole, woodland country. The country
west of the ridge along which Nebraska
avenue runs, extending across the MUIR
dock Mill road, the valley of Powder Mill
branch and the heights crowned by Fort
Sumner, was cleared land. Among the per-
sons living west of the Rockville pike and
a.ong the Ridge road or in the valley
through which flows College branch, at
about the period of the breaking out OF
the war were w. J. Maddox, u. Homiller,
W. Homiller ]. G. Dashiel, NJ. Adler, w.
D. c. Murdock and John H. King. A
II. Loughborough lived close by the road
that now bears the name.
Close by College branch. the stream
that passes under the Conduit road, and
the canal east of Foxhall hill, lived John
Horrigan. He lives now on the Ridge
road north of the point of crossing of the
New Cut road At the jun ,tion of the
Conduit and the Chain Bridge roads lived
Conrad Sherier. His son, Michae. Sherer,
who was a lad in the days we are think
ing of. is still living there Between
about half a dozen dwellings. A man
named Charles Barnes lived in one,
man named Gillian in another and man
named Amberger in another. On the
Canal road in that neighborhood lived
Bull Frizzel. Bull was fighting char
acter violent in his opinions and in the
expression of them; one of the most
voluble southern partisans in the neigh
borhood and most of the time in trouble
with the Union officers commanding there.
From traditions preserved concerning
Bull Frizzel he must have been as inter-
esting character as his name would IN
dicate.
Of the defenses of Washington several
were built along the Chain Bridge and
Ridge roads. Two batteries were thrown
up above the Canal road, quarter and
a ha,f mile east of the distributing res
ervoir on the highland west of Foxhal
hill Two batteries, one behind and higher
than the other, were thrown up on the
heights directly east of the Chain bridge
and commanding that bridge. One of
those batteries was named Martin Scott,
Evening star., 1912-11-24

the telescope it appears as small.
greenish disc on which no markings
can be seen, attended by single
satellite, which is Of almost exactly
the same size as our own moon and
at almost the same distance away
from it's planet. But the planet itself
is a ball of heated vapor no less than
$4,000 miles in diameter. and is there
fore a very different world from ours.
The first comet of the year was dis
covered toward the close Of September.
at which time it was far below the
equator in the southern sky. Since this
time it has been moving almost exactly
northward among the stars. and through
out December will be visible low in the
northwest. The comet is faint, tele-
scopic object and it will continually grow
fainter because 1t is receding both from
the sun and from the earth. When bright
est 1t was seen to have diffuse head. Of
an apparent diameter about one-s1xth
Evening star., 1912-11-24

but if the. other had name II
does not appear on the map Of the de-
fenses Of Washington. On the southeast
side of the Chain Bridge road, half
built Battery Kemble. This was on the
land of W. J. Maddox. Nearly mile
farther along this road in the direction OF
Tenleytown was built Fort Gaines on
the Ridge road north of the New Cut
road, and overlooking the distributing
reservoir and the Virginia palisades, was
built Battery Cameron, and nearly hair
a mile north of Cameron. on the Ridge
road, was Battery Parrott Fort Gaines
and Battery Cameron were built on land
belonging to the Murdock family, the
largest landholders in that section and
whose estate was called White Haven
OF these earthworks there may be found
the remains of Fort Gaines and Batteries
was leveed soon after the war, its site
now being pasture land. deep in clover.
where family cows and horses Craze. The
batteries above the Canal road east OF
the distributing reservoir have disappear
ed and traces of those above the Chain
bridge remained until a few years ago.
the last vestige being effaced when the
branch of the Baltimore and Ohio rail-
road from the main line near Rockville
to Georgetown was put through.
Inc aspect OF the country DetWeeIi tIle
Chain Bridge road and the Rockville pike
has greatly changed within the half CEN
tury and the change is especially marked
between the pike or Wisconsin avenue
and College branch. and along the crest
north of the junction of the Chain Bridge
and Ridge roads-that crest along which
runs Nebraska avenue. Along the Chain
Bridge road to it's junction with the Ridge
road. and along the Ridge road from the
heights north of the New Cut road to the
point Of contact with the Chain Bridge
road, the change is not so striking.
though some new roads and villas have
been built.
If you will turn off from the Conduit
road when you come to the square guide
post marked Chain Bridge road you will
pass on the left hand Union cemetery
an old burial ground for colored people.
Soon after you will pass. also on the left
hand, a line of detached frame houses
with autumn flowers blooming before
them and with greenhouses for vegetable
plants behind them. The land behind
Evening star., 1912-11-24
CURE FIGURE ENLARGED TO SHOW tn

that of the moon, and faint, slender
tail
October Is a second faint comet was
discovered in the constellation Sextans. a
little west of the brightest star of the
Lion. which is now constellation OF the
morning sky. This object Is moving
rapidly southwark, and is not now Wis
ible in northern attitudes. Computations
indicate that 1t is Identical with comet
first seen in 1890 and again discovered
in 1858, and whose return was looked for
toward the close of the present year.
These are the only new comats OF the
present year. It is quite unusual for so
many months to pass without our being
favored with at least a few of these ce-
iestial visitors.
Mercury enters the morning sky De-
cember and reaches it's greatest dis
tance west Of the sun December %. At
the latter date an unusually favorable
opportunity will be afforded for viewing
1t, for it will then rise in the east more
than one hour and half before sun
rise.
Venus viii be seen shining most con-
Evening star., 1912-11-24

walking over is that which it is proposed
to add to Rock Creek Park. 1t was this
land of which the District Commissioners
wrote in their last annual report that
''in the Klingle Ford valley 1t Is pro-
posed to condemn about twenty-eight and
a half acres Of land lying on both sides
of Connecticut avenue along Klfngle road
from Woodley to Rock Creek Park. The
land proposed to be taken consists of
some Of the most desirable land In the
District Of Columbia available for park
purposes. It is covered with magnifi-
cent growth OF trees of great age and will
make a most picturesque and beautiful
addition to the park SYSTEM
There are no buildings on the land
over which you have just walked. and
but for an occasional real estate sign
and those broken-down bridges you would
easily mistake this bit Of country for a
part Of Rock Creek Park.
Evening star., 1912-11-24
Under the Table.

SST EFT us celebrate Thank sgiving gayly,
II but temperately." said Simeon
Ford, Of New York. Let us not emu
late the colonel.
THE colonel, you know, came down to
breakfast the morning after Thanl1sgiv-
ing with bandaged hand.
Why, colonel, what's the matter with
your hand? they asked him.
'Confound it ALL the colonel answer
ed. We had a little Thanksgiving party
last night, and one of the younger men
got intoxicated and trod on my hand as
he was walking across the room
Evening star., 1912-11-24

culvert is broken in and through the dis
NAL hole you can catch a glimpse of the
stream flowing below. Here is trace OF
an od road running southeast and north
west. Turn to the left, that is, to the
northwest. The road is only bride path
fanked by some ornamental grasses that
suggest park road.
A hundred yards brings you to another
masonry culvert; this also, is broken in.
The wings of the culvert were built of
stone. but the arch was simulated by
laying down cedar logs and filling over
them. Near this fallen bridge a path
turns to the left and leads to a square
masonry springhOuse about ten feet high
a bright pool, the bottom covered with
stone and white gravel cemented in place.
At the upper left-hand corner OF this
springhouse is cut in a brown sandstone
block the date ''1S99.'
Go back to the bride path. The vale
through which it passes narrows. On the
left is costly stone wall that is almost
hidden by grass Ind upshoots of the sill
yer poplar. On the right is a running
brook at the base Of a towering hill thick
wooded with beech and oak. A few steps
more bring you to another broken-in cul-
vert, or log bridge with stone wings. AS
the vale narrows the effect OF rain tor
rents becomes more noticeable and various
deep washouts impede your progress. AT
the head of the vale you climb a stony
path bordered by thicket of silver pop
lar and a honeysuckle tangle and you
come out on Connecticut avenue.
Go back to the fallen tree and the
first of the broken culverts and follow
the trail as it winds up the hills on the
edge of Rock Creek Park, presenting
glorious views Of Rock Creek valley and
the distant city to the south. This road
where it climbs the hills looks down on
the Klingle house in it's setting of big
trees, now the home Of Patrick ]. Joyce,
superintendent of Rock Creek Park.
Much of the land that you have been
Evening star., 1912-11-24

sion of Count de Menou, who brought
it to Washington city when he came as
charge daffaires. He deposited 1t with
the National Institute. Later 1t was
in the Smithsonian Institution. Peale' $
descendants claimed the picture. Ine
Congressional joint committee of the IL
brary, after investigation, was satisfied
as to the rightfulness OF the heirs claim.
and in 1882 Congress bought the picture
from Titan Ramsay -Peale for 5000.
The position of this picture was such
that people could touch 1t with their
hands. The glass will now prevent any
danger from this source.
Another popular Capitol painting, hang
ing in an exposed space and which was
glazed last week, was 'The Recall of
Columbus" It hangs in the east cor
ridor of the Senate gallery, facing the
Battle of Lake Erie. 1t was painted
in Paris by A. c. Heaton Of Washington,
from studies made at the place of Column
bus recall. near Granada, Spain. Con-
gress bought it in for $500.
Because of late political events the Re
call of Columbus has a sinister sound,
but the recall of Columbus was a happy
and not an unhappy episode in the life
of the discoverer. Columbus had made
his last appeal for aid to Ferdinand and
Isabella. then in camp near Santa Fe. He
failed and started away discouraged.
Isabella, like many other ladies. changed
her mind. and sent messenger to bring
back Columbus, who was overtaken at
the bridge of Pinos. midway between
Santa Fe and Granada. The picture
shows Columbus mounted on white
mule being halted by the queens courier.
X x
The proposition has been made to pro-
tect with glass 1.-The Battle of Lake Erie"
painted by w. II. Powell and bought by
the government for $4,000. This is the
painting which was slashed by some
malevolent person few months ago. but
which has been so skillfully repaired that
the art layman cannot detect where it
Evening star., 1912-11-24

i'm the case of many of the big paintings
at the Capitol difficult and delicate work.
The transportation through marble cor
ridorS and up marble Stairways of a la. ge
rectangle of thick plate & ass is hard
work. The bringing down from the walls
a big picture in ponderous frame Is
more work. Men stand on stepladders
that may slip on the polished floors or
tip over. The picture may have hung so
long in its place that the holdeasts have
rusted into the wall staples. Then come
the removal of the canvas from the
frame. the putting in of the glass. the
rep acement of the canvas. the gluing
and mailing of moding and the rehanging
of the picture. frame and glass shield.
glass weighing 125 pounds was put
over Charles Wilson Peale's portrait of
Washington last week. This impressive
picture hangs. and for years has hung. at
galleries. 1t is one of the very interest
ing pictures of the Capitol collection.
Under the glass one may read the sig
nature &C w. Peale. pink. Phila., 1779 !"
Charles Wilson Peale was captain of
volunteers. He began this painting in
177s. while the continental army lay at
Valley Forge. He worked on 1t during
the campaign resulting n the battles of
Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. At
Monmouth the artist and Washington
We're in farmhouse and the background
of the picture represents the scene from
the window of their room. Dimly one
may see Monmouth courthouse and lines
of Hessians under guard of continental
troops. Working on the picture at
Princeton. Peale inserted in the back
ground old Nassau Hall.
~
This painting was ordered, though not
appropriated for, by Congress. Lafayette
ordered copy of it, which was presented
to Louis XVI, and is said still to be seen
at Versailles. The original in some OBJ
scure way was sent to France and sold,
though Peale seems not to have been a
party to the sale. 1t came into possess
Evening star., 1912-11-24

spicuously in the southwestern sky in
the early evenings throughout the month.
Mars and Jupiter are too near the sun
to be observed. The former entered the
morning sky November 8. and the latter
passes the sun and becomes a morning
star December IS.
Saturn is high in the east between
the Hyades and the Pleiades, in excel
lent position for observation.
Uranus is too low in the west for sat
isfactory observation. The observer who
wishes to find it may most easily do SO
on the evening of December II. since at
this time it is just one degree and thirty
Evening star., 1912-11-24

to initiate marble. In the inches IN tne
Senate chamber fourteen busts or vice
Presidents are so mounted Ihey are the
busts of Andrew johnson. John G. BrecK-
inridge William A. Wheeler. Millard F1li-
more. John Tyler. Martin Van Buren.
George Clinton. Aaron Burr. Elbridge
Gerry. John c. Calhoun. Richard john
son. George Mifiin Dallas. William X.
King and Schuyler Colfax.
In the Senate inches are these ousts
mounted on polished marble pedestals
Thomas Jefferson. John Adams, Hanni,
bal Hamlin. Chester A. arthur anu
Thomas A. Hendricks.
In the south lower corridor OF the Sen
ate are six marble busts mounted on ped
estals of painted wood. They are Charles
w Fairbanks, G. A. Hobart, Levi r.
Morton, Adlai E. Stevenson. Theodore
Roosevelt and James s. Sherman.
In the east corridor of the Senate gal
lery two marble bustS are mounted on
packing-box pedestals. These are the
busts of Zachary Taylor and the Indian
or Indtanese for
Falmouth. an old-tme Chippewa chief.
In this corridor beautiful marble pedes-
tails support the busts of Kosciuszko. Pu-
laski, Lincoln, Charles Sumner. Garibaldi
and the Chippewa chief, Bee-Shee-Kee.
The effrontery of the carpenter-made
pedestals is soon to come to an end At
the last session Of Congress an appro-
priation was made for sundry marble
pedestals and a contract for furnishing
them will soon be let. Then will those
counterfeit pedestals, though they have
done their duty faithfully, be transmitted
into kindling.
Several incidents are recalled by going
over the list of Senate busts. 1t will be
noted that the bust Of Kosciuszko. which
is spelled with a H. Is signed "Saun-
ders," and that the bust of Pulaski Is
signed Observation-Disclosures These
were cut by the same sculptor. About
Evening star., 1912-11-24
Carpenter-Made Pedestals.

THE David danger bronze bust of
Washington, gift OF France to the
United States, stands at one side of the
south entrance to the rotunda of the Cap
itol. It rests on pedestal of rare marble.
marble POLITICALLY and expressively
called f1eur de pes. or flower of peach.
Opposite this bust, at the same entrance
to the rotunda, is another bust, marble
bust of Thomas Jefferson. also by David
danger 1t was purchased by the gov
ernment. It, too, rests on pedestal.
but not a marble pedestal. It's pedestal is
of wood, and Of wood that has been
painted In imitation Of the feur de pes
pedestal not much more than an arm
length distant. 1t is rough to the sense
of touch, and when struck it yields
hollow, mocking sound.
This marble bust of Jefferson is not the
only bust at the Capitol which rests on
"a painted pedestal-on a pedestal painted
Evening star., 1912-11-24

VIII at once attract the attention Of
every observer. For many weeks We
have seen this silvery- white world shin
Ing out in the southwest just after sun
set, and throughout this time it was
easy TO see that it was drawing rap
IDLY eastward from the sun.
November it passed Jupiter in i,s
eastward motion. in less than a week
the apparent distance between the ,wo
worlds had increased to eight degrees
and by the end OF the month tbev wera
not less than twenty-five degrees anart
But all this time the brighter nIanat
was moving rapidly southward a,,
the stars. so that we saw il SET go,
tinually farther and farther toward
the south point OF the horizon. No
vember 20 it had reached a position
more than twenty-five degrees below
the celestial equator, which is nearly
two degrees lower than our sun ever
gets in the sky, but after this date it
began to move slowly northward again.
Evening star., 1912-11-24

HE most interest
ing object in the
n c a V g n $ I h 8
month is un-
doubtedly I h Q
beautiful planet
V e II IL =. which
with its eXtraor-
dinary brightness
and the ra pidity
with which it
climbs up through
the evening sky
Evening star., 1912-11-24
The Capitol's Paintings.

L ETTER care is TO be taken of the
l. paintings in the Capitol. Several
have already been glazed and others are
soon TO be thus protected. Glazing a
painting does not mean vanishing it; it
means putting glass over it. 1t involves