Evening Star Newspaper, October 19, 1930, Page 94

8 BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. CCORDING to the local automobile records, about every fourth person in Washington owns or operates a car, and although this would indi- cate that about every person living here had an automobile at his service, yet we know that such is really not the case, and that many have to depend upon the busses and t cars to convey them wherever they wish those who are thus situated—and they up into the thousands, of coursz—the busses and the steam cars must be used for ce traveling, and this, quite naturally, ecoupled with a number of other reasons, keeps many people from visiting even the nearby his- toric spots and the relics there to be scen, as- sociated with Colonial life and th: early days of the Republic, such places as Alexandria, Mount Vernon, Fredericksburg, Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown, and other places to the south of Washington (oo numerous to men- tion. In nearby Maryland we have Annapolis Frederick, and Baltimore, indeed, has its while places, too, for Fort McHenry must be omitted, and a vast number of other spots in “Maryland, My Maryland.” But o those who cannot conveniently get to these places, the Government has supplied in the ational Museum a most valuable and interest- bstitute. instance, in the north hall of the Arts d Industries Building there is the Washing- ton collection, which includes the valuable relics purchased by the Government in 1878 from the Lewis heirs, descendants of Lawrence Lewis and his wife, Eleanor Parke (Custis) Lewis. Of course, there are many other price- less relics besides the Washington collection in this hall, which forms a part of the antiquarian exhibit of the museum, and which is undsr the immediate supervision of Theodore T. Belote, curator of the department of history, he hav- ing also control of the numismatic, mi'it~ry and mnaval collections. However, in view of the forthcom.ng bicen- tennial of the birth of George Washington, which is due year after next—or in 1932—pub-~ He interest will be especially centered on things associated with the life and times of the first President, and the Lewis collection and the other Washington relics in the National Museum will prove ever more than attractive at that time. Pllu-uu-‘s the reader will recall that shortly after the surrender at Yorktown, John Parke Custis died of swamp fever, his death occurring at Eltham, November 5, 1781. Besides his widow, Eleanor (Calvert) Custis, daughter of Benedict Calvert, son of Charles Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore, he left four children: Elizabeth Parke, Martha Parke, Eleanor Parke and George Washington Parke, each carrying as their middle name the middle name of their Elizabeth Parke Custis, as is well known, married Thomas Law, and had by him one daughter, Eliza, who married Lloyd N. Rogers of Baltimore, and had as issue: Edmund, E;E!gi E Yorktown, hoping to arrive here in time to see the only remaining child of Mrs. Washington before he passed away. But “time and tide waits for no man,” as it has truthfully been said, and Washington arrived a little too late, for death had already sealed forever the lips of his beloved stepson. UPON his arrival at Eltham the sad news was imparted to him by Dr. Cralk and it is said that the grief of the Father of His Country “knew no bounds,” and that he “wept lke a child.” Upon being conducted into the death chamber he found Mrs. Custis standing beside the death bed of her husband, weeping bitterly. Washington tenderly clasped her in his arms and when he had recovered his com- posure said to her: “1 adopt his two younger children as my own from this hour,” and shortly afterward George Washington Parke Custis and his sister Eleanor —the future Mrs. Lawrence Lewis—were taken %0 Mount Vernon and placed in the care of Mrs. Lund Washington, whose husband was managing the general’s property at that place.” Here they were reared and educated with the greatest care and both throughout their lives reflected credit upon their foster parents. As in everything he undertook in his life- time, Washington was not unmindful of responsibility he of his stepson’s children, for them in their youth, but s watchful care over until the end. In his advice to conveys his which might even be THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, — D. C, OCTOBER 19, 1930 National Museum Has Unusual Group of Interest toAmericans—Nellie CustisLewis, Adopted Daughter of Washington, and the Lewis Family— Kenmore, Abingdon and IV oodlazwn. The marriage of Nellie Custis to Lawrence Lewis at Mount Vernon, on W ash- ington’s last birthday, February 22, 1799. younger people of today. He said, under date of November 28, 1796: “Dear Washington: In a few hasty lines cov- ering your sister's letter on Saturday last I promised to write more fully to you by the post of this day. I am now in the act of per- forming that promise. “The assurances you give me of applying diligently to your studies and fulfilling those obligations which ate enjoined by your Creator and due to His creatures are highly pleasing and satisfactory to me. I rejoice in it on two accounts: Pirst, as it is the sure means of laying the foundation of your own happiness and rendering you, if it should please God to spare your life, a useful member of society hereafter; and, secondly, that I may, if I live to enjoy the pleasure, reflect that I have been in some degree instrumental in effecting these purposes. “You are now entering into that stage of life when good or bad habits are formed— when the mind will be turned to things useful and praiseworthy or to dissipation and vice. Pix in whichever it may, it will stick by you; for you know it has been said, and truly, ‘that as the twig s bent, so will it grow.’ This in a strong point of view shows the propriety of letting your inexperiences be directed by ma- turer advice and in placing guards upon the avenues that lead to idleness and vice. The latter will approach like a thief, working upon your passions, encouraged, perhaps, by bad examples, the propensity to which will increase in proportion to the practice of it and your yieldings. This admonition proceeds from the purest affection for , but I do not mean by it that you are to a stole, or to deprive yourself in the intervals of study of any rec- reation or manly exercises which reason ap- proves. “Jt is well to be on good terms with all your fellow students, and I am pleased to hear that you are so; but while a courteous behavior is due to all, select the most deserving only for your friendship, and before this becomes intimate weigh their dispositions and char- acters well. True friendship is a plant of slow Sflw—plddhiouad!orh.cp;flo{chlaohedbfli«miutthfliond y and unfavorable impressions of any one; your judgment always balance well before you decide, and even then, where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain that it is at all times more easy to make enemles than friends. Besides, to speak evil of any one, unless there is unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation. Keep another thing also in mind, that scarcely any change would be agreeable to you at first, from the sudden transition, and from never having been accustomed to shift or to rough it, and, more- over, that if you meet with collegiate fare it will be unmanly to complain. My paper re- minds me that it is time to conclude, which I do by subscribing myself affectionately, your sincere .friend, G. WASHINGTON. “Mr. Geo. Washington Parke Custis.” FLEANOR. or Nellie, as she is so frequently “ yroferred to, was born at Abingdon, just & short way out of Washington, in territory just a little over a decade later made a part of the District of Columbia and later retroceded to Viro 'nia. < .range as it may scem, the birthplace of N:ilie Custis remained standing until March, 5, of this year, when it was de:troyed by a brush fire. It was here that John Parke Custis took his bride, the former Eleanor Calvert, and here much of their seven years of married life was spent. True, at the time it was destroyed it was fast going to ruin, because no one with money and sentiment enough would have it put in order, and little regret was expressed when it was consumed by the flames. At the time the house was destroyed The Star gave a pic- ture of the old residence and a news item which told of the fire, together with a reference to its history, in part as follows: “Long since g ghostlike ruin amid its briar- strangled gardens, the romantic old mansion house at Abingdon, just across the Potomac from Congress Heights, was destroyed by a bruczh fire yesterday afternoon. ““he wind-fanned flames only completed the work of years and neglect and brought to a conclusion in keeping with its tragic history the days of the old house on the river rich with associations of George Washington. “For the past three years the -house has been entirely deserted, on a tract of land owned by the Richmond, Ferdericksburg & Potomae Railroad. There have been various move- ments on the part of patriotic societies to stop the progress of ruin, but nothing actually has been done. “When Washington married Martha Custis, in 1759, she had two children, a daughter Martha and a son John. He became deeply attached to th:se children and was almost . heartbroken when the girl died, in 1773. “The hopes of both Washington and his wife But the youth's He fell in love with a girl across the river, Eleanor Calvert, daughter of Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy, Md., and a lineal desccndant of Lord Baltimore. Both of them, Washington thought, were too young te marry. “They finally were married at the home of the bride’s parents. Washington, the records show, attonded the wedding. Marthg Wash- ington felt so badly about it that she would not attend. She had hoped that her son ‘would study for one of the learned professions,’ but her hopes were blasted. “Shortly aftsrward the couple came to Mount Vernon to live. After two years Washington purchased for them from Gerald Alexander, one of the founders of Alexandria, the beauti- ful river estale of Abingdon., For a fcw years everything went smoéthly. Three children were born. John Custis had plenty of money, inherited from his father. His moth:r and stepfather were frequent visitors and Abing- don was a center of the colorful life of the colonial gentry. “Then came the Revolution. John Custis served as aide-de-camp to his stepfather. Dur- ing the closing days of the Yorktown campaign he was taken down with a malignant fever and was taken to the home of an aunt, a f:w miles away. “This took from Washington all theé happi- ness which might have been expected from the surrender of Cornwallis and the end of the Revolution. Immediately after the surrender he hurried to the bedside of his sick st:p:on, arriving only a few minutes before the young man’s death. “So the widow was left alone at Abingdon House with her children. Washington took the children to Mount Vernon, where they were cared for by Mrs, Lund Washington when Martha Washington was absent in Philadelphia during her husband’s term -of office as President. “The plight of the family was much in the mind of Washington. He is credited with ar- ranging a second marriage for the widow with Dr. David Stuart, a close personal friend, whom he afterward appointed one of the first Commissioners of the District of Columbia. With her children restored to her again, she moved back to Abingdon and for a few years the colorful life of the old mansion was revived, Washington used to come up the river by boat to visit them. “But somehow or other there was a defect im the title by which she held the property. The