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LOVELY ARLINGTON.anae* picturing the achievements of Washington. B« had Urge flocks of Merino *Wp, and ■beep* hearing was a Mg festival, at whlck prim were given to tbs moat expert clippers Hl» daughter, Mij Randolph Curtis, had played la childhood with the you dr eoa of Governor Henry lyte, who was the friend of Washington and the first to utter the immortal lioea: FirstIn war. first m asmSICS. -tntsnsttog ■aahhaas.a. rf Ms Hi*.tae.a MWdHasa Itutaw ad ISprelal Wasfitagioa Correspondence.)ees. To see Arlington In the usual way la pteaa-ot gaaaa, ant, possibly instructive, and always men-gmsrWen, orable. But to see It as I did recently la mptojtag something a good deal better than this istcad of every-day landau drive with a negro coach-igar and man for a guide, whose history and recol-glaas tm lections present a miraculous latitude of outlining dates and wonderful Inacruraciea with ro-noro dla- gard to people and events. 1 went over oo a r. bicycle, gliding along Pennsylvania avenue,way of Rack creek, in sight of the spot wherea small Waahlogtoo used to disembark on coming rated by °P «* Potomac In a sail boat to visit his ordinary nephew, Thomas Peter, and Inspect the pipe so- progresa mado in laying out the new city; ie porous op through Georgetown, the port, head of Sort, oen. navigation and relic ol colonial Importance trad cork h trade and society; across the ucw 04110 e bowl of lridge, and down the tow path of tholaaa tube, Alexandria canal, another outgrown piece naelghth of antiquity.I diame-1 The ride ulnng the canal is something cat d to the I vr*rim and altogether lovely. Imagine ork, and joarself spinning along a fifty-four Inch En-carr fully machine shining litc silver in tho tilt-connect- afternoon sunlight. Below 00 uoo handa of the u • harp declivity of forty feet; on the a* jet Or I °,bor *lea *bo smooth surface of the canal, enerator, YoDr roadway is u little narrow path beaten Inserting I mooth by ihothrco tupdcio mules that used o water, 1*** on',° op *•« » day hauling boats to o water. ot from Alexandria. The scenery is ftrand. irner, or I F'rel “tho l'ntonmc, spotted with nail boats **r tube, W|J ocean ships slowly swooping down be glass atream, and streaked with nunuuca from0 of gas kimo one or all of the several clubs m the Olay, the lt;*Wi beyond is the city, the monument. the iaa been “P*bl. the fitato, War and Navy buddings, rd move- ,hc unfolding forest and high hills that sur-a partial rounJ city—it is a picturo seldom rise. I ®Qunled. In tho foreground passes the ripe near aml*r flood ot 1,10 Potomac, Tho path is so may bo I Mrruw, an,l tho canal and steep hank arc so1 tho ex- nw ,,IBl scenery i* ilt;«t of tlie time out of follows: tho question. But dauger only adds to the depth. Is exhilaration.0 Jar Is I After a couple of miles of this combination of a tour for pteasuro and a circus performance, the vInduct under tlie canal,I built for tho convenience of the ArlingtonI estate, is reached, and dismounting I led \ my “tool steed under the on—I and was V away again up bill through tho low flats% lying betwro'i tho cemetery and tho Poto-tl I mac. Tho land would never cuuno a West-M I Cm farmer to think twice if It were offeredW I bim as a gift. It M ml, heavy and barrenInk I ,wklnS' A* the down Eastern people say:1 j IB “It look** 09 If it wouldn’t raiso while fjB I beaus. But tbo negroes, who have been/$ I In lifelong sorvice bore, say it is a remark-I ubly good soil Their cabins are scattered V I far as the eye can seo on tlio estate. TboUncle John, many years, bathlng-house buys who havlt;tenants wore placed here just after the war, when General O O. Howard was In charge of the Freedman’s Bureau. Many of themwere tho former slaves of General George Washington Park CustU and Mrs. Robert SB* j K Lee, his daughter. Hero they draw out olnatin* I • Jr**r7 k*»rt of existence, living in tho idle through hippy-go-lucky way of the Southern negro tho Jar, I generally. Their corn patclies checker the the pipe f™'”1 flats, and dusty, uncared-for roads and tho about from house to house, careless of Jar with «p oconomy of distance. ‘;r. The Tho negro bouses orr tho low, tumbto-f the air I down white-washed cabins of the Southern goes in plantation. Oardena and peach groves sur-id when round each, and always in the foreground I will coo- “* groups of lialf naked negro children. I may be I “hipped once to buy a few apples—lean, the Jar bard, worthless things, and I went on won-oe clear dering if the black leathery stomach* (clear-i to flow 17 vwlble) of tho youngsters wore inipervl-ontent* I ,,u» to tl«e Ills to which white ones are so art ionic °,,en a Proy. Tho interior of a negro cabin ranco of | tn tbo ho days of freedom is not all that Har-forma- I ft Beecher Stowe’* fancy puiutod in antn-I bell uni times. On this model planUlion, the cx- [ where one might suppose the slaves were action I taught to be neat and cleanly, such sights irved in anJ °lt;,or f HHh greeted my eyes and nns-When I trils as tho worst teneincut localities of - end of I New York City never saw. topped, I There is a great deal of mock sentiment ■om tho about Arlington. It is in no sense a historic 1 move- place to be compared with Mount Vernon 1 Of the I or Uunstou Hull, George Mason’s borne-utwanl I _own by itod liy 1 globe,[p* I x»w« btmux.“ 1 I stead, which was doubtless the finest II manor house on tho Potomac. Arlington I House is kept and talked about as an im-' • I pnrtant relic, hut it docs not deserve this as into I charity. The house was built In 18t« by er, arc j George Washington Park Custls, and ho I went to live ill it the following year, when irbonlc | ho was twenty one years old. moist- I He kept boelu'lcr's hall for a tiros, and 1 of the I tbea married Mary Loo Fitxhugh, whose icctiun I mother vros a lUndol|4i. It. is said that bo air I Uomenil Washington, while visiting at Ar-I lington. first conceived the idea that the I. Is to I beautiful plain nerns* tho river would make0 neck a good site for tho Naiinml city. It wasI John Custls who first gave the name Ar-I llngtoa to tho estate. Ho married the I daughter of Co lonel Iuniel Park. rn Daniel Park Custls, his son, became1 Oil tho husband of Martha Band ridge, who, W I after his death, becajiic Martha Wash-Iffg j ington.:J8 Much of what I learned about ArlingtonU I csmo from the lips of Mana Syphax, one W I of tho former slav.is at Arlington, in the »p 1 days of anti-slavery agitation. The namo I of Maria Sypbas was known every where wp I in tho North. Kh* lives, n lied-riddon old ^ I woman, lu a little stone hut in the rear of00- I ArlingU*i, Where I vtdUxI her. I am Gen-I era! CusUs’ daughter, said the old woman le time I to mo. Ho told me so face to face. Be ) small I wo* kind to mo and mode me my sister’s I largo I maid, so you set-1 love tbo lxo family. I ie will I went every where that Mary Lee wont and A In I was faithful to her. 1 k.vo to think of those m per- old days, but they aro long gone by.” ngthe Martha Washington’s two children byd, and I Custls inherited Arlington and the White s. I House farm on tho Pumunkey. Marthaper to- I lived at Arlington and Itsnicl Park Custls crning I in an old woolen house, which was torn » Ora- I down whcu the present mansion was built, itvrsrfy I Arlington fell to John Park Custls aud tho gawt. I White House farm to Eleanor Custis, who •rated died when she was sovonteen. The boy 10 Into I was potted and spoiled by his mother, andshow- J probably it was not Ill-fortUDO that he diedIt eon- I early. He had married a Calvert and loft mouth [ two children, rise doubtless Arlington would ace by have passed into the possession of General id the Washington.ia pro- I The father of his country became theuapie, adopted father of young Custls’ two chd-t with drea, his wife’s grandchildren. Both chil-1 rough I Area were beloved by Washington, who was(Sirup I dented the Joy of having children of hla own tafmwl by Martha Washington. Nrlie was a beau-re rap- I Uful woman Bho married Major lasrreace aao* I Lewis, from wbom cams tho well-known tacfiad I Lewis family, of Virginia, rough I George Washington Park Custls 1. wrOlY remembered at Artingtoa. His portrait hi I Corcoran art gallery shows a florid martringthe judge «f good wine; a high, curling, sensuous Up sparkling bhM Wnwd eyes, hinting the man of the world; gentle, SS grav^ genial. gUd to entertain and a Idhkm splendid fellow to meet. He had aUagty k . I roveane from hU plantation, and Drad tore be too I • king. In Arlington Hone now an attfctt I freseosaof hla on pointing. Ha thngkl aUng. I he w an artisi. and trMd to natat WstuThe, 1Ho (at Barateg met you before, very familiar.Rhe (coldly) — that joo warm give away to myAnd then the 1 solemn that you gaa Into the mine
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Evening Tribune
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Sat, Sep 01, 1888
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Dean H.
MD, USA 01 Mar 2017
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