Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-11-17

Mt. Vernon, Va. Nov 14.-One of the
ancient countrymen who guard and ex
plain the sacred treasurers of Mt. YER
non was telling the spruce looking gen
tleman from Detroit how splendidly and
substantially George had lived. He
pointed out the roomy smoke house and
kitchen, the servant quarters, the stable
and coach house, the waIled-in flower
and vegetable gardens. Here was ev-
erything, he said, that a gentleman could
wish for. Old George sure knew how
to live.
But 1 didn't see any bath room in
the house." said the well-groomed man
from flivver town. nor anything that
looked like a bathtub.'
Washington didn't need any Of them
things" the old man explained. He
owned eleven miles of the Potomac riv-
err
He could take a bath every spring,
then, couldn't he? % the visitor suggested
He could, asserted the native, If
he needed it,
But this question of how Washington
washed is impertinent. Many of our
leading citizens can remember the time
when they had recourse to the family
tub only on Saturdays and slept regu-
larly in their under shirts, but they
were not stunted as a result, and nei-
ther was George.
1t is frequently pointed out that there
were fewer convenieuces of life in
Washington's time, but it is not 50 often
realized that there was vastly more
room. Washington, for example, owned
eight thousand acres. He had great,
roomy house. In front of it spread one
of the most inspiring. views of woodland
and river to be found in Virginia. There
was more than enough of everything
right at hand. His fields and gardens
produced all that rich soil and favorable
climate could produce. His own mills
ground his grain. The river was full
| of fish which his negroes netted in silver
boat loads. Wild fowl came in myriads
every fall, and George himself used to
go out and kill few canvasbacks be-
| fore breakfast, as his diary shows. The
| forests of his own estate were full of
deer and wild turkey. Good beef and
mutton fatted in his pastures.
Who would trade the abundance and
dignity Of that life, the beauty of that
| environment, for modern flat with its
bath tub and its gas stove, its .stinks
and noises, its inspiring vistas of back
alley and basement door?
| And George wasn't rich man, either
| He was just a substantial citizen. Most
Of his neighbors were equally well fixed.
| Everyone had plenty of room and plenty
to eat. And if he didn't like it where
| he was, an entire unoccupled continent
| lay Immediately to the west.
| George mayhap did not know the lux
ury Of full-length hot bath. But nei-
/ ther did he have to worry about the
cost of living. And he was never crowd
| ed hurried. worried, or suffocated, as
we luxurious and well-washed moderns
are every day.
! With that inspiring view before him,
with the sense of security and freedom
and leisure which has broad domain gave,
with his energy unwasted on non-ess
tials, no wonder that George could dream
| Of a new nation on the face of the earth.
II we produce no men of his size now
| adays, maybe it's because we don't give
them enough room to grow You can't
! raise a lion In rabbit hutch.
| You can probably get no better idea
Of Colonial Virginia than by going to
| Mt. Vernon. Not only has the estate
itself been kept as it was in the old
days, even to the coach in the coach
house, but the country thereabouts has