Evening star., 1925-10-18

| shire, England. who had been a mem
| Der of Parliament under Charles /, and
| had fearlessly and eloquently opposed
| those royal measures which seemed to
| him arbitrary. Yet at the same time
| he believed in supporting the estab.
ltshed order against radicalism, for he
| fought with the cavaliers against
| Oliver Cromwell. after whose victory
he was obliged to escape to Virginia,
where he settled in Stafford County.
and soon gained wealth and promi-
Gence in the colony.
Other traits characteristic alike Of
the first George Mason and the Revo-
lutionary patriot were independence
| and a deeply religious nature. Tn
| friendly Indians from across the Po-
| tomac having committed several muir
| ders in Col. Mason's neighborhood, he
| immediately gathered troops and pur-
| sued them into Maryland, where his
men slew a large number and cap
! tured an S-year-old son of one of the
| chiefs. Mason had not waited to re-
| quest the aid of the colonial governor
| OF Virginia, and when subsequently
| other settlers on the frontier We're
| haraSSed by the Indians and sought
| his aid he told them to follow Mason's
example and take care of themselves.
incidentally, this was one of the
| causes of Bacon's rebellion. with which
| Col Mason openly Sympathized.
The S-year-old Indian boy suffered
from sleeping sickness soon after fall
ing into the Virginians' hands. and
was thought by them to be hewitt tched
Having heard that baptism cured en-
chantments, Col. Mason straightway
had the child baptized by the Church
of England liturgy, he and his wife
standing godparents. The boy re-
covered,
This, then, was the fearless, level
headed type of man from whom the
Revolutionary patriot descended.
George Mason " was born in Stat
ford Qater Fairfax) County, Virginia, in
1925. No record of his birth has
been found, and consequently there Is
extensive confusion as to the exact
date. His education began early, for
he attended a boarding school in
Prince William County from the
years 1876 to 1888, inclusive, at a cost
of 1000 pounds of tobacco annually
for board. and S45 pounds for school
ing and books. Such schooling had
customarily been preceded by private
tutorship at the young students home.
Throughout his life, George Mason
had the reputation Of knowing more
about political science and charters
than any Of his contemporaries, and
few of them rivaled him in general
knowledge of all subjects.
George Mason loved both wisely and
well. and his true love ran not only
smooth but deep. His romance was
characterized by the same propriety
dignity and common sense as We're the
conduct of his large estate and his
career as statesman. He early lost
his heart to Anne Eilbeck of Maryland,
said to have been that youthful low
10 nd I>n11 %
ington. She was as fair as Mason was
handsome, both were wealthy and Of
aristocratic families. An early we'd
ding, when the bride was but 16 and
her husband 25, inaugurated nearly
quarter of a century of the most fe-
licitous domestic life for them. No
siren ever insinuated herself into
George Mason's affections; and Anne
Mason's sole interests were her hus.
band and their nine children.
A FEW years after they were mar
.ried George Mason built for his
wife a stately mansion with one Of the
most beautiful sites along the Potomac
for its setting, and named it Gunston
Hall, after the English home of his
great-grandfather. 1t Is in Fairfax
County, about six miles from Mount
Vernon, upon an eminence some dis
tance back from the river. 1t Is said
to have been designed by Mason him
self, in a modified Elizabethan type Of
architecture. Preciousness rather than
grandeur is its dominant quality, for
it is not large structure. One is
quite certain that the nine children
could not each have had a separate
room. The house is but a story and
half in height. The long, sweeping
roof, pierced by four massive brick
chimneys which rise from the cellar,
slopes steeply, yielding quaint dormer
windows on the upper floor. Sturdily
constructed of three thicknesses of
bricks imported from Scotland, the hall
is beautiful and harmonious in it's pro-
portions. Paneling, wainscoting and
carvings In mahogany, pine and other
woods, said to have been the achieve
ment Of three years Of steady work by
convicta brought from England, give
rare distinction to the interior.