The Ordway new era., 1913-10-03

ericksburg. indeed. with the Count de
Rochambeau. two years ago. ere he
followed his army from York to its
posts upon the HUDSON.
Mrs. Lewis, his sister. had returned
one day from visiting neishbor in
the quiet town to look in astonishment
upon an ofncer's horses and attend
ants. At her door. and had entered to
find her beloved brother stretched
upon her own bed within. sound asleep
in his clothes. like = boy return. from
hunting,
Takes His Mother to q Ball.
There had been formal ball given.
too. In celebration of the victory, be-
fore the French officers and the COM
mander-in-chief left Fredericksburg to
go northward again. and Washington
had had the joy OF entering the room
in the face of the gay company with
his aged mother on his arm. not whit
bent for all her seventy-four years.
and as quiet As queen at receiving
the homage Of her sons comrades In
arms.
He had got his imperious spirit OF
command from her. A servant had
told her that Mars George" had put
up at the tavern.
Go and tell George to come here In
stantly." she had commanded. and he
had come. masterful man though he
was.
every old allegiance renew itself as he
saw former neighbors crowd around
him: and that little glimpse Of vir-
ginia had refreshed him like tonic
deeply. and a. II II renewed his very
nature. as only silent man can be re-
freshed. But few days In Fredericks-
burg and at Mount Vernon then had
been only an incident OF campaigning.
only grateful pause on a march.
Back to Private Life.
Now at last he had come back to
keep his home and be a neighbor
again. as he had not been these nine
years.
1t was not the same Virginia. nor
even the same home and neighborhood
he had gone from. that Washington
came back to when the war was
done.
He had left Mount Vernon in the
care OF Lund Washington. his nephew.
while the war lasted, and had not for
gotten amidst all his letter writing to
send seasonable directions and main
tain a constant oversight upon the
management of his estate.
Rsbukss His Nephew.
It was part Of his genius to find time
for everything. and Mount Vernon had
suffered something less than the or
dinary hazards and neglects of war.
II had suffered less upon one occa-
sion. indeed. than its proud owner
could have found It in his heart to
wish.
In the spring Of 1881 several British
vessels had come pillasing within the
Potomac, and the anxious Lund had
regaled their officers with refresh
ments from Mount Vernon to buy
them OF from mischief. TT would have
been a,l ,lsss psinful circpmstapss Ito
me-" his incorporating uncle had
written him, "to have heard that, in
consequence OF your noncompliance
with their request, they had burnt
my house and laid the plantation In
ruin. You ought to have considered
yourself as my representative"
Kept though 1t was from harm.
however. the place had suffered many
things for lack Of his personal care.
There was some part Of the task to
be over again that had confronted him
when he came to take possession Of
the old plantation with his bride after
the neglects Of the French war.
Finds Virginia . State.
But Virginia was more changed than
Mount Vernon. He had left 1t coll
ony. at odds with q royal governor:
he returned to nnd 1t state. with
Benjamin Harrison. that stout gentle
man and good planter. for governor.
by the free suffrage Of his fellow Wiz.
ginians.
There had been no radical break
with the aristocratic traditions Of the
past. Mr.. Harrison's handsome seat
at Lower Brandon lay where the long
reaches Of the James marked the old
est regions of virginia's life upon
broad, half-feudal estates: where there
were good wine and plate upon the
table, and gentlemen kept old customs
bright and honored in the observance 4
CTo BE coNTINUED.)
Reindeer vsnison From Alaska.