Evening star., 1940-03-31
Letters Describe Adventures
Of Woshington's Ancestor
Briton Survived
Shipwreck on Way
To Aid BoIivcr
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
Through the medium of some 33s
letters in the possession of Mrs
Grace Burial Frysinger of 2400 Six
teenth street, mother Of Miss Grace
E. Frysinger, senior home economist
Of the United States Department OF
Agriculture, there comes across a
span of 1913 years the dramatic story
of other times and ways.
Penned in fine, firm but legible
script on lined, double foolscap pages
they constitute a remarkable hu-
man document as they run the
gamut from the well-ordered regime
of an academic atmosphere in Scot
land, shipwreck at sea. the hos
pitality and courtesy of Henri Chris
tophe, Emperor of Haiti, and the
moving drama of the expansion OF
pioneer America.
Each reached its destination by
sailing packet. Not one is inclosed in
an envelope, but according to the
custom of the time the outer sheet
of the letter was left without writ
ing other than the address. so that
folded it might, with a blurb of red
sealing wax, 60 forth upon its mis-
sion of communication.
A part of the family archives of
Mrs. Frysinger, who, perhaps quar-
ter of a century ago, decided her own
official age would henceforth be a
perennial 54, they cover the years
between 1877 to 1845.
Served at Waterloo.
Most of the letters were written
to Mrs. Frysinger's grandfather,
Capt. Charles Jack, youngest Eng
lish officer engaged in the Battle
of Waterloo under the Duke of
Wellington.
The father of this young officer,
restless in his home environment
after that European conflict of the
18th century, was William Jack,
M. A., M. D., D. D.. for 40 years
principal of Kings College, Aber-
deem, Scotland, who penned % of
the letters.
Another 214 were written by
Grace Jack, the wife of this eminent
collegian, whose portrait, by John
Irvine, A. r., S. A., is today in the
possession of the Aberdeen Town
Council. because in addition to his
academic achievements he was also
"the patron of the Incorporated
Trades of the City of Old Aberdeen. 4"
With convincing logic, this Scotch
mother tried to PERSUADE her son
not to follow an expressed intention
of going with three former army
associates to South America to aid
Bolivar, who was then striving to
free it from the dominion of Spain
and unite it into a confederated
group, similar in concept to the
United States of America.
Seeks to Discourage Undertaking.
This is her plea: May the voice
of parental admonition, dictated by
the tenderest love, induce you to
pause and think more soberly upon
what you are undertaking. Grant
that it is an honorable and noble
cause in which you are embarking,
yet it is one that requires not merely
daring and the courage that braves
danger, but the cool Judgment and
prudent foresight that foresees diff
ficulties and provides against the
unexpected. Perhaps you will say
these qualities are inconsistent. The
science and practice of government
is one of the most difficult in which
the human faculties can be engaged,
and perhaps those who talk loudest
about reform might, had they the
power, commit more egregious errors
than those they condemn. Think
not from this that I am the advo-
cate of oppression. I wish only
you not to take up one side of a
question, but to inform yourself on
all sides as far as possible
The son was destined never to
reach South America, for the ship
upon which he took passage was
struck by lightning, and after being
adrift two days he, its sole survivor,
was washed ashore on the coast of
Haiti. Here for months he was not
only the recipient of the hospitality
of Christophe, but money was ad-
vanced to him for his passage to
England and ship tagged for his
return.
Finding after he got aboard that
the vessel would first stop at the
port of Philadelphia, he landed
there in the year 1919.
A Scottist jeweler, William Rob-
ertson by name and Quaker, was
at the dock to meet a consignment
of wares, and invited the lonely
voyager to make his home with him.
Subsequently he married little
Anne" the sister of his benefactor,
and thus founded a new branch of
his ancient family in the New World.
OF this period in his life, his
writes, TT is now a month
since you embarked. Would that I
could feel you are safely landed, but
the kind hand of Providence is