Evening star., 1939-02-19

PATRIOTISM, 1Or COnStancy OF friend
ship and for more than filial de-
votion to the memory and character
of Washington"
Popular in Capital.
Mr.. Custis was popular with the
people of Washington. He threw
his ground open to them for amuse-
ment and entertainment, and there
may still be few living who can
recall Arlington Springs, "at the
foot Of wooded slope" to the
northeast Of the Arlington mansion.
Here he built wharf" says an
old account, "for convenient land
| ing; a storeroom, kitchen, a din
ing hall, 60 feet in length, and a
saloon OF the same dimensions for
dancing in. No spirituous liquors
are permitted to be sold on the
premises, nor are visitors allowed
to come there on the Sabbath. All
that is asked in return is the OBJ
servance of those moral rules and
a reclprocation Of the kind feeling
which makes every class of respec-
table citizens cordially welcome"
1t is estimated that during the
summer of 1852 more than 10000
persons availed themselves of the
hospitality of Arlington Springs
and. naturally, the father-in n-law
OF Gen. Robert E. Lee has always
been held in high esteem by the
people OF the District of Columbia.
| Mr.. Gusts was htterateur and a
playwright. but as an orator he was
best known, and few celebrations
or functions of note took place in
Washington that he was not the
Chief speaker. In his declining
years he still retained his oratorical
ability, and as the press stated upon
one occasion, when he spoke at an
independence Day celebration. 'Mr.
Gusts was probably at his best"
With this knowledge of George
Washington Parke Gusts. and the
canDer OF the man who was reared
by Americas First Citizen, it can
| oe assumed that whatever he has
SAID OF George Washington was
based upon personal knowledge. or
upon statements which he was in a
position to best judge as being thor
oughly accurate.
Recorded in Memoirs.
Hence We will quote what M.
GUSTS has to say in his "Recollec-
tions and Private Memoirs of WASH
ngton," regarding the courtship and
marriage of the First President, as
relevant to the prevailing difference
CT opinion on the subject. Says MI.
| Custis:
THE circumstances attending his
first interview with his lady, we
shall give from the relation of an
| aged gentleman, now no more. The
provincial colonel was proceeding
to Williamsburg, when he fell in with
p. Chamberlayne, Esq. one of the
ancient aristocracy of Virginia. who
lived in style of great hospitality
at his seat, in the county of New
Kent. Chamberlayne pressed the
colonel to dine with him. and stay all
night Gas Virginians of those days
were not in the habit of making
short or ceremonious visits, but was
answered, that important business at
the seat of government made COM
pliance, however agreeable, quite
out OF the question. Chamberlayne
now returned to the charge, by in
forming his friend, that it was in his
power to introduce him to a fine,
young, and handsome widow, who
was spending some days at his
house.
"The gallant soldier consented to
stop, but it was to dine-only to dine
while his unsaddled horses ate q
mouthful. and then to be off so as to
accomplish 10 or Is miles of his
journey by nightfall.
Fate destined this interview to
produce the long and happy union
which soon followed the first meet
ing and mutual attachment of the
parties: For the enamoured colonel,
making duty, for this time only, to
yield to love, permitting the sun to
set and rise again upon them, the
guest oi Chamberlayne, while Bls.cp,
his old soldier and body servant, tall
as his chief. and in this one instance
more punctilious, had, in obeying his
orders of haste, long stood at his
masters stirrup, ready, aye, ready
for the field The ensuing evening
the colonel departed, nothing 10th
to accept the kind bidding of his
hospitable host to call again.
"The marriage took place about
1760, at the White House in the
County of New Kent. The ceremony
was performed by the Rev. Mr.. Mos
son, a clergyman sent out by the
Bishop of London, in whose diocese
the Colony of Virginia then was to
the Rectory Of st. Peters Parish,
New Kent"
Other Statement.
Benson j. LOSING, voluminousA
writer, born in New York, states in
his Mount Vernon and Its Associa-
tions" that Washington and his
bride were married in the White
House" and quotes George WASH
ington Parke Custis' story Of the
old Negro servant of the household
OF the Widow Gusts, his grand
mother, who, when grown old and
living at Arlington. was questioned
by Mr.. Gusts as follows:
And so you remember I said
to old Gully, my grandmoEhers serv-
ant, when in his hundredth. year
and 50 you remember when Col.
washington came accounting your
young mistreSs?'
"Ay, master. that I do said
Gully. Great times. sir, great times
shall never see the like again
And Washington looked some
(see PROCTOR, Page C-8J