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THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY
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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-
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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
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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.
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Home of George
J.Will Be Fully Restored and Made
Free to the Public
Interesting But
Facts Concerning
the Historic
f is ns
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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
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Washington
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Not Flattering
the Ownership of
Ground
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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
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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
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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.