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