WASHINGTON RELICS. MEMENTOES RECENTLY GIVEN TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. Among Them is a Complete Set of Papers, Documents and Household Fathar of His Country. [Special Washington Letter.] The memory of George Washington is dear to the hearts of his men. The steamboats plying Potomac always tol! their they pass Mount Vernon, and the ex- cursion steamers not only toll their bells, but their bands of music slow- ly play “‘Awmerica,’”’ or sweetly waft across the water the of that beautiful Sunday-school bymn, *'Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” Every article which ever belonged to Washington is highly prized as a relic, and the government has ex- pended considerable money in the purchase of household goods and personal property of the ‘Father of His Country.” Fortunately, how- ever, the men and women who have ssion of valuable relics the notes come in posse A VIEW OF MOUNT VERNON. the exhibition at institution. The old homestead at Mount Vernon is kent in practically the same dition it was when the great patriot and his widow passed away from the scenes of earth Recently a clump of trees which had grown tall and umbrageous has been trimmed down so that a good view of Mount Vernon can be obtained from the river. The ladies in charge of the and sacred place keep it in re- pair and make it attractive. Every visitor carries away with him form the piace a pleasant memory. Fifty thousand people have Mount Vernon during the nresent vear. The mementoes of Washington regarded as of such they are given an entire section one of the halls of 1¢ National museum, where they are ke The entire |} have donated many of them to government, for public the Smithsonian cone- historic excellent isited are that importance re QO tl tl t nt Pe collection. ist well be ace save in a large volume. from an old-time miniature ington to his revolutionary war med cine chest, are gr : One of the late the collecti 3 plete lot of papers HH ( met which were kept Washingt nearly all of them being auto work. These papers are the ty of Lawrence Washingt erously made the donati proviso that they should ed in his name. Bushrod Washing ton, the nephew of George Washin ton, after the death of distin- guished uncle, received papers which had bel general. Jushrod Washin n an of the United Stutes Supreme Court. hed descendants, andjwhen he died the papers went, by his wili, to his broth er, Corbin Washington, the great- grandfather of who has recently oTered thc exhibition in the muscum. the death of Corbin Washington, these papers were stored away in obscurity, and have recently, for the first time, been brought fore the public, They are regardad by those in charge of the colleccion as one the most valuable parts of the Gen. Washing- ton exhibis, ard are kept in separate cases One of the valued treasures of the collection is the will of John Wash- ington, George Washington's great- grandfather, who, with his brother Lawrence, come to this country from England. #2 was a man of consid- | erable wealth and large landed pos. | sessions, and owned many boats and | large sailing vessels. In the early | days of the settlement of On on, wh mn be i g Fo his 11 associate justice no Lawrence m for over since he 01 America, | John Washington and Nicholas Spen- | cer brought to this country a large | number of settlers, providing pas- | sage for them on their own ships. In compensation for their services they | received 5,000 acres of Virginia land | from Lord Culpeper, This land all bordered on the Potomac River, and included Mount Vernon, which after- wards became the home and last resting place of the Father of his Country. The original deed of this tract of land is among the papers, and there is also n memorandum as to the nature of the document in- dorsed on the back by George Wash- ington. This indorsement is as fol- lows: ‘‘Thos. Culpeper’s patent to Col. N. Spencer und Lt. Col. John Washington for 5,000 acres of land.” This deed is ancient, as is shown by tho date which it bears, March 1, 1674. Before the land came into the hands of the Washingtons a survey of it was made on the order of Lord Culpeper. A copy of this order ix among the papers in this collection. There are also numerous deeds, dated from that time on, relating to trans. fers and re-surveys after the Wash. ington family had control of it. gon, an ancestor of ex-President Ben- jamin Harrison, transferring 200 acres of woodland in the year 1708 { From 1690 to a century later are | other deeds recording transfers to { and from prominent Virginia gentle- { men. i George Washington was not only a successful soldier and a superior ex- | ecutive, but it can be said that he { wis a fairly good artist. He early t learned to make his own sketches of surveys of land and afterwards drew maps and plans of battle. When non he found it pleasant work around about the estate and make plans for improvements which he could make, Included in the Lawrence Washing ton collection are quite a number of maps of Mount Vernon and adjacent Innds, some of them representing the Potomac river. These maps were all drawn by George Washington and the lettering was put on by his own hand. To show how artistically and aptly he handled the pen there is a from William Whiting to George Washington of 200 acres of land in Stafford county. This is ex- ecuted in Washington's handwriting and is a fine specimen of work. is another deed, dated 1617. by the ‘Right Honorable Cath- Lady Fairfax, sole proprietor northern neck of Virginia, flord county Darrell. This lan to George Washing- which of atte deed to Sampson terwards went ton. A document racted a deal concern negro belonge r Lawrence Wash- in This document bearing dat of November 20, 1778, 3 Richard Henry Lee, to which he ad an apology for not returni paper sooner. The fol dated Octo- ber 23, 1776, by Martha Washington to the General's private secretary, Lund Washington it to Milly Posey the sum of five pounds, Virginia ) I am your most humble servt. Mar- tha Washington.” On December 28, 1778, Washington's mother wrote the following letter to Lund Wash- ington: *‘Dear Sir as I had wrote to you not to send the cash by the overseer Col delivered the me from you. most humble in great one slaves whiel ineton. de 9 is sig ne the lotter, as written wing Ww please tO give MONO Y money. {rest Bassett came in and forty pounds cash to I am, dear sir, your servant, Mary Wash- gton. : Of 4 letters wurse, there and with the militia at are number of orders were con nected indor ler addressed him to flord County 1776. must be particula cure good pe bags, with as much powder, les flints as ing ts Sta 20 ou can.’’ stars an It is a well-known ington bookkeeping. in good- in the collee- tion at iuseum, containing the record of and expendi- tures for provisions for the estate for every day of the month. In his own handwriting there mi count of the property and chattels at Mount Vernon, from it ap- pears that there were 216 negroes— eg sixty-four of them receipts is a nute ace which it men, and two women. While he was of the United States, ington kept an expense book whi is now very interesting Visitors to | Mount Vernon have seen an ancient harpsichord; and in this account| book it appears that Washington | paid $13.50 for “freight on the harp- | sichord for Miss Nellie Custis,’ his stepdaughter. - From this it is far to infer that it was not a moder politictan, but George Washington | who originally '‘paid the freight” in! this country. His stepdaughter cost sixty- preside nt George Wash- ch students of the history of thosa times that Martha Washington was the real manager and boss of the household, aud that George Wash- ington was allowed to issue very few orders at home. Suita D, Fry. REIGN OF THE BICYCLE, ly to Die Out. What may be called, not improper: ly, the bicycle passion has full session of several leading countries of the world. England and France iwtably those parts of them in and about London and Paris, have been 80 given over to it for some time that a large proportion of their population come and go on their errands of busi- pleasure ‘‘on wheel,”’ Americans have eled abroad have been the general use of the bicycle there and have been still more astonished returning to their during the last year, to discover what headway the passion It is said to be a mate by authorities during the year now closing a ter of gold in pos- or -~ ness or i recently trav- astonished at { who on own country has made here ostir- that juar- conservative competent an million bicyel 8 have been ry and that the number o rs approaches a mil lion. 11 ‘ (HY) ir ela 11 Lilis coun nii- hood, an and about proportion Of Li Fhe great be 1 $id ne Dieyele a new { means i AS of the worl I i Ir Seeing md 16 through sonrce of better health g n-air exerel wl i either for business One i ship, meth 0B met many her enjoym tages which the The bieyel will ¥ to travel a little afford it is without li n the world"’ i thu mit; for ean be made on i recuring holiday or vacation, — Century. His Arm Failed Him Twice. A N. Auburn (Me. Yhunter whois a crack shot, tells the foll Hlowing about himself: He that story says while upon a fine large deer, not over two He attempted to raise his rifle to his shoulder, but his arm became suddenly paralyzed. At that lift a feather All he there and of an impossibility to could do was to stand Then his arm resumed its normal condition and he started on the trail again. After a while he deer a second time, being less than twenty Again the hunter at- game away. and again his arm refused to him. He gave up and went This man is a veteran hun- he never had home. PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON. the old man considerable money, but | he was rich and could afford to settle | the bills, In his expense book there are numerous items showing Miss Nellie Custis on that harpsi- chord. “He also paid for lessons in embroidery for the yoang lady. Either George Washington was an epicure, or his wife, Martha, was a dainty housekeeper; for, although they had slaves galore, they paid $30 per month for a cook. He must have been a French cook, but his name is not given, Mrs. Washington must have been very particular about her household and family linen, for, in- stead of having her washing done by a slave, she paid $12.50 per month for n washerwoman. Her husband has sc declared in his expense book, it had bzen a gray squirrel,’ said he its head off without half trying.” Insomnia as a Commodity. a — Brooklyn has a lawyer who under. stands his business. In a bill for services which he presented to a client was one item for “lying awake nights and thinking over the case.” This is the first case on record, we believe of a man trying to convert insomnia into coin of the realm. If this Inwyer succeeds in selling his sleeplessness ut the rate asked, there will probably be a rush of insomniacs to court to compel employers to pay them for the ti.ue spent in bed, won- dering whether they were going to lose their jobs or not-for by the slightest nse of metonomy it can be made to appear that the employees were ‘lying awake nights, thinking of their employers’ business.” A DAY IN OLD BERLIN. QUAINT AND CURIOUS SPOTS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY. The Old Jewish Quarter~-Yenerable inn of the '"Eye of God'' ~~ Coh- bler's Alley and Other Remnants of a Past Civilization. Comparatively speaking a new city. Its t capitals { lignity as of J & gren the worl phenomenally rapid growtl of recent date Puris torum of the referred to as L with Ronin s- in 8 campairn (the Vind: modern ord many centurie port small lying on the Werder | rings gable woriray saints 0, are sti have not et heir birth i inta« 3 of { While the dust | nations of religions fanatics, grant. tod them asylum here. That handful of Viennese Jews, nearly all of them men of means, was the nucleus of the great Jewish colony of to-day, some one hundred thousand or so. erected by these The old synagogue descendants in fugitives and their 1TH under the reign of the father of Fre the Great and at whose the whole 1erICK subion court wis pres- § sired] § ILS for thora and alt gone, + of the n andan count ionger with but with thieves modern civiliza- ix months, and those few surviving witnesses of a past age will have disappeared, too, and walls of bright sandstone will rise up in their stead. One by one they go, these si- lent remnants of the days when Ber- lin was an unimportant small inland and which was habitually re- ferred to in derision by the writers of past centuries WoLr vox S ne Pang HIERBRAND, a ———— The Flames as a Witness, It is interesting to know that the burning lamp or the flame of any fire is still largely used throughout the Orient in confirmation of agreements. It is one covenants of the nants, and is mentioned in several IN'THE INX OF "THE EYE OF GoD,”’ from the falling walls close by fell in showers, and while an army of work- men toiled a few yards from their! hearth tearing out the half-crumbled | foundation stones from the four | teenth contnry, deaths and weddings occurred and babies were born among the fey hundreds remaining in these ruins till driven elsewhere. Within this narrow district of barely two American blocks there have been living and dying, for centuries, a human live counting into the thou-| sands, swarming and almost stum- Wing over each other in their narrow abodes. Uf them all, ths Rosen Strasse was of greatest interest to me. A sort of ghetto—for here the Jews found their first privileged resting-place in Berlin under the mild sway of the Groat Elector, who, in 1671, alter the children of Israel had been driven vogue in the time of ths patriarchs. Hindoostan and in parts of China and Japan it is the custom, when making a solemn promise, especially should the other promise to point to a flame and say “The flame is my witness.”' On oc- ensions of greater importance, when fidelity of one or more is questioned, the company repair to some mosque or temple, form in a circle around the “lamp of the temple,’ and in the presence of a mandarin or priest pointing each time to the flame as a witness. The Tartars, in taking oaths or making covenants, use the liver of a sheep, goat or horse, run their fingers in the blood and then make circles on their foreheads, the whole proceeding having the same symbolic weaning that the flame has in the Orient. ; The Congo Railroad in Africa has out of Vienna by the bigoted’ mech- enst $62,000 per mile to construct. NETTING SHAD. The shad begin to go up the Hi son early in April. Then fyke fish-pounds fill the sho: nets and gill-nets i Yor the uver BNNDE ( and d iy | reach in t i &lohity 10 » Yi of wheat usual rains | E « tombs the les Nowell authe: finds are extant while among other articles sold the Arabs to eredulous travelers = coming out of the same tomb as th ancient wheat, have been bulbs and maize, W8it O S8y iubious, ealed tances of such b 1 the dep ion of which is the rece ptacle from whie they were said to be extracted nece sitates the belief that Bix years ag the subjects of the Pharoahs engaged in commerce with Ameri Rye and wheat only 18) vears coitld not be induced germinatd the place of the embryo being océt pied by a slimy, putrefied fuid. I an n we ef 1s i of io however, excloded light air, and, above all, from damp, have been known to keep for lengt ened periods. Seeds of the an pea order have 10 year's storage in an herbarium, ai many similar instances have been corded. Seeds disinterred from t soil taken from under very ancien building and other situations haw also sprouted, though the estimate of their age have been ail the wa from HUY to 2000 years. Theye not, however, be considered beyo the range of skepticism, rom bean sprouted after AO ANH HAO "nr whaling industry has recently been revived in Tasmania with ver hopeful results. to be the principal centre of the An tarctic whaie fisheries: but the sos Jity of the animals—a fact which wa rendered ovident to the members tho Antarctic expeditions whic started froma Dundee a couple d years back-~caused it gradually to l relinquished. This enforced ‘cla time” has had a favorable «fect upo the whales, which have been seen tw “or three at a time on the T! : coaste. i i 1