Year: 1875

relics of the family. Upstairs we were
shown the respective rooms in which
General andMrs. Washington died. also
the bsdsteads upon which they died.
There have been thirteen rooms set
apart IN the mansion TO be furnished
by the original States, respectively
with relics and furniture of the times
In which Washington lived New
Jersey and New York have already
sent many article for their respective
rooms. The people of Delaware and
most of the other cold thirteen" have
failed as yet to respond to the invita-
ton TO send forward any relics they
may possess.


Since the organization of "The La
dies Mt. Vernon Association" much
has been accomplished in cleaning
up and bcautifying the grounds,
repairing the buildings &c, all of
which before the property passed
into their hands were shamefully
neglected. During the last session of
the council of ladies at Mt. Vernon, the
following members of the Board of
Visitors were present. Lieutenant
Governor Thomas, General Fitzhush
Lee and ex-senator Rixey, of Virginia
The examination of reports by the
Board was productive of resolution
commenting the prosperous condition
OF everything as inspected and forever
refuting the accusations of former
attack upon tho prudence, if net the
integrity, of the late regent Miss
Pamila Cunningham andher associates.
One resolution passed was as follows,
to wit


Resolved that the Board of Visitors
desire to express to the ladies of the
Mount Vernon Association their thanks
for the kind and agreeable reception
given them, and beg leave to renew
their appreciation of the labor of the
Association, so full of interest to the
people of the United States, and they
do this with conviction that their
testimony to the prosperous condition
of the Mount Vernon property should
be held as an entire refutation of the
calumnies to which their efforts of
previous period had subjected the AS
ISOLATION"


The efforts of the ladies of the differ
ent States, North and South, to pre-
serve the tomb and former home of the
Father of his Country" and to keep
III SdNlCu Icultll lUIuuCe lue glorious
| "reminiscences which cluster around
the sacred Mecca is worthy of the
| highest praise.


a visit to this sacred spot cannot fail
TO call to miEd the glorious deeds of
| the great and good man whose ashes
repose here. The spirit of the place
| teaches the story and lessons of the
past as no printed page can teach them.
1t calls to mind the admiration, love
and praise for him whose name is fa-
| miliar and whose memory is cherished
as a sacred thing among all civilized
people; it inspires love beyond degree
for the memory of him who bequeathed
10 posterity the inheritance of his


fame, and erected his own monument


in the nearts of his countrymen.


Although this letter is longer than |


first intended, do not feel disposed to


close without saying one word in be-


half Of the grand old commonwealth


upon whose soil | stand to-day. Eir-
| ginia, the mother of States and states
men, still feels the sad effects and in
jcalculable losses brought about by the
late war, but with her healthy climate,
her tens of thousands of acres of rich
farming and grazing lands, her abund-
ant mineral wealth and magnificent
water power, her patriotic, high-toned,
industrious, indefatigable and hospita-
Bile citizens, will carve out for herself
q future far more brilliant, and a career
of prosperity far greater, than has ever
been known in her annals. Her doors
are thrown wide open, and her arms
extended to receive all who will come
in good faith to Lelp build up her


waste places and to develop to the full.
lest extent her great natural resources.
All men, of whatsoever cline, State or
nation who will come to aid in ad-
vancing the best interests and general
| prosperity of the State and people will
be heartily welcome. she earnestly
solicits capital and and labor TO come
to her, and offers advantages for in
vestmeut and for industry that no State


in the Union can surpass."


DELAWARE.