Show MT VERNON AS IT IS TOOAl J I WW1 L m 5 A r4 i 34 b r 2 Mount Vernon as It Now Appears II I I To COIIIO upon Mount Vernon when the sunlight i Hoods the long tiled gallery and c A tho guards lazily I Htretch their legs Lv and yawn at your approach to watch the blue smoke o u r 1 1 a g fi from tho chimneys A Kt chim-neys and see the t barnyard fowls 11 cluck noisily about 3 I and then flap their wings and run is almost to seo the old place as when Washington met his friends half way down tho drive or saluted them from afar This is as you find it when you arc set down like a duck In a puddle right on the edge ot the most historic spot In Amprlca You pass plong in the shadow of tho squat brick wall topped off with ornamental orna-mental pickets past tho higher redbrick red-brick wall mottled with patcffes of whitewash and topped off with Its mosogrown coping that winds along up the hill like a huge snake over which the red roofs show In uttor defiance defi-ance of its great landlords effort to hide their everydny existence and homely suggestions While you ponder pon-der why Washingtons back door was k his front door and prepare to salute tho shades of his greatness a man with a camera and a taking expression expres-sion whirls Into view and before you know It yours Is one of the strange faces that looks out from the gallery all wondering oven though knowing what he is going to do But its of no use to fret Like trouble ho is over with you thicker than dandelions on a summer green If he divides the honors with any one its with the woman who wants a souvenir of General Gen-eral Washington Hero In the banquet room on the spot whoro Lafayette Hoclmmbeau Jefferson Madison and Monroe and the Artists Houdon Peale and Trum bull besides many great revolutionary generals dined tho women hold their executive sessions The beautiful silver mounted mirror that adorned Washingtons banquet board is removed re-moved and upon the table they write of the progress thnt saved tho old house from ruin To the Kogonts of the Mount Vernon association who come once each springtime and actually actu-ally live eat < < and drink and sleep under the famous old roof does the plnco owe Its air of homelike comfort com-fort as well ns Its preservation It is the banquet room thnt was prepared for tho first time by tho hands of Lafayette and a company of I French noblemen who chanced to be house guests The story runs that a hall was to be given and the Imported Im-ported paper had arrived but no paperhnngurs Mrs Washington mourned hut tho chivalrous Lafayette always ready to do or die consoled horhe was equal to the emengency and bo and his friends hung tho paper assisted by the general and his household j house-hold In this historic room the wo j iiidii are literally surrounded by tho I priceless treasures that they have j collected from the fading past for I the benefit of future generations Tho I Washington that Hemlcandt Ioalo pictures facing the difficulties of Yorktown glorlllcn the aldo of the room while from a mahogany cabinet comes a suVRtuntliil siigpttstlon of the convivial cheer that went around the festive board through tho medium of the ponduious punch howl or the quaintly cut champagne glasses Many a trifle that tells of the love of feminine fem-inine finery fills another case rarebits rare-bits of lace miniatures sliver and chinna delicious bit of feminine folly woven indelibly into the meshes of all time It does seem a bit ghastly to turn in with the ghosts of tho great upon the bed whore Wasl Ingtou died but it has been done and too whero Lafayette Lafay-ette rested On the quaint little dressIng dress-Ing case whero reposed his august cuo now each springtime lies a riotous mass of modern hairpins and feminine furbelows The sitting room of Nellie Custis that of Martha Washington tho family dining room and tho library each with its wealth of heirlooms tells of the painstaking care and research of many years In these rooms the Hegents sleep and work and live and Imbue themselves with the spirit of the Washlngtons The attendants for the most part aro more replete with now uniforms than historical Information but there Is reason for knowing thnt It was in tho dear old library that Washington received the olflclal announcement of his election as president of the United States There are 17 closets In three sides of this room curious little closets within closets none perceptible I J k 1 ulI t fr l tIl I L I I i 3 II J HI1IIH 4 jtlllli ± I JL Tomb of Washington In Summer Time to the passing traveler but cleverly concealed as a part of the walls und woodwork You must wade knee deep through cherry tokens to reach tho old conservatory con-servatory with the quaint rambling servants quarters tucked away under the eaves on each side while sloping roofs and whitewashed walls remind one somehow of Bobble Burns It Is curious how the American traveler trav-eler prefers to pilfer I r his historic treasures rather than to pay a trifle for them Tho old gardener thinks this is the case and it Is only by tho greatest vigilance thnt he has for so filthy years preserved the historic out line of the garden as originally planted and laid off by Washington Again Mrs Loiters generosity and lIne Judg meat are shown for she Is chairman of the committee on grounds and I shrubs ns well as Interested in the garden and greenhouse Many a rare I plant finds its way to Mount Vernon I uirougn nor onorts The gardens are maintained at an expense of over 2000 but between JGOO and 700 of this amount is realized from the sale of plants Mrs Phoebe Hearst is a model farmer and spends her moiiov and talent freely She has preserved and beautified the wharf at an expense ex-pense of more than 10000 She directs di-rects tho superintendent ns to the I vogetnblo garden that supplies the table maintained for the attendants advUes about the deer park that bungs on the hills edge over the Potomac and otherwise acts as a i beneficent power nil about tho prem ises She took n practical view of the herd of Jersey cattle that browsed around and when they failed to keep the oldfashioned mllkhouso as well supplied as necessary sho had them sold and a pretty herd of Guernseys driven in In the spacious old kitchen whero things run riot the traveler buys either a glass of milk or n picture to carry away as a souvenir Somehow one cant help but fool thnt oven the kino belonged to Washington bacausa they browse on his plantation |