Evening star., 1925-10-11
Rambler Recalls Achievements
In Life of Marcia Burnes Van Ness
Timee of Services in Mausolem SQUARE

4 i sons whom fortune had
treated hard, and she did
this with such sympathy that the
poor did not feel that their misery
was used as a stepping stone to a
claim of greatness. She knelt with
a needy mother and with an orphan
and gave them part of her goods.
She did not take q naughty stand,
hold "A purse at the tip of proud mn.
gers and with u gesture OF grand
charity drop it at the feet of the
poor. She had the gift OF sympathy
1t is not a common quality. There
are many sympathetic persons. Some
keep their sympathy under armor, be-
cause it Is the point at which unscru-
pulous persons would undo them. A
man must he on guard against ma
rauders. Many persons have sym
pathy which guSheS at n pin prick
and wastes itself in ways that are
hard to justify. There are persons
who ooze sympathy for publicity.
| There are those who repress their
sympathy until, having heaped more
wealth than they can use, and
brought ruin to their children, and
with Death stalking them. turn pro
fesSional philanthropists and wantonly
give to causes of questionable worth.
The woman | write Of seemed to
pour the balm of sympathy where
| unct ion was needed. That Is what the
Rambler means when he says Marcia
Burnes had the gift of sympathy. He
| did not know this woman, and no
! analyst Of character has written Of
her.
! Analyses of character are not OF
, much value. They are opinions.
! Many men of little natural sense and
! little mental culture are Offering
| opinions on government, philosophy,
sun spots, weather and human char
acter, and the last is the most com
pleX. When one man writes of an
others character he uses a metewand
; notched with his own standards and
those standards are his experience,
books he has read, lectures OF pro
fesSors he thought great and inf1u-
ences on his childhood.
Some men make alleged character
studies with the aim OF giving praise
and others with the aim of denyin:,
praise. The Rambler wants to he
fair ana to come as close to truth as
the usual human limitations allow
lie seems to have known Marcia
BurneS in the cottage by the river
for he has known-lived wtth-plain
country families of this region that
We're like the BurneS family.
When the schools and association
with lettered men gave polish to this
girl she kept III touch with her crude
relations. When she became the wife
of Il rich man, prominent because Of
his family and his owu works. they
built a costly home. She had that
house built In the garden Of the cot
tase she was born in, and the ruins
of the Burncs cottage and the Van
Ness mansion stood together till such
ii recent time that YOU and l remem
ber them.
When her only child, Elhertina
died, she built Tor that daughter "A
tomb in the graveyard % her grand
parents. in the square between Ninth,
Tenth, q and II. After she, with
other pi"uS women. had founded the
Washington City Orphan Asylum. 10
years ago. she gave. several years
later, II home near the grave of her
child and close To the site of her
grandparents home. She died at q
time when Death was striking nearly
every family in WaShington-the
Asiatic cholera epidemic OF 1S32-yet
the people gave extraordinary honor
To the name Of Marcia Burnes Van
Ness. II you are not content with my
estimate Of Marcia Burnes. IL is the
best l can do and You have the right
10 compose an essay and bore Your
friends by reading it to them.
= =
MARCIA BURNF;S VAN NESS died
September 9. 1882, at the Van
Ness mansion. The National Intelli-
sencer. september 10, 1882, contained
this:
"Died, after n severe and protract-
ed illness, at 10 o'clock am. yesterday,
! Mrs. Van Ness. wife OF Gen John p
Van Ness, mayor Of this city OF this
lady it may be emphaticallt said that
she was the guardian of the orphan
and the benefaCtresS of the poor. The
friends and acquaintanceS Of the fam
lily or any member thereof are respect
fully invited to attend her funeral. at 1
o'clock pm. today, without further
notice"
There We're services at the house
and at the tomb in Mausoleum
Square. The following is taken from
the Washington Globe, September
II. 1882:
The large concourse of citizens
that attended the funeral Of Mrs. Van
Ness, during the season of alarm
and distress which tends to contine
the sympathies of each individual
under his own roof, evidenced the
greath worth of the object of these
last marks of regard. as we'll as a
just sense and good feeling of a COM
munity upon which her unostenta-
tious benevolence could make such an
impression. Mrs. Van Ness had
buried her daughter many years ago
(November %, 1929, and on the spot
where she entombed her only child
she sought comfort under the bereave.
ment by the erection of an asylum
for the nurture and education of fe-
male orphans. To the inmates of
this noble charity she became n
mother, and as these doubly deprived
and helpless children followed, in the
garb of woe, the bier of their munifi-
cent benefactress to the scene in
which they had been SO often cheered
by her kindness, and there to see
forever closed, within the old vault,
all that gave hope to their prospects
in life, no heart could be insensible
to their SORROW"
There was service at the vault,
and Rev. William Hawley, the second
pastor of ST. Johns Episcopal Church,
preached. The statement is also
| made that the orphans strewed
flowers and branches of weeping will
low on the casket.
1t has been put in print that Mar
cia Burnes was sent to school in
Europe and that she mingled with
rich and titled persons. 1t has also
been set In print that she had little
schooling and was a young woman
without finish of speech and manner
when she became the wife of John
2. Van Ness. Historians are q bad
lot. I believe an eminent historian
won,d last about two assignments as
the erecting Of an administration
of fn6 IN, 1909