Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-06

0T is an old house on a hill and many
persons who read these lines have
seen it. Probably a few, but only a
- few. persons who have seen this
house from afar have had their interest
sufficiently stirred to climb the hill. come
to close quarters with the house and make
inquiries about the men and women who
lived and died there. In a way it is just
as well that they have not done this. be-
cause little information of the early dwell
ers there is to be had by inquiries on the
ground or in the neghborhood. The re-
gion roundabout has become we'll settled
In late years and some parts of the lands
once appurtenant to this house are COM
pactly built on. but nearly all the inhab-
itants are newcomers.
II is often a matter of discoura cement
how soon old settlers are forgotten
after they move away or die, and how
little interest new settlers take in the
memory of those who lived before them
in the same neighborhood, and perhaps
on the very acres or even on the par
ticular spot which they call home. But
1t is fact which often comes within
the Rambler's notice and. of course.
and usually a waste of time even to
lament them. Though this ancient
house is the most conspicuous land
mark in the region, with the exception
of big and new public school. man
will be lucky to find one person among
the thousands who live within radius
of half a mile who knows the name of
the family or families that lived there
in other years. The Rambler found
ly- mo y,Nar In ha nf CIR md
walk who remembered the name of a
former occupant of the place. and he
did not have the surname quite right.
1t is too bad that old houses are dumb
and cannot tell the stories of their
careers. but perhaps if they could talk
there would be garrulous old houses
that would talk too much and would
have a better memory for family quar-
rels. family scandals and the unhappy
features of family life than for any
other things. They might not be able
to keep skeleton in any one of their
closets If old houses had tongues and
a Will to use them they could con-
tribute to the pleasures of the world,
but they might also cause much mis-
chief. Even the ears which some walls
are said to have frequently cause trou-
be Still. If old houses have no tongues
they have sign language of their own,
and by the messy shingles the gables,
the dormer windows, the doors, the
rails and balusters of the stairway, the
wainscoting and the gravel walk, the
box hedge and the lilac bushes in the
garden a man who has a sympathetic
understanding for old houses, even
though they be feeble. tottering and
seedy, may read something of the
story of the people who lived there
when the house was gay and young.
Though time and tenants may deal
harshly and heartlessly with an old
ments of it's youth. If the house ever
had the misfortune to be built and long
dwelt in by vulgar people it can never
hide the story. If gentle people brought
its roof the house forever bears their
impress.
From the east angle of the District a
wide valley leads west 1t is the
of the Anacostia river and within the
District stream, Watts branch.
courses down this valley. passes
through the low. fat garden lands
oozes through that marsh called Lick
ing banks and mingles with the East
ern branch. Through this valley run
the Chesapeake junction cars Of the
Company. the cars of the Washington.
Baltimore and Annapolis electric rail-
road and a little used track of the
Chesapeake Beach railroad connecting
the Chesapeake Junction terminus of
that railroad with the freight tracks
of the Baltimore and Ohio and the
Pennsylvania railroads at Deanwood.
This route was chosen for the rail-
ways because it offered the lowest
grade by which the high land at the
east corner of the District could be
reached
On the north side of the valley of
Watts branch, on the left hand as
you travel toward Chesapeake juno
ton, the land rises 100 feet above the
floor of the valley. The northeast
boundary of the District cuts across
this highland. and within the District
the elevation takes the form of a ridge
narrowing toward the west until 1t
terminates in a high point a quarter
of a mile east of the steam railroad
tracks at Deanwood, about three
quarters of mile beyond Benning.
The slopes of this ridge are steep.
Along the southerly side are the sew
eral car lines that lead to Chesapeake