Evening star., 1943-01-10
By JESSIE FAINT EVANS,

During these tense. wartime days
IN oVercrowded Washington the
memories OF Miss Sophie Bell Mid
dleton, member of one of Wash
lngton's Oldest. families carry her
back to the less hectic era of her
glrlhood days here.
Then the section of Washington in
which she lives in Cleveland Park
near the Cathedral was not thickly
populated as it is today. AS a little
girl MISS Middleton, who now lives
at 351l Lowell street NV, lived
with her parents and her two broth
ers at historic Wcodley, which is to-
DAY owned by Secretary of War and
Mrs. Henry L. Stimson. A site of
% acres in the days of her father.
Frank Eliot Middleton, it still has a
| frontage of nearly block on Ca
thedral avenue
In the rear Of this old Colonial
mansion rolling vistas of greensward
ana trees still extend as far as CAL
vert street. To this famous home
George Washington and Francis
Scott Key paid frequent visits, and
PRESIDENTS Van Buren,, Tyler. Bu-
chanan and Cleveland made their
summer homes there while they
were in the White House.
Mansion Had % Rooms.
When Miss Middleton and her
brothers, the late Frank Eliot Mid
dleton and John Clark Middleton,
now a warrant officer with the Coast
Guard, roamed the broad acres of
Woodley as children. the house was
then a structure of % rooms. The
/ wing over the Kitchen" according to
Miss Middleton, was added to pro-
vide additional guest rooms during
Senator Francis Newlands' owner
/ ship OF it, just before that of Ad-
mlral and Mrs. Hayne Ellis from
whom Secretary Stimson purchased
Woodley.
1t was during this remodeling
period. Miss Middleton said; that
/ an overzealous workman. unaware
of its significance, replaced the
much-scarred window pane, on
which Francis Scott Key, author of
The Star Spangled Banner" had
/ inscribed his name. Below it were
the signatures of many other ia
nous visitors to Woodley.
The lone pear tree on the front
lawn at Woodley. according to this
raconteur of earlier days. there,
lis the sole survivor of a once flour
lshlng pear orchard, whose fruit
was a toothsome joy in the early
autumn days before school began. :"
In Miss Middleton's possession is
faded little watercolor sketch she
made as child from one of the
/ broad cool upstairs verandas on the
rear OF Woodley. From them on
clear days could be obtained an
almost uninterrupted view Of the
Potomac River as far as Alexandria.
No Food Rationing Then.
Ratloning was unheard of in those
days. The memories of the groaning
dining table invariably set for 80 on
Sundays and other special occasions
still fingers with Miss Middleton.
Always there would be great platters
of roasted fowl at one end, with
either a baked ham or a roasted
! choat at the ether A scarcity of
butter was unthinkable. with golden
prints of it plentiful, churned from
the milk of their own COWS. and hot
bread to accompany it along with
preserves and jellies Both wheat
flour and corn meal were ground at
nearby Pierce's Mill in Rock Creek
Park.
One of Miss Middletons most
cherished playmates at Woodley was
Bessie Seville, whose family lived at
nearby Beauvoir, now the site of the
Cathedral School for young children.
Bessie Seville later married Fulton
Lewis. Their son, Fulton Lewis, jr
is a we'll known radio news COM
mentator Between Beauvoir Twin
Oaks and Woodlev, Miss Middleton