Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1923-02-21

ton Church, Williamsburg, Va,
where sleep the generations of
Virginians that made history in
Colonial days, stands an old fash
toned mansion of white stone with
ivy creeping over it's ancient walls
and with the tints of years thick
upon it. The stately columns are
cdumbling now, but in the garden
cluster roses, honey-suckle and
hOllyhock just as they did nearly
two centuries ago when Colonel
George Washington came court
ing the buxom Martha Dand-
ridge Curtis. He whispered soft
nothings in her willing ear I'M
der the shade of q. giant mulberry
that has maintained its fame as
o trusting tree from hiatt genera
ton to this.
The lofty spirit Of Washington
his unselfish devotion to his cOun-
try and his genius in using pow
er for the good of others. neve'
for himself, have placed him
among the worlds great men.
From that eminence his charac
ter has acquired status of half
god or mighty hero that, to the
average person, makes him more
than a mortal. In his exulta-
ton, much of the human side of
the man has been sacrificed u
portray this godlike estate. Yet
Washington was not only the d.
vinely appointed leader of the
infant colonies, destined to lead
them on to victory and to great
ness. He was, likewise, 4 fine
type of the aducated Virginia
planter OF his day, and shared
many of their distinctive eharac
teristics of human virtue and
failingS as well.
So it comes with more or less
srprise that, as a lover, Wash
ington was ardent, and that Mar
that cambridge Curtis was not
his first love. The charms of
other Virginia bellies of the day
cnslavcd HIS romantic heart again
and again. On the after years,
when his name has become world
famous. MANY a gentle old lady
i'm cap and lace ruff sighed gently
and mayhap regretfully, over some
tender miccive, packed away for
years i'm lavender, that had been
penncd by the illustriOus hand OF
George Washington. Why not:
The social life of the Virginia
planters and aristocrats was a
Arcadia of merriment and inno-
cent revelry. The Virginians
knew how to enjoy life, and with
Natures bounty about them on
every side in climate, fruit, flow
ers and game Virginia hospitality
became proverbial and the latch
string was always out for the un-
expected guest. 1t was an un-
written law of the period that no
guest ever left one of the ramb
ling. comfortable old mansion
with their imported furniture
cleaning silver and sturdy and
solid calf-bound books, after
nightfall.
Life was gay succession OF
house parties, fox hunts, tourna-
ments. fishing parties. while the
winter season at Williamsbur
the capitol city, midway betw
the York and James Rivers, sew
en- miles northeast of JameStow,
was a round of debates and the
official festivities of the Govern
or's house and his aides, tn"
would have made current 90
ciety editor historian mark the
Williamsburg season as brillian
socially.
Into this atmosphere the young
George Washington fitted by birth
and breeding. He was the beloved
half brother of one of the veal
thicst men in the colony, Law
renee Washington, Of Mt. Yer
non. we'll known by repute to be
his heir. although in the htties
of the eighteenth century s;ill
a very young man, yet ne had
brilliant military record OF serv-
ice under the Inflated General
Braddock in the French and In
dian Wars.
In addition, the future hrSt
President was the close friend
and intimate of Lord Cecil FAR
fax, the lord of uneOunted acres
in upper Virginia. And he was
the son of Mistress Mary Ball
Washington, of fredericksburg
and Rappahannock, a lady noted
in those days for her generous
heart. her business ability and the
sk;u with which she raised her
own son. George Washington, her
FIVE other children and several
step-children. In every sense Of
the word he was an eligible, a
good CATCH" and many match
making mammas and willing dam