Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-01-26
HEIRL0OMS
ONDLSPLAY At
loan EXHIBIT
Wealth of Treasures to be
Seen at Christ Church
Parish Hall
EXCELLENT EXHIBIT
Program Continued Tonight-Exhibit
Carefully Guarded by the Alexan-
dria Light Infantry.

The first impression given by the
Loan Exhibit in Christ Church Parish
Hall is one of wonder that so many
rare and beautiful treasures could
be gathered under one roof. The Ga
Zettc's reporter had expected some
thing unusually fine but he was not
prepared for wealth of exquisite Jew
elry, ivory, silver, china, that crowds
the central show cases and overflows
on tables down the length of the Par
ish Hall. 1t seems that every trea-
sure chest, every jewel casket, every
st0rehouse of precious helrlooms IN
the city must have been opened for
this exhibit.
The exhibit is arranged artist!cally
and with rare feeling for the spirit
of each group presented. The walls
of the Parish Hall have been made a
wonderful background for the smaller
treasures of the exhibit bv the use
of shawls and quilts of exquisite hues
and texture, rare old quilts in long
forgotten patterns and hand woven
bedspreads made from cotton and lin
en- spun and woven long before the
ancestors of these AleXandrians cross
ed to seas to Virginia. Grouped with
these are shawls Of lace as fine and
firmly as a cobweb, white shawls once,
but creamy now with age and al
most ready to crumble at a touch.
There are lacefshawls whose original
blackness is now rusty brown where
the years have touched them and one
silk mantilla whose whiteness is now
brilliant orange. But the hand of
Time has been gently laid son every
thing, the changes in color but in
tenslfy their beauty and add to them
the charm of beautiful old age which
is, after all, the one charm most
to be desired.
At the left of the Parish Hall, on
entering, is group of costumes rang
ing from the Colonial to Civil War
period and all historically correct.
These have been arranged upon lay
figures so that the details of ma
terial and style can easily be seen
There are silks of brilliant color,
white satin, rare lace and one gentle
mans suit of black satin.
Grouped along the walls and in the
smaller rooms of the Parish Hall
are rare pieces of furniture, old cop
per and brass, Sheffield, china, paint
ings and engravings that intrigue the
imagination and send our fancies
wandering down the vista of the
years to the days when famous folk
walked the streets of our town and
talked familiarly together of COM
Int +ho
not of early American history. There
is a painting of duchess, French
woman of the ancient regime, ances-
tress of one Of the patronnesses. Her
lovely face looks down on the room
from the wall, smiling inscrutably at
the modern Americans who crowd
around her. Near this is an engraving
OF Alexandria in its earliest days,
when the Potomac river washed the
foot of Lee Street, and Royal street
marked the western boundary of the
city. In the harbor lie sailing vessels
from across the seas whose rich car
goes have been unloaded, linen and
silver for the stately homes of Alex
andria, books printed in Edinburg and
IN London and sent over to the scholar
ly gentlemen of the Old, Dominion,
patterns of silk and satin and the lat
est London styles for the leaders of
fashion. perhaps some of these very
treasures are gathered in Christ
Church Parish Hall today. There is
one linen napkin, part of set of
tablecloth and dozen napkins woven
in Ireland in the late sixteen hundreds
that was brought to Virginia on such
a sailing vessel with the other fam
lily treasures of these pioneers. There
is a mortar and pestle, made in
Edinburg, Scotland, and brought to
this country by famous physician
and used in his private hospital in
Norfolk. Just to See it brings up vi
slonS of the old fashioned prescrip-
tions compounded in that day and
the kindly man who used his skill and
wisdom for the good of his com
munity. There are prescriptions of
DR.. Dicks written in his own hand
and some of his own books.
We like to think that after the
crowd had gone, last night, and the
soldiers of the Alexandria Light In
fantry were on guard. that the treas.
ures grouped in the hall talked with
each other, softly, of course, SO that
the watching soldiers could not hear
in gentle voices and with courtly ole
time manner we think they must have
Alexandria and Of the great men anc
talked together of the old days OF
women whom they had knawn and t
whom they have belonged. Surely the
pen that belonged to Thomas JET
ferson told of some of his brilliant
sayings, and the miniature which al
ways hung above his desk must have
spoken of the changing expressions OF
his splendid face as he wrote. There
must have been hundreds of such stor
Continued on PAGE Six,