Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-31
SUGGESTIONS ASKED ON
HONORING WASHINGTON
Committee Casts About for Fitting Way
to Celebrate 2OOth Anniversary of
First Presidents Birth.


a search just now being made through
two Virginia counties, Loudoun and Al
bemarle, for the birthplace of Susan
Catherine Koerner Wright, the mother
of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The rec
ords say she was born in Hillsboro, Va,
but there are two HillsboroS, one in each
of the counties named.
To how many American communities
has 1t occurred to set up local monu-
ments to locally born mothers of famous
men? To how many mothers Of Presi-
dents do appropriate monuments exist?
The monument to WaShington's mother
was not set up until comparatively re-
Gently, during the administration of
Benjamin Harrison.
Where was the mother of Grover
Cleveland born and reared: Is the pres
ant resting place of the mother of Wood
row Wilson appropriately marked?
Looking Back by Communities.
The idea that each community should
look back to its own past could uSefully
be expressed in a variety Of ways.
School teachers can start their pupils
on research in local history. News
papers can send reporters to interview
the oldest people in the community and
tAAAo PACoNANC VI CNCI1bO bAldJ
otherwise will soon pass from the minds
of men. Local libraries can make COL
lections Of books dealing with. or con-
tanning illusions to, the community.
Old newspapers can be sought out and
placed in libraries where preservation
Will be more secure. 1t is a crime
against history and local pride to de-
stroy or permit to be lost any news
paper dated, let us say, earlier than
1900
Old grist mills can be preserved: or.
II already destroyed, their sites can be
marked.
Wherever there still remains an old
Schoolhouse it should be preserved,
with markers giving the names Of the
teachers. In the rapid evolution toward
consolidated schools, the one-room
SchoOlhouse will soon have the status
OF venerated antique. The country
church is disappearing fully as fast as
the country school. Who has not seen
the forlorn shabbineSS of rural churches
that once were the bright springs of
inspiration for farming communities?
Most sad of all, the country church was
apt to be accompanied by a burying
ground. Some of these burying grounds,
with no church now left to care for
them, may contain graves worthy of
local celebration.
How long win it be until the country
blacksmith shop will have completely
given way to the garage and filling
station? Where could one go today to
get a photograph of real old-tirne
blacksmith shop with blacksmith at
work in it? The typical blacksmith
shop was apt to include not only horse
shoeing but wagon making and harness
making.
Must the old-tinne covered bridge
really disappear? Is its going really
inevitable? One realizes that improved
times stronger ones. But could not the
road be detected little, to let the an
cient covered bridge remain, senti-
mental reminder to hurrying motorists
Of more gentle and leisurely past?
Preservation Of Trees.
In some communities are trees, or
groups o ftrees, Of great age. Steps can
be taken to get them out of private
ownership with its hazards, or other
wise to preserve them as unique land
marks
If the writer of this article had his
way, no log cabin now standing in the
United States would ever be RACED.
What log cabin''-the word and the
phrase-has meant in American history
and sentiment could hardly be over
stated More than one President has
been elected upon slogans that included
the phrase. The log cabin, with other
things, was the symbol Of American in
dividualiSm-the chosen dwelling place
of a man who liked to be to himself"
the type of American who began to feel
little uncomfortable when neighbors
came so near that he could see the
smoke of their chimneyS from his own
cabin door That type of man and the
independent individualism he stood for
have both largely passed from American
life. If you are interested in log cabins
and make a point of seeking them out,
you will be impressed by how often you
find them some distance away from the
road. in the back portions of fields, or
en- the edges of strips Of woods.
Many local communities possess
unique examples of early American
carpentry. The tendency-which does
not seem to the present writer to be
goods to let these specimens be car
ried off to the cities. In King George
County, Va, there was, until recently,
a specimen of early American paneling
in room of house once occupied by
a relative Of George Washington. From
New York came an agent of the Metro
pOlitan Museum, who paid $4,000 for
the privilege of tearing out the sides
and ceiling of the room, to be set up
in New York. AS to the desirability Of
this change of location, there Is doubt
less room for sound argument. 1t may
be that, in New York, more people will
see this paneling. But it will be seen
as a curiosity Had it remained where
1t was. it might have been source OF
something more than mere interest; it
would have stimulated local pride, and
local craftsmanship.
Old Words and Old Ways.
In some American communities, old
words and old ways of speech remain in
use. Mr.. Coolidge's Vermont use of
choose" was an example. The writer
of this article few weeks ago saw the
word "sutler" In an advertisement Of a
public sale of the equipment Of a farm.
The word was used to describe the man
who would provide food for those assem-
bled. That was In Chester County, Pa.
Where else is "Sutler" still in common
use? During the generation following
the Civil War, the word was universal,
because 1t had become familiar to every
soldier.
In many American communities. old
local place-names have partly or wholly
disappeared. Some months ago, the
writer of this article sought out the
farm that had been occupied 100
years ago by the ancestors of President
Hoover in Northwestern Maryland. The
farm was descr:sad in old deeds as
located on both sides Vi ~Wolf-pit
Creek" A geological survey map as
late as 1925 repeated this name for the
creek. But among the people now living
in that neighborhood, none knew the
creek by this old name.
The writer a few years ago received
from London a copy of map Of the
neighborhood of his own birthplace, In
Eastern Pennsylvania, not far from tho
Maryland line. The original map ha6
been made by an engineer officer In the
British army, during the Revolution,
just before the battle of Brandywine.
On the old map certain stream bore
the name "Cart-saddle Creek" In the