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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1908)
190S. A 4 i 5 1.1 ..4 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY m ; ' I I all It-' lit :ii.ufF : it HV JOHN BLTRETH AVATKIN8. PROPOSITION to sell Mount Ver non to the Federal Government is to be laid before the Virginia Lee. islature by Governor Swanson, of that state, and a bill to the same end is to be introduced in Congress. This project, started by the United Spanish War Vet erans, is receiving- the indorsement of Governors, Representatives, Senators and other public men,, who agree in the view that the home and burial place of George AVashington the most sacred spot in all ' America should be constituted a public reservation which all citizens, rich or poor, may visit without being assessed a fee of admission. Just ) years ago the nation was offered Mount Vernon for $100,000 by Mrs. Jane f- Washington, then the proprietor of the estate. Leading citizens memorialized Congress to appropriate this sum in order , that "the slanderous charge accusing re publics of being invariably ungrateful will be refuted," and that the American peo ple might "enjoy the right and privileges of visiting, unrestrictedly, the venerated grounds, mansion and sepulcher of Wash ington." Vice-President Dallas, ' David R. Atchison, President pro tempore of the Senate; Speaker Davis, leading members of the Senate, the cabinet and the House were leaders in the movement. Mrs. Jane C. Washington offered to sell the. prop erty on condition that neither the remains of George Washington nor those of any other member of his family should ever be removed from the grounds; that every living member of - Washington's family might be burled there; that the Govern ment should never dispose of the prop erty, and that in the event of the "dis- solution of the existing Federal. Govern ment me estate should revert to the heirs of John Augustine Washington 3d, Mrs. Jane Washington's oldest son. ' -' Too Ioor to Keep lp Repairs The son inherited the estate before Cgn gress saw fit to appropriate the $100,000, and being too poor to keep the large prop- 'Jl V 5 1 i! 51 t: nit eity In repair he made an Ineffectual at tempt to sell it to tho stato of Virginia. In 18T8, however, he sold it for $300,000 to the present owners, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association . of the Union. This society had been organized in 1SJ6 by Miss Aim Pamela Cunningham, of South Carolina. Patriotic women In every state solicited money for the purchase and Ed ward Everett added to the fund nearly $70,001), earned in lecturing on behalf of the project The original Mount Vernon tract, be longing to George, Washington's half brother, ,awrenee. had comprised 2C00 acres. Lawrence named the estate after Admiral Vernon, a British officer whom he had served. George Washington, after inheriting it in 1752, enlarged its boun daries until they Included neauly SOOO acres. But by the time the estate had descended to John Augustine Washing ton, 3d, It had dwindled In size. That great-great-grandnephew of the first President had. for the $100,000 asked of Congress offered lfiO acres with the man sion, tomb and outbuidlings. At double this price the association obtained 200 acres and by subsequent additions they at present control 237 acres of the original estate. The act of the Virginia Legisla v' 1 '" urn 4 vivStW 5 ture incorporating the association In 1S56, provides -that the association "shall not have, power to alien the said land or any part thereof; or to create a charge there on, or. to lease the same without the con sent of the general assembly of Vir ginia first had and obtained." Therefore the consent of the Virginia legislature must.be had before the. property can be purchased by even the Federal Govern ment. . I'ooms Knipty; Furniture Scattered. The rooms of the mansion were empty when the association purchased the property. The furniture of George and Martha Washington had long before disappeared. By the Tatter's will most of their household effects were divided among; her grandchildren by her former marriage. In this way the original fur niture . was widely scattered among persons of no blood relationship to the first president. ' The real property, how ever, descended to Washington's own blood through his favorite nephew, Bushrod Washington, throug-h the lat ter's nephew, John Augustine Washing ton. 2d, and then to John Augustine Washington, 3d. These owners furn ished the house as they saw fit. How Mount Vernon has been restored A Vl- S. KM Home of George J.Will Be Fully Restored and Made Free to the Public Interesting But Facts Concerning the Historic f is ns jih'! Mini1 1 r; ,'5 "J is worth telling. The architecture has never been changed since, in 1786. George Washington, in increasing its length and height; enlarged the cen tral portion built by his half-brother, Lawrence, in 1743. With the exception of material added by way of repair, the house still retains the original brick and stone foundation, the same oak framework and the same roof of cy press shingles that were added by its immortal owner; also the original sheathing: of North Carolina pine, painted and sanded to resemble stone. Nearly everything was in bad repair, however, when the association acquired the property. Bringing Back the Furniture. Each feature to be restored was as signed to one of the vice regents of the-association, their being one such officer for each State of the Union. Some were given rooms, others out buildings, others structural details. Gradually, in this way, much of the original furniture and personal effects of the W'ashingtons have been reas sembled In the stately house. This work is still in progress, interesting relics of the family having been returned ! - vim zC!elfll Washington mi Not Flattering the Ownership of Ground r 5 V" "lit"? to the house, in the past year.' Some of these precious relics have been given, some purchased and others loaned. In the central Jialiway 'downstairs these patient women have restored .the original colors and paneling of the walls to the condition in which Washington left them after im proving this hall in 1775. From old fragments recently discovered ' thov lo,o 1 J .1- . ... . ujjiuuutfii me original wan paper along the front stairway, and for these same walls they have even obtained reprints of some of the engravings which AVashington owned. In the lower hall they have hung the key to the French Bastile, presented to Washington by Lafayette after its fall;' also three of AA'ashington's swords. I.ouis XVTs TCug. The. rug which Louis XVI ordered woven especially for Washington, and which contains the coat of arms of the United States, was obtained and. placed In the west parlor, as was an old painting of Admiral Vernon's fleet, sent by Ad miral to Lawrence Washington, as an acknowledgment of the naming , of the estatc "Mount Vernon." Original chairs, curtains, cornices and other furnishings ft ' I I to n lip. M M fr 1 a v, 7 -r Tl t? , f 'tit 3 ZZZ7ZZfG- have been obtained for tliis room, and a piano of Washington's time has been placed where tho oniginal instrument probably stood. The original iieppelwhite sideboard and cutlery 'cases, the china set given to Martha Washington by the French fleet and" soiuc original glassware belonging to the AVashiiigtons have been put back in their original places in the family dining room, as have their card table, mirror, candelabrum, pictures, a chair presented by Lafayette, and other articles in Mrs. AVashipgton's sitting-room. For the library efforts hae been made to obtain the original AVashington books, but most of thorn have bVem traced to the Boston Athenaeum, which does not care to part with them. A large collection of Washingtonia has been placed on the old shelves instead, but the General's original dek, desk chair, mahogany bookcase, globe, surveyor's tripod, gun and pictures have been obtained for this room.. The, large silver' plateau imported by Washington for his banquet table- has been restored to the big banquet hall, as have his clock, candlesticks, silver bracket lamps, mirror, rosewood Vase-stands and various other articles. Here has also been i placed the model of the Bastlle, which Lafayette sent to Washington in 1TS3. The Deathbed Iteturned. . The bedstead upon which Washington died has- been returned to its place in his bed chamber, as have his red-covered arm-chair, military trunk, secretary and shavin? stand. But for the little attic room where Mrs. Washington secluded herself in her last days, that she might view the General's tomb from its solitary window, and where she died in 1802, only the original washstand has b,een as yet obtained. . " The mansion's other rooms have been furnished in the correct style for the co lonial period, and contain many valuable relics of Washington's contemporaries. The kitchen and spinning-room have been consistently refurnished, and the servants' quarters. Summer-house, flower garden, barn and coach-ho'use have been repaired and restored. The separate servants' quarters, although found in ruins, have been exactly reproduced, so far as their exteriors are concerned, while in the flower garden trees and shrubs planted by Lafayette, Jefferson and . other nota bles, also ropes named by "Washington, are still kept alive. Washington's deer paddock, in the wooded slope along the river and below the front lawn, has been restocked with Virginia' deer, and the original Washington coach a vehicle of colonial elegance has been returned to the old carriage house. The old tomb, whence, for fear of landslides, all of the remains of the Washington family were removed to the new vault in 1831, has been extensively repaired. These Inde fatigable women have also -Jjuilt a pic turesque wharf on the site where Wash ington shipped his farm produce to. mar ket, and they have recently bored Into the adjacent hills long tunnels,, which will drain the water-bearing- sands and will prevent a repetition of the landslides formerly caused by such quicksands. The maintenance of the grand old estate thus' restored by theee- patriotic women of America depends upon the entrance fee of 25cents, charged at the gates, and from V v k Hi , it St jROOZT. VE1?W The Latest Color Photographs London T. P.'s Weekly. itf OLOR photography at last!' V- nowa adays on the lips of al who take an Interest in scientific progress. How, then, are the new "autochrme" pictures produced? The answer is as sim ple as the principle it involves is ingen ious. The "autochrome" plate, invented by M. Lumicre, of Lyons, is made of glass, exactly like the ordinary photographer's plate. If is spread with somo sticky sub stance, on which are scattered an infinite, number of mlcrowopiially small starch grains approximately 20,tW to the Inch. These grains are transparent, and' are, ail of them, stained a certain color. One third of the total number of grains are stained violet', one-third are green, and one-tliird are orange. As these three tints are "jumbled" nil over the plate, the eye, looking at the 'plate, unconsciously combines them and sees only white; tho effect being very much that of ground glass. An ordinary light-sensitive emul sion is coated on" top of the layer of starch grains, ihe photograph is taken through the starch screen, developed in if the sale of photographs, souvenirs, planti and flowers. Their great task of restor ing the estate to its original colonial grandeur has demanded not money alone, but executive ability and artistic taste. Colonial decoration alone is an art de manding years of study, and it is gen erally conceded that Mount Vernon, In side jmd out, is the best type of colonial mansion to be found today in all of the Americas. Boulevard From Washington. A new boulevard running from Mount Vernrtn through Alexandria, Va., Is an other project now gaining headway. Tlio present roadway Is one relic of Wash ington's day whose modernization the most patriotic citizen will not brand as a vandalism. The home of AVashington may be reached safely and comfortably by electric car and by boat, hut carriages and automobiles .attempting the trip ex perience too perilous a touch of the re alism of- colimial days. Tiie Circuit Courts of the counties through whl h the highway runs have been asked to appoint commissioners to ascertain what properties, must be condemned for the new boulevard. A bill introduced in this session of Congress authorizes the Secre tary of War to spend SO.00O in convert injj into a boulevard Mi feet wide that part of the road between Washington and Mount Vernon which runs through the Government's Arlington reservation. Both of these 'highway projects having materialized, there will be a modern boulevard 14 miles long connecting Washington. Arlington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon. Twenty years ago there was a movement on foot to connect Washington and Mount Vernon with a "memorial highway" 200 feet wide. The Virginia legislature incorporated a body of men to catry out the project and authorized them to obtain funds for the work by 'collecting from Congress $120. 0C0, which Virginia In 1790 granted for public buildings in Washington. But Congress did not disgorge. The Government can greatly further the restoration of Mount Vernon If It purchases the property. The large Wash ington collection in the National Museum would probably be installed in the man sion, as would the Washington relics in the Department of State. Washington, D. C, February 15. '. ? vjf r y If the usual way Into a negative, chemically "revenged" into a positive and there you are! Your picture is in natural colors instead of a monochrome; the grass is green, the sky blue, and so on. The camera and the daylight have auto matically picked out the correct tints from those already provided in the starch grain screen. .That great inventions are nearly al ways duplicated b' independent workers has become a truism, and the production of the autochrome plate is an example in point. Hardly had It lwcu announced to the bciciililic world before news came that other color photography processes, bused on exactly the same principle, were ready for the market, and had been pre pared by investigators who knew little or nothing of M. Lumiere's experimental In America John H. Powrie -and Miss F. Warned have made a plate whose screen, instead of being starch grains consists, of ruled transparent lines t400 to 600 to the Inch). The eye combines these lines, and sees them as "white light." in the same way that it combines the stained starch grains of the autochrome.
