Palisadian., 1925-05-01

part Of the general plan. The estate of 100
acres which is the Arlington National Gene
terry, was bought and laid out in the Eighteenth
century by John Custis, 'F. f. W from the
eastern shore. His son, Daniel Parke Custs, mar
ried Martha Dandrige, the Belle of Williamsburg
and when old Custs died the young couple moved
in Daniel died. leaving Martha young
. widow, with two children, John Parke and Eleanor
Custis. Along came an impressive young colonial
colonel, George Washington who lived only fifteen
miles away. He carried off the rich widow as a
bride to Mount Vernon. Together they managed
the Arlington estate. The daughter died but the
grew to manhood, received his noble estate,
married a Calvert and served on his stepfathers
staff during the Revolution He died in 1871 and
his two infant children were adopted by the Wash
ingtons keeping their own names Nelly married
Maj Lawrence Lewis, Virginan.
Her brother, George Washington Parke Custs.
inherited Arlington in due time and began the
erection of the Mansion. Washington saw
the completed Mansion, which not finished
until 1903. Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh.
of the Randolphs. She died in 1858 and her
husband, the last male of the family, in 1857. The
Arlington estate then fell to the daughter Mary,
who in the meantime had married young army
officer Robert e. Lee, son of Lighthouse Harry"
Lee, the dashing cavalryman of the Revolution.
Thus Arlington became the home of the Lees.
Then the Civil came and Lee went with
Virginia out of the Union. He left Arlington just
as 1t was. Federal troops took possesson-and
most of the objects of historical value now In
the National museum Arlington could not be con-
fscated because entaled by the first Custis, bUs
under the pretext of nonpayment of taxes TIE
United States government bought 1t in for $500
and established the National cemetery in 1884
When, several years after the Civil war, G. w.
Custis Lee inherited the estate, he successfully
contested in the courts the legality of the tax
sae but at transferred his restored rights to
the government for $150,000, which was paid him
In 1884.
Such bridge has been advocated for over eighty
years by the nations leaders Daniel Webster de-
clared as orator upon the occasion of laying the
corner stone for extension of the Capitol July 4.
1851:
Before us is the broad and beautiful river sep
aratng two of the original 13 states, which late
President man of determined purpose and in
flexible WILL but patriotic heart, desired to span
with arches of ever-enduring granite symbolic of
the firmly established union of the North and the
South That President General Jackson"
Under President Harding the. commission adopt
ed specifications which were given to the archi-
tects Last spring President Coolidge transmitted
to congress the commissions report and recon-
mended that the work be begun without delay.
The good American visiting the capital for the
first time gaSps with amaZement and then snorts
in disgust upon beholding Pennsylvania avenue in
the immediate vicinity of the Capitol grounds
Probably greater contrast exists in all the CIV
ilized world than that between the last block Of
Washngton's most famous avenue which ends at
the steps to the Capitol. Tawdry booths line the
street. And past this go the great national pro-
cessions from the Capitol to the National Gene
terry at Arlington
Representative Charles L. Underhill of Massa
chusetts member of the house district commit
tee has introduced bill authorizing an appropr-
alton of $15,0OO,000 for the purchase by the gov
ernmeut of all the land it requires for complete
ownership of the Mall site, and this includes the
ciuht ly on Dom, r,cylvo,
When the project is completed, America will
have executed what President Coolidge has de-
scribed as "the greatest single memorial project
undertaken by any nation in recent times"