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Show ;L - , - ' , - - j i , ' ' ' ' " t ' i v ."' '- "" . ' 1 ' s -. i 5 ' : i . : -.. ' A i ,.,- - --sy -r. i. - . " . . ' .-. .- , .-. . . ., -..v. ... . : , 1 - - 5 . . i . ''.-.')' 1 4 ,! - ' ' - t i r- P 1 r 'r- Washington and His Mother in the Ballroom at Fredericksburg i Q Fair Mary Ball, the Mother of General Washington n ri i i ij ""F the assertion that a Woman JL g happily in love is at her best JL SL be true, there can be no more 4i I i I interesting woman to read jjt about under these circum-llTlTl circum-llTlTl stances than Mary Ball the mother of George Washington. Fredericksburg, Virginia, her birthplace, is one of the most historic towns in America. Founded long before the Revolution, upon the Rappahannock River, it has been for generations the centre of social life in that rich region known as the northern neck of Virginia, where were born and bred so many of the great Fathers of American Liberty. Within a radius of thirty miles were born John Marshall, George Washington, Washing-ton, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe.MattheW Fontaine Maury and Robert E. Lee. T WAS also in this little town of m I Fredericksburg that a convention iLf of delegates of twelve companies compan-ies of horse assembled and pro-:laimed pro-:laimed their purpose to defend the colony of Virginia or any other colony against tne King or ingtana, ana marched under the command of Patrick Pat-rick Henry against Lord Dunmoro. This occurred twenty-one days before the famous Declaration of Mecklenburg Mecklen-burg and was therefore the first and most emphatic declaration of our independence. in-dependence. It is also worthy of note that in 1782, when that independence had been accomplished, it was a citizen of Fredericksburg who introduced into the legislature, which had then been replaced by the house of burgesses, the first resolution for the emancipation emancipa-tion of the negroes and for the prohibition prohi-bition of the slave trade ever offered in America. Gen. John Minor of Fredericksburg, was the author and advocate of the measure, and here in this same town was born, lived and died Mary Ball, the mother of Washington. Wash-ington. The place teems with interesting relics and traditions of this remarkable remarka-ble woman traditions which have been handed down from mother to daughter, and when told you by a silver-haired old lady who prefaces her story by "My dear, I remember as though it were but yesterday, my mother telling me she remembered her grandmother telling her of Mary Ball, whom she knew as a girl," you feel that these traditions must be, as the children say, for true. i The Bell family came early in the sixteenth century to Virginia. The home of Joseph Ball, the father of Mary, was known as "Epping Forest," near the Rappahannock river, in Virginia. Vir-ginia. Mary Ball, as a young girl, was strikingly handsome, and was known as "The Rose of Epping Forest." For-est." and was the belle of that part of the country. During our Civil war a letter was picked up in an old home in Virginia. The letter was partially destroyed, but it gives us just a glimpse of Mary Ball at the most attractive at-tractive age, sixteen. It is dated "Williamsburg, "Wil-liamsburg, Va., the 7th of October, 1722. Madame Ball and her sweet Molly have gone home. Mother thinks Molly the comeliest maiden she knows. She is about sixteen, is tall and very sensible and loving. Her hair is like flax, her eyes are the color of yours, and her cheeks like the May blossoms. I wish you could see her." The home of Washington's mother in Fredericksburg is in an excellent state of preservation. It is now the property of a noble band of Virginia women, known as the "Society for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities." In spite of the terrible shot and shell of two wars, it remains unmolested. uuring tne Dauies arountt jfTeaencus-burg jfTeaencus-burg in the Civil war there in the little lit-tle town and county of Spottsylvania it is said more great armies maneuvered, maneuv-ered, more great battles were fought, more men were engaged in mortal combat and more officers and privates were killed and wounded than in any similar territory in the world. More men were said to have fallen in battle bat-tle in this one county during the Civil war than Great Britain has lost in all her wars of a century, and more men were killed and wounded in four hours at the Battle of Fredericksburg than Great Britain lost in killed, wounded and prisoners in her eight months' war in Sou Africa. When these terrible days were over the old house was found without a scar. Apparently, not a shot had touched it. It is of frame, with a hall running through the center, with rooms on either side. There is nothing noth-ing to betoken luxury; there is no fine paneling or frescoing which is so marked a feature of so many of the homes of that date in Virginia. As far as obtainable much of Mrs. Washington's Washing-ton's furniture is there. In her bedroom bed-room we are shown her four-poster, her bureau, her cap-box and one or two oia cnairs. in ner dining-room an old-fashioned table, chairs and her bread-box. We are so prone to' idealize ideal-ize our heroes, and all that pertains to them, but close and candid investigation investiga-tion will reveal that in the latter years of Mrs. Washington's life we find much that is stern, undemonstrative, and not what we would be pleased to term "a dear old lady." She was a w-oman of most indomitable will. Mother and son were alike in this, respect, re-spect, and the consequence was that there was not always harmony between be-tween them. She was said to be most penurious, a trait which Washington Wash-ington inherited, it is said. As wi- be seen by her will, which is a copy of the original preserved in the courthouse in Fredericksburg, she speaks of her "Negro Wench, old Eett." 'Tis said shortly before her death she requested this faithful slave be buried by her side, and their dust has mingled for many generations. The old-fashioned garden at the rear of the house must have been in its day one of its chief attractions. Mrs. Washington was devoted to flowers and spent many of the last days of her life in this spot. It was here that the visit of Marquis tie Lafayette was announced to her. She came forward to meet him dressed in a white cotton frock, which history also states was tucked up. She received him without the slightest trace of embarrassment, remarking, as she did so: "Marquis, I should not pay you so poor a compli-men compli-men as to detain you while I change my gown." She battled in the last days of her life with much pain and suffering, dying of the terrible disease, cancer. She lies buried near the scenes of her youth and her happy girlhood days, while history recalls her as the mother of Washington, the belle and beauty of Virginia, "The Rose of Epping Forest." f |