Evening star., 1920-11-07
FIFTY YEARS AGO IN
THE STAR.

| President Grant was an .hthusi-
astic horseman. Before he entered
the White House. while
Gen. Grants on duty in Washing
| 81. ton. he was constantly
| SoAe' TO be seen on the roads
| about Washington driving spirited
teams. In The Star of October 81.
1870. is an article descriptive OF his
| stable, which stood southwest OF the
! White House and was. indeed. re-
| moved only within recent years:
From early boyhood Presideat
| Grant has been an ardent admirer
of horses. and since his arrival at
years of maturity he has always been
1 the poSseSsor of one or more at
tractive animals. His stable at ~"
| Executive Mansion now comprises
the best stud OF horses in this l)ic-
President. All of them are his
| own private property, purchased or
| raised by him before his election 10
| the presidency. Although he meyer
permits any of his stock TO partic,
! pate in races. he has several excel
| lent trotters. which probably cannot
| be easily passed by any horse in TINS
| city. At present he has eleven horses
here. most OF them blooded animals
besides n number of inferior horses
| on his farm near st. Louis.
| The stable of the Executive Man
| sion. while il will not compare IN
extent and magniiicenc with that o.
| Boss Tweed or Bonner of Nav York
/ is nevertheless Z Very comfortable
| and respectable establishment. suc'
as befits a gentleman OF modest
taste. 1t is located in the southv"s
corner Of the CTrltn " is ricF
| building. to stories high. with =
| front of ffty feet and q depth Of
| forty feet. At the head o.
each stall is an open window. with
a cast-iron frame or colisr openin:
| into a passage. The windows ar"
| large enough to admit the head and
| neck of a horse. and il seems 20 "
| the favoritA attitude of some OF tn
animals - have their heads constant
ly out of the window. gazing at their
neighbors across the passage.
Among the horses in the Dresiden-
! tial stable were JEFF Davis" Gen.
| Grants favorite saddle horse. 30
| named because he vas cantrred OF
| a plantation in Mississippi belonging
capable of trotting three minutes.
| Cincinnati" Gen. Grants old war
| horse; est Touis" Mary" "Jn~rie"
| ''Rebecca" 'Loretto.. Julia" and tro
Shetland ponies, "Bflly futton" AN
| ''Reb."
In the afternoon OF October 81
| 1870. the corner stone OF the Lu:he-aa
Memorial Church. al
New 1ufheran the corner Of 14fa
and y streets. Was
meAoiAa1' laid. according to The
Star of that date. Impressive exer
| cises marked the occasion. whic'
vas under the direction Of Rev. J. G.
Butler. pastor of the church. The
lot for the church building w3s
| bought in March. 1866. from Caleb
Gushing for $4,000 by the people %
/ St Paurs Lutheran Church. The
| subscriptions for this site were Sc
I cured on single Sunday from the
| members and friends OF the congre
CATION. The building committee for
| the memorial church consisted oil
Brig. Gen. J. A. Ekin, L. s.. A. :.
Pratt, Ephriam Clarke, Joseph Nc
Clellan. Capt. S. L. Thomson. George
| Ryneal, jr.. and ]. G. Butler
X
The people of Washing Ton ~ere
greatly Interested in all the work OF
the paving of Penn
Saving the sylvania avenue. in
p--4 progress fifty years
faVemens. ago. The Star Of No
vember 1. 1870. in an item describing
the process of saving the blocks for
the first and second sections. which
was accomplished at d mill erected by
Lewis Clephane, the contractor at the
corner of d and Delaware avenue
According to the item in The Star a
number of citizens. including the
mayors OF Washington and George
town and the members OF the coun-
ellis of both cities assem- bled al The
mill that day to witness the machine
in operation:
The mill is erected near the rail-
road and there is an immense pile OF
lumber ready 10 be sawed. gang of
swing cross-cut saws. driven by
/ thirty five horsepower engine g do
ing the business in the fast ami most
satisfactory manner. The tin Ter is
taken from the pile by niep- who
place 1t on d stationary roller and
push II up the inclined bed, wh or .he
gang saws cut of three hlecks OF the
proper length al one swing. These
blocks are then picked up a,d rIsi
through by another ripsaw and are
then ready for Use, being three inches
thick at the top and four inches at
the bottom. The mill will now saw up
35. 900 feet of lumber in "A day an'l
when four additional saws are at
work in 2 day or two it's capacity will
be $4,000 feet"
When the Germans closed in around
Paris in 1870 the French capital WAS
isolated from the
Balloon Letter world save bE bal
- loon communication.
1AVin I'D i0' and very rare escapes
through the walls and the lines. In
The Star Of November :. 1870. Is
printed an extract from :. letter re-
ceived by Wsshingtonian Ina; dal
from Paris by the balloon route. as.
follows.
I'VE have now been twenty -seNeH
days invested by the German army ard
completely isolated from the res a.
the world. so that We know little OF
nothing of what occurs beyord orr
walls. Our citizens are determins5 ="
make an energetic defense and have
plenty of provisions aad ammunition
for sveraI months. An army OF 4o0.
900 men is being organized here.
which will be ready to cooperate with
our relief forces now mastering IL
the provinces. M being a national
~ua I'd is on duty at the fortihcAtioAs