River

It is a lively but orderly place, much frequented in summer. view and Notley Hall are similar riverside summer resorts reached by the steamboats.

2. To Arlington and Fort Myer.

The next excursion after Mount Vernon is certainly that to Arlington. The way lies through Georgetown to the Union station, at the end of the Pennsylvania Avenue cable line, where an electric car can be taken across the Potomac to the gates of Arlington, on the heights of Virginia; or, if you prefer, to the parade of Fort Myer, whence it is only ten minutes' walk to the famous family mansion of Custis and Lee.

The history of this old home of the colonial aristocracy is not only closely identified with the annals of early Virginia, but with the polítical development of the country. It was bought, as a tract of 1,160 acres, for £11,000, by John Custis, who, early in the eighteenth century, came from the Eastern shore to live on his new property. His was one of the "first families of Virginia" in every sense of the word, and possessed great wealth; but he had various domestic troubles, one of which was, that his high-spirited son, Daniel Parke Custis, insisted upon neglecting a high-born heiress, prepared by his parents for his future consort, and marrying, instead, pretty Martha Dandridge, the belle of Williamsburg, the colonial capital. The old gentleman was very angry, until one day, we are told, Martha Dandridge met him at a social gathering, and fairly captivated him. The marriage was made and prospered, and, when old Custis died, his son and his wife came into possession and residence here at Arlington, where Daniel soon died, leaving Martha a young widow with two children, John Parke and Eleanor Custis. His will entailed this estate to his son, and divided his other property, the wife receiving, as her share, lands and securities worth, perhaps, $100,000. In due time this rich and blooming widow re-entered society, where she presently became acquainted with a colonial colonel, who had recently achieved military fame in Braddock's expedition against Fort Duquesne. He lived with his mother at Mount Vernon, only fifteen miles below, and his name was George Washington. It was not long before he had wooed and won the charming and opulent widow, who laid aside her weeds and went with her two children to live at her husband's home. Together they managed and cared for the Arlington estate, until its young owner should come of age, and both were often there. The daughter died, but the son grew to manhood, received his noble property, married a Calvert, and served upon his step-father's staff during the latter part of the Revolution. Then he, too, died (1781), and his two infant children were adopted by Washington and deeply loved. They kept their own names, however, and Nelly, who seemed to have inherited the beauty of her

grandmother, married Major Lewis, a Virginian. Her brother, George Washington Parke Custis, upon reaching his majority, inherited and took possession of Arlington, at the beginning of the present century; and immediately began the erection of the present mansion, which, therefore. Washington himself, never saw, since he died December 13, 1799, while this house was not completed until 1803. A few months afterward, Mr. Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh, one of the Randolphs, and four children were born to them, but only one survived, a daughter, Mary. The Custis family lived at Arlington, improving and beautifying the estate, winning the good opinion of all who knew them, and entertaining handsomely until the death of Mrs. Custis, in 1853, and of her husband, the last male of his family, in 1857. The estate then fell to the daughter, who, meanwhile, had married a young army officer, Robert E. Lee, son of "Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the dashing cavalryman of the Revolution, entwining into the story of the estate another strand of the best fabric of Virginian society. Arlington immediately became the home of this officer, and when the Civil War came, and Colonel Lee went out of the Union with his State, his greatest personal sacrifice, no doubt, was the thought of leaving Arlington. Indeed, so little did he foresee that he was going to be the leader of a four-years' struggle, that he took away none of the furniture, and very few even of the great number of relics of Washington, many of intrinsic as well as historic value, which the house contained. Federal troops at once took possession of the estate, and everything of historical value was seized by the Government, so that most of the collection, with other relics, is now to be seen at the National Museum. Arlington could not be confiscated, because entailed; but the non-payment of taxes made a pretext for its sale, when it was bought in for $23,000, by the United States Government, which established the military cemetery here in 1864. When, several years after the war, G. W. Custis Lee inherited the estate, he successfully disputed, in the Supreme Court, the legality of the tax-sale, but at once transferred his restored rights to the Government for $150,000, which was paid him in 1884.

Arlington is a fine example of the architecture of its era, and resembles Jefferson's mansion at Monticello. Its upper floor is occupied by the official in charge, but the lower rooms are mainly empty, and visitors are content with a glance at them, preferring the open air and light of the lawns and gardens about the house, and the groves that now cover the adjacent fields, which, since 1864, have been devoted to the sacred purposes of a

National Military Cemetery. Here, behind the inscribed arch of the great gate, made from the marble pillars of the old War Department building, and under the oaks that belonged to the greatest of "the enemy," sleep almost a score of thousands of Union soldiers, and every year sees the eternal enlistment in their ranks of many more.