Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-05-13

out his blood for American independence This
property, We told, bought in 1912 by
James Keith, the grandfather of the present
owner and occupant, Mrs. McSherry, who was
prior to her marriage, Miss Forrest, daughter
of Frank Forrest, officer in the United States
Navy, until the beginning of the Civil War.
when he went South.
THE numbering of these houses is not regular
No. 1927 is the one at the east end of the
row. Then comes numbers 1881, 1888. 1887 and
1899 (Which is the house to the west).
Ralph w. S. Hill of the Department of State
resided at 1927; the next two buildings, 1881
and 1888, apartment houses, and then comes
the home of Col Mccain, at 1897
The fronts of these residences denote their
age. The Mccain and McSherry homes appear
to be unchanged, and the slight changes made
in the three others are easily susceptible OF
restoration. OF course, as to the interiors of
the houses the writer knows nothing except
that he understands that no changes nave been
made in the McSherry residence and what he
saw upon his recent visit to the Mccain home
led him to believe that this building was about
as near the original as it could be- taking into
consideration that even Mount Vernon has been
restored where replacement has been found
necessary.
The sitting room, parlor, as We old-timers
used to call it, in the Mccain house is surely
old enough to please the most exacting anti
quarian and the ball room on the top floor,
with its paintings of Colonial scenes the stair
way and the old-fashioned garden to the rear
of the house lend atmosphere that carries
one back to the occasion when Gen. Lafayette
was entertained here because Col. Cox was ex-
pectlng newcomer at the Cedars and thought
that since this particular house of his was
vacant, the reception had better be held there.
The colonel at this time was mayor of George
town. and he left nothing undone to make the
event successful and a memorable one.
His eldest daughter Sally obviously took
charge of the house, and the mayor had it
deliberately furnished throughout. A notable
party gathered to do honor to the DISTINGUISHED
soldier who fond of reed birds that 600
are said to have been served at one meal
though the sum probably contains one nought
too many the actual number being more likely
90. for If four and twenty blackbirds was a
dainty dish to set before a king. surely so reed
birds would have been quite a sufficiency for
Gen. Lafayette.
\A/E MUST not forget to say that tradition
w has it that the bricks in these houses
came from England as ballast. But what a
preposterous statement! Rest assured that the
vessels that came to this country when these
homes were being built, and from the time of
the settling Of jamestown had so much freight
to bring over that there very little need
to carry freight ballast George Alfred
Townsend is authority for the statement that
the only mportations of bricks into Maryland
before the Revolutionary War were one ship
ment of 1000 in the schooner Nancy from
Charleston, S. c.; 5000 in the Live Oak from
Philadelphia, and 5000 brought on the ship
Britannia from Bristol England. Hardly
enough to build an old fashioned chimney with
William Hand Browne, Marylander in his
Maryland Palatinate, says it is doubtful if a
single house in Maryland was built of imported
brick. And although mass of proof might be
adduced to dsprove this well known but erro-
neous statement, yet We are quite sure that
anything we might say would not alter the
minds of those who believe to the contrary.
The writer wants to touch upon another
subject he recently referred to when he talked
before the Burleith Citizens Association. This
was in regard to the Presbyterian Cemetery.
which formerly occupied large part of the
block between Volta place and Q street and
Thirty-third and Thirty fourth streets now
used a public playground.
Among things the writer said was that.
undoubtedly, there were still Revolutionary
soldiers buried within the boundaries of this
old cemetery, and he still believes So
IN CHECKING up the names of those patriots
whose remains were removed from the Pres
byterian Cemetery prior to the time it was
turned into playground. the writer found
only seven names, although he believes there
were a few others. Selden M. Ely whose
interesting paper 1.-The District of Column
bia in the American Revolution" ETC., printed
in the records of the Columbia Historical So
ciety, records the following Revolutionary
soldiers whose remains were removed from
this cemetery to other places in the District:
Joseph Carleton, to Arlington, November IS,
1907; Thomas Meason Cor Mason), to Arling-
ton. May r. 1892; James House, to Arlington,
May II. 1892; Caleb Swan, to Arlington, May