THOUGHTS SUGGESTED FOR
If wc today lived in a colony, ground
down by unjust law's, our passion for
national life secretly and tragically
burning, if Washington had failed, had
died in vain for the cause which in1
fact he brought to lasting triumph—]
then for poor sentimental humanity,
he would shino with a luster greater |
than now is his, writes Joyce Kilmer
in the New York Times. His cause
triumphed; the dream became a real
ity, and therefore lost the charm of the
dream. Washington, dying o^ his bed,
In his honored old age, his hopes real
ized, is a noble figure. But he lacks
the dramatic appeal of Washington
bidding farewell to his children at the
foot of the gallows.
By some strange perversity of hu
man nature the cause we consider ro
mantic and picturesque is always a
Lost Cause. The names most deeply
loved are those of the fallen leaders
whose partisans met with defeat—
Robert Bruce and Robert Emmet, Wil
liam Wallace, Sarsfield and Sobieski,
that “fair and fatal king,” Charles I,
and his persecuted and uncrowned
heirs. Children of Union soldiers
though we may be, our hearts beat
more quickly at the thought of Lee
than at the thought of Grant. We rise
when the band plays “The Star-Span
gied Banner,” but we rise and shout
when it plays “Dixie.” i
And it must also be acknowledged
that a tragic death endears a states
man to the generations that follow
him. If you r.re a great leader and
want to be sure of posterity’s affec
tion, see that your cause fails. Then
the conquerors will legislate against
the honoring of your memory, and that
will make your fame secure. But if
your cause succeeds, then at least see
that your death is sudden and violent, j
Give the world a drama, a legend.
Washington triumphed. At York
town he captured Cornwallis’ redcoats
and put an end to tyranny on our
shores. It is not forbidden to honor
his memory; the wearing of the red,
w’hite, and blue is attended by no per
ils. And so we take things for grant
ed; we forget the hideous dangers
through which we passed only some
hundred and two-score years ago; we
take for granted our nationality, our I
uccuum, ttnu me leariess warrior, tne .
enlightened statesman who gave them |
to us. When we speak of Washington ■
as the Father of His Country we do so .
with a laugh, as if the phrase were j
•empty, rhetoric instead of sublime
truth, Liege means more to us than i
Lexington, and remembering Edith I
Cavell, we give no thought to Jane!
McCrea.
We may well thank God that the
war of American independence has not
the glamor of battles fought in vain,
that our freedom is no lost cause, that
Washington’s halo is not that of a
martyr whose life and death were un
availing. To those who look at the
world’s events in true historical per
spective, without sentimentality and
with love of justice and freedom in
their breasts, the American Revolution
fill# the most encouraging page in the
chronicle of the centuries. But for
most of us it is only in times of stress
iike the present that we can come to
*an actual sense of our exceptional
privileges to a realization of the radi
ant truth of tho stories we read in our
(history book in school. This year the
Declaration of Independence takes on
■a clearer significance; we know, as we
did not in bygone years, what it means
to be free and independent states, ab
solved forever from all allegiance to
•foreign powers. And so this year
Washington’s birthday is no routine
holiday, but a day of solemn yet joyful
commemoration, a day on which we
honor with full hearts him who made ,
tie a nation, the warrior whose sword ,
cut the bonds of our thralldom, the
statesman who bade us, avoiding en
tangling alliances, go our free way, an
independent republic, no nation’s syco
phant, no nation’s tool. “With malice
toward none," said Washington’s
greatest successor, “with charity for
all.” It was a summing up of Wash
ington’s own political creed. No lost
cause, however glorious with the blood
of martyrs, seems today so noble as
the still triumphant cause of American
independence. No modern hero, fight
ing overseas, is today so dear to us
as our founder and preserver. And to
his examples and his counsels we can
not look for guidance and look in vain.
HOME LIFE
George Washington’s home life at
Mount Vernon was divided into three
periods: (1) From 1752, when as a
youth of twenty he inherited the fam
ily estate, to 1775, when he left to take
command of the Revolutionary army;
(2) from Christmas eve. 1783. when h<
returned homo after peace had beei
made, until 1789, when he bocam<
President; (3) from 1797, when he re
tired from the Presidency, to 1799
(when he died. During the war am
during his Presidency he visited th(
place occasionally, but only for a fev
days at a time.
Some delightful glimpses into hli
happy home life are given by Pau
Wilstaeh in “Mount Vernon,” publish
ed by Doubleday, Page & Co.
When George Washington became
master of the Virginia mansion it was
not nearly so large as it is today, foi
he built the banquet hall on the north
the library on the south, the third
story, the verandas, colonnades, piazza
and tower, the great barn and many
of the other outbuildings, besides lay
ing out and planting the gardens.
It was not until after his marriage
to “the charming widow,” Martha Dan
dridge Custis, in 1759, that the family
life really began.
With Mrs. Washington came the twe
children of her former marriage, Mar
t.ha and John Parker Custis.
"These four were the nucleus of a
busy and extensive life on the estate
The gradual accumulation of shoemak
ers, tailors, smits, carpenters, wheel
weights, masons, charcoal burners
farmers, millers, hostlers, house and
outside servants, and overseers, all
with their families, constituted an
army of several hundred. Everything
and everybody that had no relation to
the ‘hig house,’ as the master’s dwell
ing on a Virginia estate has always
been called, fell under the direct juris
diction of Colonel Washington * * *
The house servants and all those con
nected with the domestic side of life
in the big house were the responsi
bility of Mrs. Washington.
"After the fashion of most old Vir
ginia homes, the kitchen was in a de
tached house next to the big house,
and processions of pickaninnies car
ried the heaped dishes across the
lawn into the family dining room. The
modern or even the now old-fashioned
jookstove was unknown. The altar of
his temple was a great fireplace with
m opening which would accommodate
aalf a dozen grown persons. Here
matrons held wood cut to cord size,
md often oak logs which strained a
orace of black backs to lift into place.
Cranes of iron, wrought in the black
smith shop over the hill, swung steam
ing kettles above the glowing coals.
I}uprters of beef, young suckling pigs,
and rows of fowl, game and domestic
svere roasted on spits. Corn pone and
sweet potatoes nestled in the ashes.”
They refurnished the house almost
:hroughout, ordering the goods from
London, where the Virginia colonial
Barnes did most of their shopping,
hough it was then more distant than
is Japan today.
“They both were early risers, though
breakfast was not early for all the
household. Washington in winter
Jften made his own fire in his library,
md there, over his correspondence and
liccounts, did an immense amount oi
m,ork in a few hours. Mrs. Washing
ton rose when he did and direcied the
beginning of the day’s domestic duties
into easy and ordered channels. After
breakfast he rode out on one of his
lorses to overlook the laborers on the
carious farms into which he divided
Mount Vernon estate, and returned,
recording to Custls, ‘punctual as the
hand of a clock, at a quarter to three
* * * and retired to his room to dress,
is was his custom.* Mrs. Washington
:hose the first hour for religious de
motion in her own room, an unfailing
custom her life long. Dinner was a
mid-afternoon meal after the Southern
tradition. Washington rarely ate any
supper, though it waa always spread
tor his household and guests. When
rt Mount Vernon it was his habit to
retire at nine o’clock.”
“Before the Revolution Mount Ver
non bore its share of the open-handed
hospitality which distinguished Vir
ginia colonial life. The brief call of
misitors, whose home base is near by,
was practically unknown. Distances
were great, travelers came with their
own coach and horses and servants,
md an arrival meant additional places
it the master’s table and in the serv
mts’ hall, additional beds, and stabling
md feed for from six to twelve horses.
It was part of the flexible, cordial so
cial system, and the hospitality and
provision was on a large scale. Every
one was welcome: brothers and sis
ters, nephews and nieces, and cousins
to remote degrees; friends passing
north and south, crossing from Mary
land to lower Virginia, or only on their
way to the plantation next beyond.
Not least welcome were strangers,
with and often without letters.
“Rainy days, or_the early wlntei
evenings, were devoted to cards. Wash
ington's account books indicate thal
playing cards were quickly used up
The profit and loss columns record his
winnings and losses, which at times
mounted to nine pounds at a sitting
It was a liberal age. Not only was
gambling on a moderate scale consid
ered a fashionable diversion, but the
1 family at Mount Vernon patronized
i the lotteries on various occasions.’’
1 Here are some extracts from the
diary of John Hunter, a I,ondon mer
; chant, who spent a day and a night at
Mount Vernon in 1785:
1 "The general came in again, with his
hair neatly powdered, a clean shirt
on, a new plain drab coat, white waist
coat and white silk stockings. At
i three dinner was on the table, and we
I were shown by the general Into an
, other room, where everything was set
I off with a peculiar taste, and at the
’same time very neat and plain. The
general sent the bottle about pretty
freely after dinner, and gave success
1° the navigation of the Potomac for
his toasts, which he has very much at
heart * * *
^ "We had a very elegant supper about
j-that time. The general with a few
glasses of champagne got quite merry,
and being with his intimate friends,
. laughed and talked a good deal. Be
fore strangers he is generally very re
, served, and seldom says a word * * *
I At twelve I had the honor of being
lighted up to my bedroom by the gen
eral himself * * * .
“When the general takes his coach
out he always drives six horses; to
I his chariot he only puts four * * *
I fancy he is worth 100,000 pounds
sterling and lives at the rate of 3,000
or 4,000 a year.” * * *
| In the final period of life at Mount
j’Vernono was livelilier than ever—the
good, old-fashioned life of a Virginia
'country gentleman; open house to all;
many guests, both American and for
eign, but both George and Martha
Washington restricted certain time for
I their own.
“After dinner he spent an interval
talking with them, ‘with a glass of Ma
deira by his side,’ and then withdrew
to his library again, where he made a
hasty survey of the newspapers, of
which he received a great many, and
retired for the night at nine o’clock,
if possible without appearing at sup
per.
I I
wnen the gentlemen of the Alex
andria assemblies sent their polite in
vitation to the general and his wife
for their winter dances he replied that
his dancing days were over. But he
drove up to town frequently for visits
that included a duck dinner at Mine
Host Gadsby’s City hotel, a review of
Captain Piercy's Independent Blues,
and the casting of his last vote. The
Tolling place was up a flight of out
side steps, so rickety that when the
I huge form of the general approached
! their foot, the bystanders, apprehend-!
jing danger to him, with silent and:
spontaneous accord braced the stair
way with their shoulders as he mount
ed, and waited there until he descend
ed.”
In 1814, when the British fleet sailed
up to Potomac, they saluted Mount I
Vernon instead of destroying it. The
place was bought in 1859 by the Mount
Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Un
ion. At that time the only objects in
the house that had been associated
with its immortal owner’s life were
the key of the Bastille, the clay bust
which Houdon molded, a plaster bust
of Lafayette, the old globe In the li
brary and some camp equipment.
During the Civil war Mount Vernon
was by spontaneous consent of both
sides the only neutral ground in the
country. Soldiers left their arms out
side the gates and "men in blue and
men in gray fraternized before the
tomb of the father of their divided
country.”
AT VALLEY FORGE
Valley Forge is a name which in
spires unspeakable emotions in every
reader of the Revolutionary story, ap
pealing to the depth of the pathetic in
us by their sufferings and to our sub
llmest sense by their fortitude. That
winter at Valley Forge supasses the re
treat from Moscow, for the American
heroes and their great commander en
dured through the long winter instead
of fleeing.
"How comes it, sir,” said Washing
ton to the officer as they marched into
the valley, “that I have tracked the
march of your troops by the blood
stains on the frozen ground? Were
there no shoes in the commissary’s
stores, that this sad spectacle is to be
seen along the public highway?”
The officer replied: “When shoes
were issued the regiments were served
in turn; it was our misfortune to be
among the last and the stores became
exhausted.”
Washington’s emotions were of the
strongest kind and he said, “Poor fel
lows!”
“At no period of the war,” writes
Chief Justice Marshall, “had the Amer
loan army been reduced to gltua
tion o greater peril than during the
winter at Vailey Forge. More than
once they were absolutely without
food There was seldom at any time
a quantity 0f provisions sufficient for
a week. The returns of the first of
February exhibited the astonishing
number of 3,989 men in camp unfit for
want of clothes. Of this number
t scarcely a man had a pair of shoes.
! Although the total of the army ex
, ce*>d‘>d 17,000 men. the effective rank
and file amount to 5,012. Their clothes
were In tatters. The Quaker Isaac
Potts tells us of Washington’s prayer
at \ alley Forge, how, as he traversed
the forest, he heard a fervent voice.
Approaching nearer, whom should he
behold, in a kind of bower, but the
commander in chief on his knees pray
ing to the Ruler of the Universe. At
the moment when Friend Potts, con
j cealed by the trees, came up, Washing
ton was interceding for his beloved
country When he reached home his
wife asked the reason for^his agita
tion.
have this day seen,’ replied he,
■what I shall never forget. If George
Washington be not a man of God, 1 am
mistaken, and still more shall I be dis
appointed If God, through him, does
mt perform some great thing for the
country.’ ”
—-♦-.
I be jury in the commissioner’s court
at Juneau recently returned a verdict
in ot $-i90 and 8 per cent interest In
favor of Dr. Mahone, who sued the E.
H. Harris Packing Company for money
due for professional services rendered
nearly two years ago. George Bennet.
an employe of the cannery had the
skin badly torn from his arm and was
forced to have some grafted on in or
der to save It. He was a member of
the Mason# so several Juneau Masons
volunteered, five of whom were
chosen. Bennet received $2,000 dam
ages which the company claimed in
cluded doctor bills and hospital
charges. They intend to file an appeal.
-«
The natives of the village near Ju
neau recently held an indignation
meeting at which they charged that
remarks were made by Attorney A. E.
Robertson that the natives were eat
ing the products of the Killisnoo plant.
This product according to the leader
of the meeting is guano, a fertilizer
and smells so rank that the majority
of the natives will not even use it on
their gardens preferring seaweed in
stead. Likewise they state that they
used very little herring oil as seal oil
was better for general purposes and
kept better. The natives live as well
and practically the same as the white
men and were highly insulted at the
■remarks of the attorney. They called
upon his office and asked him to re
tract his statement and make amends
for the insults.
(Official' Publication)
Bank Statement
—
• Report of the financial condition of
the Bank of Alaska (Branch), lo
cated at Cordova. Territory of Alaska,
at the close of business on the 14th
day of February, 1918:
Resource*
jCoans and discounts.$ 81,594.51
Overdrafts. 2,248.20
Bonds, warrants and other
securities . 7.882.29
Banking house, furniture
and fixtures . 13.491.45
Checks on other banks and
other cash items. 1,001.65
Cash on hand and due from
banks . 18,129.11
Expenses In excess of earn
ings (expense establishing
Cordova branch, $6,521.23;
excess over operating
since Aug. 20, 1917,
$3,822.84) . 10,344.07
TotaI .$134,691.28
Liabilities
Capital stock paid in and ap
portioned to Cordova
branch .$ 25,000.00
Surplus fund apportioned to
Cordova Branch . 5,000.00
Due to banks — deposits
branches . 33,471.84
Due to banks—other banks
deposits . 1,023.79
Deposits . 68.669.26
Certified checks . 1,318.5?
| Cashiers’ checks . 207.80
Total .$134,691.28
United States of America, Territory of
Alaska, Third Judicial Division, ss.
I. V. F. Nichols, acting assistant
cashier of the above-named bank, do
solemnly swear that the foregoing
statement is true to the best of my
knowledge and belief.
V. F. Nichols,
Acting Assistant Cashier.
(Correct—Attest)
W. R. HILLERY,
Director.
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 20th day of February, 1918.
(SeaD R. E CAPERS,
Notary Public in and for the Territory
of Alaska. My commission expires
February 12, 1919.
-»
The use of wood for fuel is being
emphasized throughout Alaska, and
the ravorabie results noted in other
states quoted. While there is much
good timber for fuel throughout the
territory, it is rather a difficult propo
sition in a number of places to cut it,
owing to government reservations. If
these were removed the suggestion
•would be heartily carried out by a ma
jority of Alaskans, as coal is raising
in price all the time.
Amaury Auzias de Turenne, former
Dawson boy, was seriously injured at
the front. His father was French con
sul at Dawson several years ago. The
son is now In the base hospital at
Etaple, suffering from shell shock. His
older brother was Invalided home after
losing his eyesight through being
struck by a piece of sftrapnet.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
♦
Windsor Hotel ♦
L. Wain, Prop.
_ e
-♦
Where Yea Get *
Comfort and Sendee. ♦
And the Rates Are Rijfht. *
__._ ♦
---- ♦
Cordova Alaska ♦
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_I