Evening star., 1921-05-22

King. the mayor. and l.. ]. Houston,
jr.. the city manager of the Kappa
hammock metropolis. introduced him
to the city council and the chamber
of commerce as "our friend who has
come to Fredericksburg from our
new and pretty suburb on the Poto-
mac which bears the magic name of
Washington. the master patriot who.
when a boy, threw stones across our
river, chopped down cherry tree
whose blossoms We could see, who
was made a Mason here and whose
mothers ashes rest in this ancient
city"
Fredericksburg is about to celebrate.
She counts her age as go years. and
on May 25-next Wednesday-there
will be great doings-doings that will
be solemn, gay and merry. Monu-
ments are to be dedicated, floats with
groups illustrating history from the
redskin past to the moving-picture
colonial balls will be danced; soldiers.
marines. citizens. Confederate and
Union veterans and descendants of
Virginia Indians will march. Music
that stirred the troops of Lee. Jack
son. Longstreet. the Hills, Ewell, Jeb
Stuart and the old-time fighting hosts
in gray will be played. and bands will
make the old town ring with the
tunes that enthused or consoled the
legions Of Burnside. Hooker and
Grant: Everybody N Virginia has
been invited to attend. and the invi-
tation is extended to all the folks in
Washington. Just what Fredericks-
burg will do on her 250th birthday is
told farther along in this little mar
rative.
A MAN who has not caught the
Fredericksburg spirit probably
thinks Of Fredericksburg only as a
historic city.ssHe thinks of it as a
town which dreams of it's glorious
past Perhaps he thinks of it as a
place where American frontiersmen
just come from Jamestown mingle
with the wild tribes of the upper
Rappahannock; of troops going gayly
OF to the French and Indian war:
OF groups of quaint-clad folk dis
cussing news. weeks old, that has
come from Abercrombie and Mont
calm at Ticonderoga, of Baron Dies
kau. Gen. Johnson and Gen. Amherst
and Crown Point: of Fort Edward
Henry. on Lake George. and of bat
ties between French and Indians and
English and Colonials In the Cham
plain country He thinks he hears
men gossiping OF Venango. Fort
Duquesne. Great Meadows and OF
Gov. Dinwiddie. the English king. the
French monarch and of the conspicu-
Gus part which their fellow towns
man. Mai George Washington. was
taking in the big affairs going on.
Perhaps there is a group of Fred
ericksburgers sitting in front of the
Indian Queen Hotel (for an Indian
Queen Hotel stood at the corner of
Caroline and Charlotte streets nearly
hundred years before an Indian
Queen Hotel was opened on the north
side Of Pennsylvania avenue be-
tween 6th and 7th streets). and dis
cussing portentous matters-and some
toddies. II tell YOU" said one man.
that young fellow Washington is
a likely lad and he'll be mayor of
Fredericksburg or governor of this
colony some day, if he lives long
enough"
And another Fredericksburger who
was little less hopeful Of the flu
ture said: "Shucks. was in school
with George right head in this town,
az you know. George did not learn
enough Latin to say nux vomica or
aqua pura, he was pretty dull in his
lessons and you know he comes from
rather a plain family and his mother.
old Lady Mary. and his sister. Miss
Betty, have not yet broken into the
most exclusive set in Fredericksburg.
OF course. George may do pretty well
IL farmer. but he'll never be a big
enough man for the governors man
sion at Williamsburg'
Also when you think of Fred