Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1921-02-17

pointed and instructed them as to where they
should locate the permanent capital. Those COM
miSSiOners named the city for the man who had
led the victorious armies of the colonies in the
Revolution and who was then serving as Presi-
dent. Many fairy stories have been written about
how Washington personally selected the site for
the capital, even driving some of the surveyors
stakes etc. The unvarnished truth is that he
merely carried out the will Of congress by ap-
pointing a commission which was instructed by
congress to do a certain thing.
From the day the tract ten miles square was
staked out WashingtOn'S impress has been in the
city and its environs. That impress stands out
clearer as the years pass. More than a million
persons, Americans by birth or adoption, gain
new inspiration every year merely by looking
upon the material things that connect the days
when Washington was moving about there in the
flesh with the present time. Thousands of for
eigners benefit in the same way. There is never
any pause in the stream of pilgrims to Mt. Vernon
or in the throng that is always on the way to the
top Of the Washington monument. Winter and
summer, through sunshine and storm, the homage
paying to the Father of his Country" goes on.
Every recurring anniversary of his birth seemingly
increases the interest in his memory. On these
anniversaries floral decorations are invariably
piled high in the tomb at Mt. Vernon, and neither
branch of congress ever fails to provide that his
farewell address shall be read.
Probably because the point has never been en-
phasized many persons have the idea, it seems,
that Washington lived for a short time in the
city that bears his name. There is also a popu-
lar belief that the WaShingtOnS at one time Oc-
cupiCd the White House. Washington was never
Il resident Of the permanent capital. The seat
Of government was in Philadelphia when con-
greSs voted to locate the capital where it is, and
Washington had a temporary home in that city.
On returning from Philadelphia at the close Of
his SECOND form nc President he gave consider
able personal attention to the early Developments
of the new capital. He frequently rode up from
Mt. Vernon on his favOrite black horse to see
how things We're coming on.
Who would undertake to say that he did not
visualize the national capital in some such form
as it stands today? If he did, he saw in his
imagination the Capitol building on Capitol hill,
the Library Of Congress with its golden dome in
the rear of the Capitol, the magnificent office
buildings for senate and house of representatives,
the expansive Mall extending from the Capitol to
the Potomac, with the monument to his own mem
DRY, the most conspicuous thing on it; and he
also saw the splendid memorial to Abraham Lin
colt which has just been completed, as well as
the memorial to U. S. Grant, which Is almost
ready to be turned over to the government. And
who again would say that he did not have a vision
of the resident section Of the city extending far
beyond the White House TO the northwest?
Washington never saw the White House Occu-
pied. TO SOM extent it represents his ideas Of
what a combined home and business Office for
the President should be-the original idea was
that the President should make the house his
residence and also his workshop. Washington as
a Mason assisted in laying the cornerstone Of
the White House. That Formally was conducted
by a Masonic lodge in Alexandria Of which
Washington was n member.
1t is certain that he was deeply interested in
the work of construction. AT the time of his
death the house was practically ready for occu-
pancy. The furnishings were being placed in
position. only a few days before his death he
and Mrs. Washington went through the entire
building and, according to the clroniclers of the
time, were keenly Interested in every detail Of the
place which was to be the home OF future Presl-
dents.
Today, as it has ever been, 1t is not so much
the things with the Washington stamp on them,
as those in the nearby districts that interest the