Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-05

the Rambler However, not all letters
ARE cheering Some are jeering. In this
world there is type of man who during
the course of his life accumulates a
knowledge of about four facts. He looks
on those four facts as his private per-
sonal property. He is SO sure of them
that nobody else can ever get them
right. No other man can come any
where near those facts without getting
them wrong. And of course whenever
the Rambler trespasses upon one of
those privately owned facts he must
make a mess Of it. Then comes let
ter which runs something like this
Your reporter Cor correspondent call
ing himself the Rambler-he doesn't
dare to print his own name-is sadly
muddled when he states that, etc, and
he should have come to me before pre-
Stunning to assert, etc, and cannot I'M
derstand why writer's for the press are
so careless and Indifferent as to write
so much about something that they wot
not of, and hoping that some swift, ter
rible and condign punishment may over
take and overwhelm the gross offender,
/ am Indignantly your, etc"
The Rambler has to learn and forget
a great many facts every year and 1t is
quite human that in getting two columns
of facts together every week he should
upset or mangle one now and then.
But here the Rambler must make
another start to get away from the
CHEEKY fire in the sitting room of the
little cottage by the side of the Ridge
road, where the old-time chrysanthe-
NUNS bloom golden. This is the home
of Mrs. Serena Saunders, born Serena
Lefevre, daughter OF Henry Lefevre,
who lived in the old stone house which
looks out over the valley of Goose
creek and stands on the hill opposite
the quarry out Of which has come much
rock used in building streets in WASH
ington and roads In the environs OF the
city. The Rambler used up last week
all the facts he could remember or
collect relating to the family of Henry
Lefevre. About mile and half SOUTH
tast of the cottage with the chrysan-
themums Is another ancient Lefevre
home. 1t was the home Of John
Lefevre. a brother Of Henry. and be-
fore that IT had been the rooftree of
and of his father. whose name was
Peter. That place has been called
Hillside so long that mans memory
runneth not to the contrary.
The venerable stone house is still
standing but is not now in tho I.efevre
years ago by Earl Smith. John Lee
fevre, the son Of John and grandson
of Peter, had large family. His
son John lives in Pittsburgh. another
son. William. lives in Round Hill: an
other. Connie. is in Pittsburgh; Clar-
Ance lives near Ashburn: Laura. the
wife Of Rev. George Popkins, lives in
Washington; Blanche, who is Mrs.
Clarence Fouch, lives at Herndon, and
Maud Is Mrs. Jefferson Lambert. IL
the Rambler has that name straight in
his notes. of Leesburg. Annie. Mary
and Rachael are dead. and with their
father, John, and their mother, who
was Elizabeth Houser, rest in the old
Lefevre burying ground at Hillside.
From the Saunders cottage the Ram
bier followed the road along the ridge
past two old places which are the homes
of c. +. Caylor and d. p. Workman I'M
til he came to a point In the road where
two houses close together stood in
field off the left hand. One Of these
houses Is very old and the other Is SO
new that its first coat Of paint was
hardly dry when the Rambler came
upon It,; The new house is quite impos-
Ing in Its manner and its bearing, but
the old house has it's points of interest.
The old house Is broken and abandoned.
The Rambler thought 1t wore an air OF
humility and that 1t sat back In Its tan
gled garden as though it Stunned COM
parison with Its new and fresh neighbor.
The people living in the new house
lived long In the old one. The mother
of the family, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth
beacn, can remember wnen the first
train moved on the tracks of the Alex
andria, Loudoun and Hampshire rail-
road; when canal barges navigated
Goose creek, and when she was q young
bride and moved into that house with
her husband. Andrew jackson Beach, IL
was then the oldest house In that sec
ton OF the Goose creek region. It was
bull, OF logs. or course, that part of
the country was primeval forest when
that house was built. and no doubt the
logs were hewed from trees that were
chopped down where is now the garden
Of the house.
There is no doubt In the Ramblers
mind that the builder OF the house
was enc Of the pioneers in the coun-
try % the west of Washington and
that when he staked out his claim
there bear tracks could he followed