The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1922-03-11
M0NR0E'S HOME
TO BE RESTORED
New York House Wherein Author
of "DoCtrine' Died Rescued
:, From Junkman.
ENDED DAYS WITH DAUGHTER
American Scenic and Historic Society
. VIII Preserve Last Haven Of
Fifth President Of the -. y
United States. ~

New Iork.-In what used to be the
parlor OF an aged, ramshackle house
at 6S Prince street, New York, a brace
OF junk men the other day STONED
among little mounds OF rags and
bones and bottles, their hands moving
IN wild frenzy Of assortment. From
the ceiling hung fiimsy chains Of dirt,
the walls were great faces pockmarked
by the plague OF neglect. The floor
seemed as the grimy palette of the
artist Time, who had painted the
place, in skillful completeness, with a
thick coat of dust. Against this single
motif, black, the junk men worked
with fastidious care.
That front room was clean and
CHEEKY in 1880. 1t was of real beauty,
for, as the house was in a fashionable
section of New York, the reception of
persons high in social circles took
place there. And one day in that year
James Monroe. fifth President of the
United States, mounted the steps with
perhaps the thought we'll in his mind
that here would be his last haven.
An Arrival Prepared for.
One may imagine how busy Mrs.
Samuel i. Gouverneur was as she d.
rected the servants to tidy the home
for her father Mr.. Monroe, observes
the Kansas City Times. He was sew
enty-tWO years DID, and she realized
that it would be extremely nice for
her to make him as comfortable as
possible: he needed comfort; his
health was impaired, his fortune shat
tered, and he had been overwhelmed
only twelvemonth before by the
death Of his wife, "
So, In that room where the junk men
laboreG with their choice bits of soiled
cloth and their smelly bottles only the
other day, the man who conceived the
Monroe doctrine sat, almost a hundred
years ago, and reviewed his carees, or
read, or merely locked far and away,
in censummate iNeness. His death oc-
CURED in the daughters home July 4,
1881.
The old brick house is to be given
reverent bath and preserved by the
American Scenic and Historic society.
Day by day it has suffered under the
lack Of care; many wrinkle has ap-
peared in it's stark cOuntenance. and
If such a thing as a house can be
rheumatic there is no doubt it has felt
many a cringe in it's joints. 1t was
once proud and pretty, for Mr.
Gouverneur was postmaster nine
CHI y, o
the elite. 1t is fitting that this for
. mer dwelling place of the author of
one # Americas most persistently
arising national policies should be res
cued from oblivion among jobbing
houses ard garages.
On front outside wall of the once
colonial mansion is memorial tablet
of Mr.. Monroe. 1t was unveiled April
%, 1905, by Gouverneur Hoes. then if
teen years old, a great-great-grandson
under the auspices Of the women's
auxiliary to the scenic and historic
group which sponsored the move. The
date marked the 147th anniversary of
the birth Of the former President
At the time there was cheap res
taurant in the drawing room; shoe
factory's machinery ratified on the
second floor and from the dormer win
dow hung the sign of a furrier. The
restaurant man agreed to clean his
place and disappear for the DAY so the
auxiliary could hold its ceremony
within.
Versatile Public Life.
When Mr.. Monroe left his Virginia
home to live in New York he had
ended versatile public life. At
eighteen he left Williams college to
enter the revolutionary army of
George Washington, and rose to be
military commissioner of his home
state. He was elected to the assembly
Of Virginia later; in time he became
member of congress, he was in the
convention which considered the con-
StitutiOn, and he was minister pleni-
potentiary to France.
On his return Mr.. Monroe was
chosen governor Of Virginia; then, as
envoy extraordinary to France, he
negotiated the Louisiana purchase.
After holding the ministerial position
in the British isles he entered as a
leading figure the negotiations for the
purchase of Florida from Spain. A
second term as governor Of Virginia
and periods of duty in the secretary
ships of state and war preceded his
election twice as President.
Outstanding of the services of Mr..
Monroe was that which has come to
mean so much in the determination Of
American international relations. In
the action of the scenic and historic
society is to be restored the final
refuge of the man whose chief claim
to perpetual glory was the declaration
that:
Neither entangling ourselves in
the broils of Europe nor suffering any
power Of the world to interfere with
the affairs Of the new, and attempt on
their (the European powersl part to
extend to any portion Of this hemi-
sphere would be dangerous to our
peace and safety and would be op.
posed accordingly"