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Show fa i--' Ww &s )mw LeiM " fa U . ' By ELMO SCOTT WATSON J U;. ' lM f ! l IP THE town of Fred- I't i it "! " SPtl IjLXI erlcksburg, Va., there Lga--f4--M., iOf".. 3 fcJVl stands 'oy stone ' tJm. f j I IS BA Jhaft which is said to ROO1rt WMCH WASHfYCTOrfyijrCm .. " -3 LlaJFil nave the unique dlstlnc- His MOTHffiS BUZSMfG SSL'.Tl!ll'B'J. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON J I llN THE town of Fred- IjLJl,! erlcksburg, Va., there rVVV stands s lofty stone la Bl shaft which is said to LrEfl have the un'lue d'stlnc-Iyy d'stlnc-Iyy tlon of being the only ML monument in the United ISSSSJSiJ States erected entirely by the efforts of women to a woman. Perhaps the simple Inscription In-scription on the monument explains the reason for that distinction. It reads "Mary, the Mother of Washington." Wash-ington." As the annual celebration of Mother's Moth-er's Day It Is May 32 this year approaches, ap-proaches, all Americans should be Interested In-terested in the story of Oils mother who gave to the nation one of Its greatest men. Washington himself once said that his mother was the most beautiful woman he ever saw. but even more Interesting than this natural tribute paid by a son Is the testimony contained In a letter written writ-ten In 1772. Curiously enough this letter was found In a deserted house tear the fork river during the Civil war. It reads as follows: "Wms Burg. 7 Tth of Octr, 1722 Dear 8ukeyj Madame Ball of Lanem-r Lanem-r and Hr 8weet Molly hav gone Horn. Mama thinks Molly th Com. Hut Maiden Sha Knows. She la about rlxteen yrs. old, la taller than Ma Is verry Bensahle, Modest and Loving. Her Hair Is Ilka unto Flax, Her Eye re the color of Yours and her Chekea sra Ilka May Bloaaoms. I wish You could See Her." mate and young man's companion. Of the mother l(was more afraid than of my own parents; she awed me in the midst of her kindness; and even now, when time has whitened my locks and I am the grandfather of a second generation, I could not behold that majestic woman without feelings It Is Impossible to describe." "Mother and son were much alike In character, personal appearance and conduct. Both were wonting In humor hu-mor and Imagination, and both possessed pos-sessed In an extreme degree conscientiousness, conscien-tiousness, gentleness and determination," determina-tion," snys the writer previously referred re-ferred to. More recent historians have shown that more than once during Washington's early life there was a clash of these two strong wills, but there was a strong bond of affection between them, nevertheless. At the outbreak of the Revolution Washington, realizing the dangers which the war would bring to Virginia, Vir-ginia, tried to induce bis mother to move Into town from her home on the Rappuhnnnock opposite Fredericksburg. Fredericks-burg. She bad previously declined the offer of a home with her daughter, Mrs. Betty Washington Lewis, declaring that she preferred to rule her own home. But at last Washington's In- LaFayette came with Washington's nephew, Robert Lewis, to pay bis respects re-spects to the mother of the greatest American. She received the courtly Frenchman In her garden, met all his fine phrases witb dignity and gave him her blessing when he bade ber good-by. As he left he said to a friend, "I have seen the only Roman matron of my day." It was In this little home, too, that the last scene In the association of the Washington mother and son took place. In the spring of 1789, Charles Thompson, secretary of congress, arrived ar-rived at Mount Vernon to notify Washington that he had been elected the first President of the new nation. After preparing to accompany Thompson Thomp-son to New York, then the capital of the United States, Washington rode to Fredericksburg to say good-by to his mother. Both knew that this would probably be the last time they would see each other, for Mary Washington was then past eighty years of age and suffering from cancer. After an affectionate affec-tionate greeting between mother and son, so says one account Washington said, "The people. Madam, have been pleased, with the most flattering unanimity unan-imity to elect me to the chief magistracy magis-tracy of the United States; but before ine "sweet Molly" referred to In that letter was Mary Ball, who ou March 6, 1730, became the wife of Augustine Au-gustine Washington, a friend and neighbor of her father's, and It was on February 22, 1732, that she gave birth to the boy who was destined to be the founder of a new nation. In addition to being a woman of great beauty Mary Washington seemed to have been a remarkable woman In many respects. "A silent, serious, woman, she was, self-contained, self-respecting, self-respecting, and reserved," says an early writer. "During the forty-six years of her widowhood she managed ber household and farm without the assistance of any adviser and reared ' ber children to usefulness and honor, 1 and snw them go forth Into the world equipped for Its work and pain. That they each and all revered her, and ' sought her council In every emergency f, is sufficient testimony of her worth J and al)lllty. Mrs. Washington's lack I of personal ambition and her constl- m tutionnl reserve were qualities whlcn I prevented her from becoming popu- I lnrly known to the public, even at a I time when the people were eager for I is."' opportunity to show her honor, ff.ut no demonstration was ever made I In her behalf and there Is but one Instance In-stance recorded when she appeared , In public with her son." Another tribute to Mary Washington is contained In the statement of Lawrence Law-rence Washington, of Chotank, who wrote as follows: "I was often here I (at the home on the Rappahannock) I with George Ills playmate, school- slstence prevailed, and In March, 1775, he aud his sister moved her, still protesting, pro-testing, Into a home In Fredericksburg, which Washington had bought from Michael and Father Robinson In 1772. It was a part of the original Kenmore estate. Betty Lewis' home. The garden gar-den was separated from the Kenmore gurden by a fence and gate. Just as It was American women who erected the monument to Mary Washington, so It wus a group of American women wom-en who huve preserved the unpretentious unpreten-tious cottage where Mary Washington lived from March, 1775, until August 1781). Although Mary Washington had strenuously objected to leaving her plantation, she soon grew very fond of her little home In Fredericksburg, and enjoyed being near her daughter and her church at which she was a constant and devoted attendant. It was In this home that she lived, far from the dangers her son was encountering encoun-tering In the fight for liberty, but she was In constant receipt from him of ! news of that struggle. Here she received re-ceived the courier to tell her of his splendid victory at Trenton, and It was here thut he came to her after the battle of Yorktown, accompanied by French and American officers. It was on this occasion that for the one and only time she shared Jlie honors that had some to her now-famous son. A grand hall was given In his honor In Fredericksburg and the proud mother, moth-er, leaning on the arm of her son, was the belle of the evening. It was here, too, that Marquis de I can assume the functions of that office of-fice I have come to bid you an affectionate affec-tionate farewell. So soon as the public pub-lic business which must necessarily be encountered in arranging a new government gov-ernment can he disposed ot I shall hasten to Virginia" "You will see ine no more," she Interrupted In-terrupted him, "my great age, and the disease which Is rapidly approaching my vitals, warned me that I shall not be long In this world I trust in God. I um somewhat prepared for a better. But go, George, fulfill the high dest I nles which Heaven appears to assign you. Go, my son. and may that Heaven's Heav-en's and your Mother's blessing be with you always." She died on August Au-gust 27, 178!), and was hurled In a spot on the Kenmore estute which she herself had selected. For many years the Mary Washington Washing-ton home belonged to various owners. In 1SIH) an effort was made to take It down and erect It again at the World's Columbian exposition In Chicago. Chi-cago. The protest which this plan aroused resulted In the purchase of the house by the Association for the Preservation of Virginian Antiquities. Since that time It has been in charge of a Fredericksburg branch of the association as-sociation which has opened It to the public. Last year it wus the scene of a special observance of Mother's Day, and future years may see this npot become a national shrine on Mother's Day each year, when all Americans Join the women of Virginia In honoring the mother of the first and greatest American. |