Evening star., 1924-06-15
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.


tals-thus did Representative r. Wal
ton Moore. in bidding his colleagues
pleasant and profitable vacation,
with true Virginian hospitality. in
vite them to visit his native heath
and learn hrst-hand its historic and
heroic place among the states. He
challenged his colleagues with the
boast that within the borders of the
Old Dominion occurred more impor-
tant incidents in connection with
American history than in any similar
territory.
Thirteen years before the pilgrims
from Holland landed from the May
flower at Plymouth Rock, English
colonists landed at jamestown and
established the first permanent Eng
lish colony in America.
The concluding dramas of Amer
ica's two great wars were enacted on
Virginias soil-at Yorktown, where
the United States government, at a
cost of about $25o.000, erected a
monument to commemorate the sur
render OF Lord CORVALLIS and the
end OF the revolution, and at Apo
mattox.
ocoTSS "hSniHSlO nome at
Mount Vernon, visited annually by
hundreds of thousands of Americans,
is but one of Vfrginia's shrines. JEFF
ferson was born at Shadwell and lived
at Charlotte. Madison lived and died
near Orange. Woodrow Wilson was
born at Staunton. The father of the
great emancipator. Abraham Lincoln,
was born at Broadway.
Within a seyenty-five- mile radius
was born the Father of His Country"
h0 70 ho- of aHyin nd tfu ynytd
war President. Representative Moore
points out. From 1t came the tongue,
the pen and the sword of the Revolu-
tion-Patrick Henry, Thomas Jeffer
son and George Washington. This
territory. also gave to the United
States the great expounder of the
Constitution, John Marshall, the
greatest Chief Justice; the major au-
thor of that fundamental document,
James Madison; the author of the
sneh ns IeRxss seroes as %ned Scott
ary Taylor and Robert E. Lee, the
greatest general of them all, on
of all wars. Other noted Virginians
were the revolutionary Lees, John
Sewer, founder of Tennessee; Henry
Clay, the great compromiser; John
Randolph of Roanoke, the ancestors
of the two Presidents. Harrison and
Tyler, and Sam Houston, first presi-
Out Of Virginia domain were carved
the six great states d,.ns Of West Virf1nis Iinna
VhiS: Wisconsin hen.ndAs and ainnesota. %
The "Old Dominion" is replcte in
romance-near Fredericksburg is
Chatham" where washington went
on his honeymoon and s;d Snder Sis norriDs whose
-Four of the greatest conflicts of the
civil war were fought near Freder-
icksburg-the others being Chancei-
lorsville, the wilderness and Spotsyl-
Richmond was the capital of the
Confederacy, as well as OF the state.
Second only to Harvard in opera
tion, the first college in the sou5n
was founded at Williamsburg-Wn
liam and Mary-in 1888.
Representative Moore has made en-
gagements to take number or MS
colleagues over the historic pilgrim
ages while Congress is out
In the closing hours OF Congress
two events were planned which de-
served more than the crowded mem
ton they then received. Participa-
ton of the national government in
celebration of two notable episodes
in American history was ordered. In
one case a commission was directed
to prepare plans for a fitting celebra-
tfon of the bi-centennial of George
washington's birth, in 1882, and the
other to celebrate the 15oth anniver--
sary Of the battles Of Lexington ana
Concord.
sentative Robert Luce of Massachu-
setts. chairman Of the House commit
tee on the library. was In exacay
Of the landing of the Pilgrims at
Plymouth.
1t proposes the same sort of par
ticipation as at the centennial cele.
bration of Lexington and Concord
fifty years ago, when President Grant,
with members of his, cabinet and
other distinguished officials, attended
the memorial exercises.
X
REPRESENTATIVE Hamilton Fish of New
York, a candidate for governor. was re-
Gently invited to speak before the Steu.
ben Society in Newark. N. J. To pre-
pare himself for an appropriate speech
he sent to the Congressional Library
for a copy of The Life of Gen. Won
Steuben.'
What was his surprise and delight
to find that his grandfather, Nicholas
Fish, q young man of twenty. major
! in the Revolutionary Army, had
Won Steuben, and that he was his
close and intimate friend. He was
lin correspondence with Gen. Won Steu-
ben until the latter died in 1884, near
Utica, n. Y. He also suceeeaea yon
natl Society Of the State of New York.
| "I have no German blood; have no
| Indian blood, but 1 have plenty of
my veins" boasts Representative
Fish.
You jitneyists who hear the call
of the west and the long. long trail
| a-winding, list to the song OF his
homeland sung by Representative
Scott Leavitt of Montana, who, hav-
ing discovered that although Montana
has been a state for thirty-five years
no state seal appears in the ceiling of
the House chamber has made Ar
arrangements that one will be displayed
there when Congress resumes its ses-
sions:
"I wish i could take you out into
told his colleagues, '-and show you
| that the Almighty Himself meant the
SHOWS of the mountains should be
! welded to these broad acres OF fer
tile volcanic dust. ! wish you could
rise and radiate from the Colorado
and the Columbia to the cardinal
points. How hills pile on hills, how
they rise in the purple haze Of twt-
the crest; how the rim OF the amphi--
theater and the. horison is pillared
with a. dozen lofty. .eternally snow
capped peaks. once biaze-bsaten, . s.s nov %
| vaIiays the soft glow OF the setting