Evening star., 1941-04-27

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ident of the District of Colum-
bia Society, Colonial Danes.
Harris -E1Oing Photo.
sonal supervision over every detail
of the management of my house.
hold affairs, so did my mother be-
fore me, and SO did all women when
Mount Vernon was the social center
of the country.
Domestic Neglect"
"'But the great wealth of people
today has caused many women to
become mere boarders in their own
homes, and those of less wealth
must initiate those above them, and
the result is an unbecoming indif-
ference to domestic affairs among
women generally. Then the idea of
the present day that it is necessary
to educate all classes alike spoils
servants. The lower classes acquire
sufficient book knowledge to become
superior to the only work they are
fit to do, and so more confusion
creeps in.
"'Our homes today are furnished
in way really to require the atten-
ton of more servants and better
ones than our forefathers needed.
In Gen. Washington's day there was
not the rage for ornamentation that
possesses everybody now, and the
furniture was simpler and more ele-
CANT. You must not have the idea
that you see Mount Vernon today
as it was when Gen. Washington
lived there. Very little that is now
in the house belonged to Gen. and
Mrs. Washington. The ladies of the
Mount Vernon Association have
sought to reproduce the styles of
that period, but the modern idea
that a bit of bare wall or unoccu-
pied space in room is emptiness
has given the rooms at Mount
Vernon an appearance which I am
sure Grandma would scarcely rec
ognize.
"I have many articles from Mount
Vernon myself" she said, and the
room showed Revolutionary relics
and Colonial specters on every side
The parlor opened off a superb
drawing room, from the other side
of which the library was to be seen,
and in these three apartments the
true spirit of the past was so vividly
present as to make one feel an
obtruSive element of an unfamiliar
day.
Mount Vernon Portrait.
"There,' said Mrs. Kennon, in
dicating three marble groups of loves
and graces, were part of the plateau
which ornamented Gen Washing
tons state dinner table when he was
President and lived in Philadelphia.
That portrait of him hung in the
library at Mount Vernon. This en-
craving of Gen. Lafayette he gave
to me himself when he was in this
country in 1924. These two chair
cushions Grandma embroidered
after Gen. Washington died She
made IL during the two years she
survived him. to be divided among
her grandchildren The cushions
were old-fashioned worsted work,
picking out oak leaves in cross stitch
with wool.
I'm one corner of the reception
room was a large cabinet filled with
mementos of George and Martha
Washington. There was the state
china they used, odd pieces of silver,
two exquisitely painted white satin
and ivory fans-one that Martha
Custis carried when she married
Gen. Washington, and the other was
part of her second inaugural cos
tune. More wonderful than these
is the pair of shoes she wore at
her wedding, which Mrs. Kennon
showed. They are rose-colored satin,
embroidered elaborately with silver,
with pointed toes and high French
| heels.
Through the library door was
seen the rare old mahogany desk at
which Martha Washington was wont
to sit, a great gold framed mirror
| that is haunted with the memory
of her form so often reflected there,
and a plot of Mount Vernon, care
fully drawn by the hand of Wash
ington himself.
"'How remarkable life must be to
you when the very furniture about
you is eventful,' was said to her.
"T do not think of it, was the
calm rejoinder.
eyes, I said, half disappointed
that in human nature it must be so,
I suppose through long associations
it has all become commonplace to
you
Then the keynote Of the old
fashioned woman was struck as she
quietly made an answer. No, not
commonplace. Nothing is common
place that is identified with those
I love-"
Knew Grief.
Mrs. Kennon was woman who
though blessed with social position
and comforts that relatively few are
able to enjoy, nevertheless knew
what it meant to be overwhelmed
with grief, for her husband, Com.
modore Beverly Kennon, a nava
officer, whom she married in 1842
was killed in a naval accident or
February 28, 1874, less than two
years after their wedding, leaving
her with an only child, Marths
Custis Kennon, who when grown X