The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-03-03
THE LITTLE-KNOWN MOTHER
Or GEORGE WASHINGTON
At fredericksburg, Virginia, the
Memory of Mary Washington Is
Preserved

Aaron Hardy Ulm in Dearborn lnde-
pendent.
And up the street little way IS
the old home Of Mary Washington,
said the Fredericksburg man, who
was pointing out the numerous places
of historic interest in the quaint old
Virginia town.
MARY Washington" l answered,
questioningly.
George Washington's mother he
explained. as if it was not unusual
for strangers to be wholly ignorant,
as | was, of Washington's maternal
parent.
l, perhaps, had read a paragraph OF
so about Washington's mother in bl-
ographies of her son. But the mo-
ther of the greatest of Americans
was total stranger to me. lnclden-
tallv. l found later, when l went
roaming through the books about her
son. that few Of the biographers Of
Washington allow more than a para
graph to his mother. John Marshall,
whose monumental work Of five vol
unaes still is considered by many to
be the best, gives her only phrase:
"........a tjmid and affecuonate mo-
ther........" Some verge even on a sort
of scorn in their treatment Of her
fastening to the small old-fash!on-
ed dwelling, now, thanks, to a group
of patriotic Virginia women, preserV-
ed as a public shrine, where Mary
Washington spent her latter days ana
died, l quickly came face to face with
the spirit of Washington's mother. In
way, her spirit still dominates the
scenes she once ruled with iron will.
Nearly all that is remembered OF
Washington's mother illustrates,
among other things, that she always
chad a mind of her own" The small
house remains very much as 1t We
when she died. The mahogany four
poster bed, with the steps neeoa, for
reaching its lofty heights, stands in
the main room. 1t is laden with mas
sive feather mattresses, overlaid by a
counterpane. There are other relics
of Mary Washington's day, some OF
which may have belonged to her.
The towns growth has caused streets
to cut away the ample yard which
once fronted the house, and only a
moiety of the big garden in the rear
remains. Therein, however, you see
lockwood hedge that was set out by
it's revered occupant of nearly a CEN
tury and half ago. Cut off from the
main house, as was the rule in that
day, is the kitchen, preserved in its
original picturesqueness, with its wide
fireplace and the tongs and hooks and
long-handled cooking irons used in
preparing meals over open fires.
Lafayette went there alone, after
the close of the Revolutionary war,
to pay his respects to the mother of
the chief he adored Lafayette talk
ed with her in the garden ani in the
house and Immediately thereafter de-
clared: 81 have this day spoken with
a truly Roman mother
That's the impression one who looks
into the little that survives about Ma
ry Washington gets now. She evil
IDENTIFY did not fit into her period with
that nicely that was achieved by her
graceful daughter-in-lsw, Martha Gus
It's Washington. Yet if she lived to-
day she might fit better than would
Martha, as she would have excelled in
the day of the Caesars or any other,
For Mary Washington seems to have
been Of that rare type that fits with
equal success into any period-a wo-
man of the ages, as it were.
However the historians may damn
her with faint praise" and regardless
of how popular fancy has passed her
by, the people of Fredericksburg,
where she spent the greater part Of
her life, are very fond of Mary Wash
ington. And4of all the many historic
figures associated with the commun-
ity's past, they seem to like best to
speak Of her and to narrate the inter-
esting traditions that have come down,
largely mouth to mouth, concerning
her.
Only a few blocks from the old
home a modest monument stands IN
honor of Washington's mother. 1t is
near picturesque rock, which over
hangs a tree-covered knoll and over
looks beautiful meadow. Tradition
says that in her latter years she spent
O,Irch t;noe Sitfinp on that rock re9d-