Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-30
LEE RELICS BACK
AT STRATFORD HALL
Jardiniere and Old Wine Bot
tie to Be Returned to Man.
sion After $50 Years.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


FREDERICKSBURG. Va. June 30
Two small articles which left Stratford
Hall more than a hundred years ago
will come back to their first home July
l. when gifts are presented at the Fourth
OF July celebration of the Robert E. Lee
Memorial Foundation, which is making
a national shrine of the famous old
manor house.
One Of these is a jardiniere which
Will be given by Comdr. George Writ
Simpson. U. S. N, who tells its history
as he heard it from his grandmother
Mrs. William Fftzhugh Lee. According
u Comdr. Simpson, the jardiniere was
! given by Richard Henry Lee. who was
porn at Stratford, to George Washing
ton, who left it at his death to his half
brother. Augustine. From Augustine
Washington, who lived at Wakefield. it
came down through the family to Mrs
Dabney Writ. Mrs Writ had no chill
dren, and gave the vase to Comdr Simp-
sons mother, Laura Lee, daughter of
William F1tZhugh Lee. so that this old
vase which left StratfOrd about a hun
bred and fifty years ago to 60 into the
washington family has come back TO
the Lee family and through them 10
Stratforo Hall
Comdr. Simpson has given the Jar
dlniere for as long as Stratford Hall
shall be maintained as a shrine in
memory Of the Lees.
Old Wine Bottle.
Another gift comes through the pIav-
wright Paul Kester from Mrs Thomas
Bruce Murphy, whose husband once
owned Lee Hall. 1t is an old wine bot
tie, which was ploughed up at Lee Hall.
with the cap in perfect condition with
H. Lee printed in the glass. This
may have belonged to Richard Henry
Lee or to Gen. Lees older brother, Mai.
Henry Lee. 1t, too, comes back TO
Stanford, where is was used more than
q hundred years ago.
In his letter Offering the old wine
bottle Mr.. KeSter wrote to Miss Ethel
Arms, national secretary OF the Robert
e. Lee Memorial Foundation:
/ see IN the work Of yourself snd
MRS Lanier much good to the future
end a me respect for the past"
Mrs. Murphy has also given to the
community the site of the old Ban
quoting Hail. on the Lee property. to-
gether with an acre of ground, and
movement has been begun to erect on
the site of the "Banqueting Hall" A
modern community hall.
An interesting gift will be the fencing
foil OF Lighthouse Harry" Lee, which
gAANS 4Adll6 OIA LIlG Wall OF Lfe great
hall al Stratford. Wither other STRAIT
ford possessions. it passed into other
hands and finally was given to the
Children of the Confederacy of Lith-
onla, Ga, by Mrs. John r. Mcconnell.
The foil came to Mrs Mcconnell
through Mrs. James McCray of Vir-
ginia, a member of the Lee family.
July 4 Program.
The program for lie Fourth of july
at Stratford promises to be interesting.
Ofhcials Of the Robert Z. Lee Memorial
Foundation are coming from Green
wich, Conn, and other places. Mrs.
Charles D. Lanier, president of the
Foundation, will be present, Miss Ethel
Armes. national executive secretary, and
Miss Helen Knox, national chairman Of
finance, will be present. and the f1nan-
cial status of the work, including the
amounts received, the sum paid on the
purchase of Stratford and the sums
pledged, will be announced Rev. Giles
B. Cooke of Mathews chaplain of the
foundation, who is 90 years Old and the
last surviving member of Gen. Robert
E. Lees staff. will have charge of the
religious program, and Mayor Jere NJ
H. Willis Of Fredericksburg and Thomas
Lomax Hunter of King George will take
part in the program. A l5-minute ad-
dress on the origin of the Declaration
of independence will be delivered the
speakers name not having yet been an
bounced.