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Mount Vernon 
 
 The Home of Washington 
 
 By J. E. JONES 
 
 U. S. Press Association 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 MCMXV 
 
. J~78 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by 
 
 U. S. PRESS ASSOCIATION 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 APR -9 1915 
 
 Chapple Publishing Company, Ltd. 
 Boston 
 
 
 , GI.A398317 
 

"The sweet abiding peace 
 of Mount Vernon- " 
 
T 
 
 HIS volume contains a little narra- 
 tive of impressions brought away 
 from that tranquil spot on the 
 Potomac where lived our beloved 
 George and Martha Washington. 
 Buff and blue were predominant 
 colonial colors, and they have been 
 utilized in creating this book to 
 emphasize the telling and picturing 
 of the story — a story much the same 
 as anyone might relate after the 
 fires of their patriotism had been 
 rekindled at the shrine of Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
Boat Landing at Mount Vernon 
 
ENSIVE and retrospective, 
 my feelings when visiting 
 Mount Vernon have been 
 much the same as those of 
 a great many other people, 
 and though I have been there 
 time and again, an intangi- 
 ble something bids me to 
 return — it is the magnet, I 
 merely the needle. 
 
 The sweet abiding peace 
 of Mount Vernon is a fitting 
 reminder that, though the 
 master of the place has been 
 dead for more than a centu- 
 ry, his achievements are still 
 fondly remembered by his 
 
 [5] 
 
Washington's Flute 
 
 countrymen. A nation that 
 will always endearingly call 
 him the "Father of His 
 Country," now sends its pil- 
 grims to Mount Vernon, and 
 they travel along the paths 
 that Washington planned, 
 or about the grounds he 
 loved, and they return to tell 
 you that they experienced an 
 unusual contentment which 
 they had never felt before. 
 Familiarity with these 
 scenes appears to intensify 
 the romance and sanctity 
 
 [6] 
 
''About the grounds he 
 loved — " 
 
" — Wro\ 
 
that hover about the House 
 of Washington. 
 
 I believe in the advice : ' 'See 
 everything once, ' ' and I have 
 put it into practice. Many 
 good things worth seeing 
 once are worth seeing twice, 
 and occasionally things 
 worth seeing twice will stand 
 still another inspection. But 
 go as many times as you 
 wish, and you will always 
 feel an inexplicable serenity 
 and peace when you pass 
 within the gates of Mount 
 Vernon. 
 
 It is a steep climb up from 
 the dock to the buildings. 
 Besides the old colonial man- 
 sion, there is the spinning 
 house, where much material 
 
 [7] 
 
Washington's Desk and Chair 
 
 [8] 
 
was prepared for clothing the 
 servants, and where rag car- 
 pets and other fabrics were 
 woven for the use of the 
 family. Flax, cotton, wool 
 and silk were put through the 
 various processes. A dupli- 
 cate of the family coach is a 
 relic of the place that remains 
 in the old coach house. Close 
 by one comes on to the office, 
 stables, smoke house, laun- 
 dry, butler's house, carpenter 
 
 Table in Banquet Hall 
 
 [9] 
 
shop, ice house, seed house, 
 gardener's lodge and the serv- 
 ants' quarters, all of which, 
 except the stables and quar- 
 ters, are painted spotlessly- 
 white. 
 
 Nature has done a great 
 deal for the scene, and from 
 the Virginia hill the outlook 
 up the Potomac, and across 
 the broad river on the Mary- 
 
 Colonial Stage Coach 
 
 10 
 
The Stuart Portrait 
 
JsmhoH tuujft wAT 
 

 11 
 
land shore, where was located 
 and is still preserved Mar- 
 shall Hall, the country place 
 of John Henson Marshall, is 
 all in harmony with the sim- 
 ple grandeur that surrounds 
 the spot where lived George 
 and Martha Washington. 
 But withal, the associations 
 are what lend the intense 
 interest and affection that 
 attaches to the place, for had 
 Mount Vernon been any- 
 
 JLUUlUll , 
 
 Ceiling Design by Washington 
 
 [12] 
 
thing else but the home of 
 Washington it might pass 
 simply as a "nice old country 
 place. " 
 
 I can recall a thousand big 
 sights and experiences of first 
 magnitude, and in our own 
 domain they include the 
 Maine woods, the roaring Ni- 
 agara, the Great Lakes, the 
 Rocky Mountains; dips in 
 the Atlantic, the Pacific, 
 Lake Superior and the Gulf 
 of Mexico; a train ride 
 through the Culebra cut and 
 a walk across the locks at 
 Gatun; stalking deer in the 
 forests, whipping the trout 
 streams in the Middle West 
 and hauling in the lines while 
 deep-sea fishing off Cape Cod 
 
 [13] 
 
or pulling salmon from Lake 
 Sebago. And then there has 
 been the laughter and gaiety 
 of the "Great White Way," 
 and long years of life in the 
 cities since I forsook my 
 country newspaper and the 
 
 -'i 
 
 V 
 
 There are four swords ' 
 
 [14] 
 
charms of life among the best 
 friends I shall ever know. 
 Lastly, there is Washington, 
 my home — a great kaleido- 
 scopic affair, a perpetual 
 show and museum, always 
 filled with life and interest. 
 In my own way I can har- 
 monize all these, and they 
 are integral parts of what 
 might be termed the * 'scheme 
 of things." 
 
 But Mount Vernon fur- 
 nishes a singular contrast to 
 
 " Old maps of the world" 
 [151 
 
all else, for it has its indi- 
 vidual and peculiar way of 
 sending thrills through one's 
 system — it bids you pause in 
 contemplation. Perhaps you 
 murmur a silent prayer as 
 you eagerly lean forward to 
 
 Surveyor's Tripod Used by Washington 
 
 [16] 
 
Washington's State Sword 
 
 behold the caskets within the 
 tomb that contains all that is 
 mortal of George and Mar- 
 tha Washington. And you 
 are proud of the patriotic 
 sensations you feel in the 
 knowledge that you are an 
 American and are standing 
 before your country's great- 
 est shrine. 
 
 At the well where Wash- 
 ington quenched his thirst 
 from a gourd, you use a 
 modern sanitary cup, and 
 drink the nectar supplied 
 from Mother Earth. In the 
 Mansion itself you marvel 
 
 [17] 
 
' , H' 
 
 m A 
 
 " Nature has done a great deal for this scene " 
 
 18 
 
nsttj'W ,P end 
 
Houdon Bust 
 
 Drawing by N. A. Witten 
 
before the relics and me- 
 mentos of the Washington 
 family, and almost uncon- 
 sciously exclaim: " Wonder- 
 ful!" There are four swords, 
 three of which Washington 
 presented to his nephews 
 with the injunction, not to 
 unsheath them for the pur- 
 pose of shedding blood, ex- 
 cept it be in self-defence or 
 in defence of their country 
 and its rights, and in the 
 latter case to keep them un- 
 sheathed and prefer falling 
 with them in their hands to 
 the relinquishment thereof." 
 Then there may be seen 
 Washington's flute, his 
 hunting horn, a huge key to 
 the Bastile, a rug woven by 
 
 [19] 
 
When Candles were 
 kept burning 
 
 order of Louis XVI, and sent 
 by him as a present to Gen- 
 eral Washington. The 
 library and numerous pieces 
 of furniture, including his 
 desk, chair, books, letters 
 and records in his handwrit- 
 ing, a globe containing old 
 
 [20] 
 
maps of the world, his sur- 
 veyor's tripod, tables, clocks, 
 carpets and wearing apparel, 
 lend their touch of interest 
 to the rooms. 
 
 LaFayette was assigned a 
 chamber at Mount Vernon, 
 where he stayed much of his 
 time, and among his many 
 gifts are the artistic firedogs 
 to be seen in the banquet 
 hall. 
 
 The original plantation 
 consisted of 8,000 acres, and 
 of this 237.5 acres are re- 
 
 Ceiling Decoration by Washington 
 [21] 
 
tained in the present estate. 
 The flower gardens, which 
 are kept up as they were de- 
 signed by Martha Washing- 
 ton, the original hedge sur- 
 rounding it and set out under 
 the direction of Washington 
 himself, the paths, roadways, 
 boat landing, and a thousand 
 possessions and reminders of 
 the Washington family, per- 
 form their silent part in sup- 
 plying the satisfaction that 
 drops its mantle about the 
 pilgrims to Mount Vernon. 
 
 But quite naturally the 
 things that stood most for 
 the personal comfort and 
 affected the manner of living 
 of the Washington family, 
 afford particular interest. In 
 
 [22] 
 
Washington's Seal — the design of 
 which suggested the American flag 
 

a spacious kitchen at Mount 
 Vernon there remain the 
 relics of pioneer days. The 
 meats for the Washington 
 family were cooked at an 
 open fire and turned on a 
 "spit"; their coffee was 
 boiled on the hearth, and 
 their bread baked in a crude 
 oven. Iron kettles and pots, 
 ancient looking cooking ves- 
 sels and utensils, such as 
 could be used in a fireplace, 
 are all well preserved. A 
 
 'Washington quenched his thirst 
 from a gourd" 
 
 [23] 
 
Brass Warming Pan 
 
 piggin, which answered the 
 uses of a pail, is an inter- 
 esting relic. A beautiful 
 brass warming pan mutely 
 tells the story of chilly sheets 
 and cold rooms inadequately 
 heated by open fires. 
 
 [24] 
 
These people never saw a 
 modern range or a cook 
 stove, and we can imagine 
 that, as the icy blast drove 
 across the Potomac, George 
 and Martha Washington 
 often suffered from the cold, 
 since they were strangers to 
 hot- water heaters, furnaces, 
 coal stoves, or even "air 
 tights," which would have 
 been a wonderful success 
 in this region of thick 
 woods. 
 
 In the banquet hall a hand- 
 some Carara marble mantel 
 surmounts the fireplace, and 
 the story that goes with it 
 relates to the manner of its 
 gift by Samuel Vaughn of 
 London, who sent it on a 
 
 25 
 
sailing vessel to Alexandria, 
 Virginia, a few miles from 
 Mount Vernon. There it re- 
 mained until Spring, for 
 Washington wrote that the 
 wagon roads were rough and 
 out of repair, and the river 
 frozen over and navigation 
 closed. Today an electric 
 line runs through Alexandria 
 to the gate of Mount Vernon, 
 and the steamboats land at 
 the wharf. The relic of light- 
 ing in Washington's day, to 
 be seen in the kitchen, is a 
 set of old molds used in the 
 making of tallow candles. 
 
 The voices hush as the visi- 
 tors, passing through the 
 mansion, stop before a cham- 
 ber door over which there is 
 
 [26] 
 
bsuohd won u "oj\1-\dWV' 
 
Martha" a name beloved 
 
A Mirror 
 
 an inscription saying that 
 Washington died in that 
 room. The original bed, six 
 and a half feet long, and the 
 same width, with its four 
 high posts and canopy, is of 
 unusual interest, for on it the 
 great and good man died. 
 His mother's desk and arm- 
 chair, a military trunk of 
 ancient construction, a 
 
 :27] 
 
'Material was prepared for clothing' 
 
 28] 
 
bureau, washstand and mir- 
 ror, all used by Washington, 
 are in place. It is sad to be 
 reminded that Washington 
 was likely bled to death by 
 old-fashioned attendants and 
 physicians, for it was the 
 custom in those days to bleed 
 for fever, and the popular 
 remedies were lances and 
 calomel. It was three days 
 before the news reached 
 Philadelphia, for this was in 
 1799, and there was no tele- 
 graph service to carry the 
 news, no cable to flash a bul- 
 letin across the ocean, no 
 nearby wireless as at present 
 to carry the sad message to 
 the then unheard of stations 
 at Panama and San Fran- 
 
 29 
 
cisco; there were no tele- 
 phones, and messengers 
 scoured the country on horse- 
 back to bring the physicians 
 to the bedside of America's 
 greatest man in the critical 
 hour of his illness. And 
 when the summons did arrive 
 there were no swift-running 
 automobiles to speed the men 
 of presumed science to the 
 side of the sick man. Wash- 
 ington, who lay in his room 
 and gazed out over the Poto- 
 
 A Stirrup 
 
 SO 
 
"Washington . . . gazed out 
 over the Potomac" 
 

mac, never dreamed that 
 some day the very move- 
 ments and actions of illus- 
 trious men like himself would 
 be preserved to posterity by 
 means of the moving picture. 
 In passing I want to men- 
 tion the wide variations in 
 likenesses shown of Wash- 
 ington in the best pictures 
 at Mount Vernon. Gilbert 
 Stuart appears to have done 
 justice to his subject, and his 
 "Unfinished Portrait/' now 
 preserved in Boston, greatly 
 pleased Washington, and he 
 authorized Stuart to make 
 copies from it. Seven copies 
 were made, and one of these 
 hangs in the banquet hall at 
 Mount Vernon. But the 
 
 31 
 
The Colonial Way 
 
 321 
 
original, the 'Unfinished 
 Portrait," was never deliv- 
 ered to Washington. 
 
 Houdon, the French sculp- 
 tor, labored conscientiously 
 to get a life mask of Wash- 
 ington, and finally succeeded. 
 From clay gathered at Mount 
 Vernon, combined with plas- 
 ter of paris, he made a bust of 
 the neck and head of Wash- 
 ington. The Mount Vernon 
 Ladies* Association succeeded 
 by great effort in preserving 
 this wonderful work of 
 art, after it had begun to 
 crumble. It is in a glass case 
 in the banquet hall, and 
 shows Washington as a man 
 of very strong features — quite 
 the ideal type accepted by 
 
 33 
 
those who have studied the 
 varying pictures and busts 
 of General Washington. 
 
 Houdon returned to Eu- 
 rope with his life mask, and 
 afterwards there appeared 
 statues and busts purporting 
 to have been made with this 
 life mask as the model. One 
 of these is at Richmond, an- 
 other in the National Capi- 
 tol — but they are all untrue 
 to the original, and to the 
 Stuart portraits. 
 
 Other artists have sue- 
 
 Firedogs Presented to Washington by LaFayette 
 
 34" 
 
ceeded in creating sketches 
 typifying a fine-skinned un- 
 wrinkled face, to which they 
 have added a fluffily clothed 
 body, crowning the creations 
 with a bewigged head on 
 which a number five hat 
 would fit with nicety. In the 
 paintings and statues in the 
 Hall of Fame at the National 
 Capitol, in the Boston Pub- 
 lic Library and the City Hall 
 of New York, I have seen 
 these same elaborate misrep- 
 resentations. 
 
 Unfortunately some of 
 this work is credited to the 
 Houdon life mask, but go 
 to Mount Vernon and see 
 for yourself and you will be 
 convinced that the great 
 
 35] 
 
sculptor is to be held blame- 
 less for the libels upon his 
 work. 
 
 A good picture of Wash- 
 ington, in his last years, 
 hangs in the old Masonic 
 lodge room at Alexandria, 
 Virginia. General Washing- 
 ton was master of the Alex- 
 andria Lodge, and approved 
 the portrait which hangs on 
 the wall. It was produced by 
 Williams, an obscure artist 
 who lived in Philadelphia. In 
 
 [se; 
 
this hall there are preserved 
 many interesting Washing- 
 ton relics, including his Mas- 
 ter Mason's apron, and the 
 chair in which he sat as mas- 
 ter. There is also the trowel 
 used by General Washington 
 in laying the cornerstone of 
 the National Capitol, his 
 spurs, pocket compass, the 
 lesser lights and the hour 
 glass of the lodge. 
 
 The chair in which he sat as master ' 
 
 [371 
 
And lastly, let us climb 
 to the attic on the third floor 
 of the mansion at Mount 
 Vernon, for here we find 
 the room in which Martha 
 Washington spent her last 
 days and died. A chair, 
 dressing glass, desk and 
 dressing set are among the 
 original relics to be found 
 in this room. Only a small, 
 narrow window lets in the 
 light. Here the great wife 
 of America's first President 
 spent her days in compara- 
 tive solitude; for, although it 
 is one of the least desirable 
 rooms in the mansion, the 
 tomb, where her husband's 
 body rested, lay in plain view 
 beneath the window, and 
 
 38] 
 

And his countrymen erected a great 
 monument to his lasting memory 
 
faithful Martha Washington 
 kept her eyes fastened upon 
 that spot until Time closed 
 her own lids and she was 
 carried out to be laid by 
 the side of her husband and 
 lover. 
 
 The picture of Mount Ver- 
 non can never be drawn by 
 artist and writer except in- 
 adequately, but as time goes 
 on thousands of American 
 citizens visiting the place will 
 feel the rich benefits which I 
 have so poorly expressed. 
 That this privilege is pre- 
 served for them is due to the 
 fact that when the place was 
 run down, when it was going 
 to rack and ruin, and when 
 the government itself had 
 
 39 
 
failed to rise to the occasion 
 and take charge of the sacred 
 spot; after old Virginia had 
 turned its back upon its re- 
 sponsibility of caring for the 
 greatest landmark within its 
 borders, Miss Ann Pamela 
 Cunningham of South Caro- 
 
 1 The piggin, which answered the uses of a pail 
 
 [40] 
 
Washington's Book Plate 
 
 lina undertook to organize 
 the Mount Vernon Ladies' 
 Association; and the story of 
 her struggles through long 
 years, during all of which 
 time she was in an invalid 
 condition, is a chapter in 
 womanly heroism and devo- 
 tion to a self- enforced duty 
 that furnished as its unselfish 
 reward the preservation of 
 the Washington Mansion, 
 
 ii 
 
when otherwise the chances 
 were that it would have 
 crumbled to decay. 
 
 One of the tasks was to 
 raise more than $200,000 by 
 public subscription, and 
 $68,294.59 of this amount 
 was secured by Hon. Edward 
 Everett of Massachusetts, 
 who lectured throughout the 
 country. 
 
 Once in awhile some Con- 
 gressman asks for "an inves- 
 tigation of Mount Vernon, 
 or presents a resolution for 
 the government to purchase 
 the place; but when these 
 same statesmen find out how 
 much better the ladies have 
 done with their charge than 
 the government is doing with 
 
 [42] 
 
' You eagerly bend forward to behold the caskets ' 
 
 48 
 
anything in its care, they 
 usually end their interference 
 by commending these noble 
 women, representing many 
 states, who have done such a 
 valuable service to their coun- 
 try, through their custody 
 and management of every 
 patriotic American's shrine — 
 Mount Vernon. 
 
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