and occupied by him until he was inaugurated as President. It was afterward the residence of Justice Bradley of the Supreme Court. The adjoining house, No. 203, was presented to Gen. W. T. Sherman, who lived there for several years, and afterward on Fifteenth Street. Mrs. Jean Lander, once a famous actress,

resides at No. 45 B Street, S. E., facing Capitol Park; and John G. Nicolay, private secretary to President Lincoln, and his co-biographer with Mr. Hay, is at No. 212, on the opposite side of the same street.

XIII.

EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON.

1. To Mount Vernon.

The pilgrimage to the home and tomb of George Washington at Mount Vernon is regarded by most Americans as a duty as well as a pleasure, and foreigners look upon it as a compliment due to the nation. It forms, moreover, a delightful excursion. Either of two routes may be taken to Mount Vernon - by steamboat on the Potomac or by electric cars.

The electric trains of the Washington, Alexandria & Mount Vernon Railway leave their station, at Pennsylvania Avenue and Thirteen-andone-half Street, at intervals of about forty-five minutes from 10 A. M. to 4 P. M., and reach Mount Vernon in an hour. The last train returning

Electric Railway

Route.

to the city leaves Mount Vernon at 5 P. M. The fare is 50 cents for the round trip, to which must be added 25 cents for admission to the grounds. The route lies down Fourteenth Street to Long Bridge, by which the river is crossed into Virginia. This is the bridge which became so famous during the Civil

War as the military route into the seceding States, and which was so Long Bridge. incessantly shaken by the tread of troops. It gives a fine view of the Potomac, and crosses the flats which will some day become an island park; a glimpse of the grounds of Washington Barracks is obtained. At its further end there still stands, plainly seen at the left of the track as soon as the first high ground is reached, Fort Runyon, a strong earthwork erected in 1861 to guard the head of the bridge from raiders. A mile farther is the junction where the electric line to Arlington branches off. A little beyond it the train passes St. Asaph and then skirts the base of Braddock Heights - the low hills upon which Braddock's army was encamped in 1755 before undertaking that disastrous march against the French and Indians at Fort Duquesne (now l'ittsburg), where Braddock was killed and his army saved from annihilation only by the genius of his young Colonial aid, George Washington. The city of Alexandria is then entered.

Alexandria began, under the name of Bellhaven, in 1748, and had

a promising early carcer. "It rapidly became an important port, and Alexandria. developed an extensive foreign trade. It was well known in the great

English commercial cities. General Washington, Governor Lee, and other prominent Virginians interested themselves in its development, and at one time it was thought it would become a greater city than Baltimore. Warehouses crowded with tobacco and flour and corn lined its docks, and fleets of merchant vessels filled its harbor." The founding and advancement of Washington and the building of railroads, which diverted traffic to inland channels, destroyed its importance, and the coming of the Civil War ruined it socially. Here the Union troops began their "invasion" of Virginia soil, and here fell Ellsworth-the first notable victim of the conflict. The old red-brick hotel where he pulled down the Confederate flag is now pointed out to strangers at the corner of the first street beyond the railway station on Washington Street. It was called the Marshall House.

Christ
Church.

The old town contains many quaint and interesting relics of the past, of which the most interesting is Christ Church (near the Washington Street station), in which Washington's family and all the respectable persons of his neighborhood used to worship. It has been kept as near as may be as it was in those days; and the old square pew in which "His Excellency, the General," used to sit, gazing up at the high pulpit during the long and strong sermons, is still pointed out. Other things of interest for their associations are the Masonic lodgeroom, where Washington and other prominent men of that day were wont to meet; the house in which Braddock had his home and military headquarters; the local monument to Confederate soldiers (seen from the train at Washington Street), and other houses and objects.

Soon after leaving Alexandria by way of King Street (with a station at Royal Street) the Potomac comes into view, and the train crosses upon a bridge the broad estuary of Big Hunting Creek, at the head of which was built, during Below the Civil War, Fort Lyon, one of the principal defenses of Washington. Alexandria. The red-brick building seen some distance up the stream is the old

Episcopal Theological Seminary, founded in colonial times. More plainly visible at the left is Jones Point, marked by a lighthouse. This was the southern corner of the original District of Columbia. Near the lighthouse is buried a marked corner-stone placed there with much ceremony by Washington and other founders of the Government; and it was proposed to erect there a magnificent monument. A mile farther on the position of Fort Foote on the other side of the river is seen; and presently the track rises to higher ground where, looking back, the Capitol is visible a dozen miles away. Here, among peach orchards, begins the Mount Vernon estate, which in George Washington's time contained about 8,000 acres; and

just beyond Hunter's Station is seen, some distance at the left, the white house in which dwelt Col. Tobias Lear, Washington's secretary. The half-ruined barn somewhat removed from the house goes back to the early history of the property. The remainder of the run is through beautiful fields, with pleasant outlooks all around, frequent views of the river, and a sight of the flags flying over Fort Washington.

The terminus is at the garden gate of the Mount Vernon grounds, within three minutes' walk of the mansion.

The river route to Mount Vernon is by the comfortable steamer Charles Macalester, built for the Association, which leaves the wharves at the foot of Seventh Street daily except Sunday, at 10 A. M., and returns at 2.30

P. M.; in summer the hour is 9 o'clock, and there is an afternoon trip, River Route. returning late in the evening. Only round-trip tickets are sold (75

cents), including admission (25 cents) to the grounds. This steamer also goes on to Notley Hall and Marshall Hall.

The Potomac River trip is one of great enjoyment on a fine day. As the steamer moves out into the stream, it rides in a broad tidal channel dredged for harbor purposes by the Government and kept full by a tidal reservoir above. The long artificial island which separates this harbor from the river itself will hereafter become a park. On the city shore, immediately below the wharves, appears the pleasant parade of Washington Barracks, or The Arsenal, as it is still more commonly called -a

military post on the peninsula between the Potomac and its eastern branch. Its land entrance is at the foot of Four-and-one-half Street, and is reached by electric cars from Pennsylvania Avenue via Seventh Street. A trifling settlement styled Carrolls

burg, with an earthen breast-high battery, existed on the extremity Washington of this point, which was called Turkey Buzzard or Greenleaf's Point Barracks. when the city was laid out; and in 1803 the peninsula was reserved for military purposes as far as T Street, S. W. What few buildings were there in 1814 were destroyed by the British, who lost a large number of men by dropping a "port-fire" into a dry well where a great quantity of navy powder had been hidden, thus producing an impromptu volcano. In 1826 the northern end of the reservation, as far back as U Street, denoted by the jog in the river wall on the Potomac side, was walled off as a site for a district penitentiary. A building was erected having a yard with a high inclosing wall, and here, in 1865, were confined the conspirators in the assassination of Lincoln. Four of them were hung and buried there. Exactly where this execution and the interments were made is not accurately known, but it is believed that the gallows was planted near the circular flower bed now in front of the commandant's door, and that the bodies were buried near its foot. All were soon afterward removed, the penitentiary was swept away, the limits of the reservation were advanced to P Street, and, in 1881, the arsenal was abolished. The verdant parade, with its flag and guns, and avenue of big trees, its former storehouses, which during the war contained enormous quantities of arms and ammunition, and are now used as barracks, and its quadrangle of officers' quarters at the extreme point, make a pretty picture as we float past. As it is the headquarters of a regiment of artillery it has the band, and during the pleasant half of the year, guard-mounting at 9 A. M. and dress parade at 5 P. M. are conducted with much ceremony, while battery drills can be seen almost any morning at 10 or 11 o'clock.

The Anacostia River next opens broadly at the left, and the navy yard and southern front of the city are exposed to view. On the further bank looms up the great Government Hospital for the Insane, which cost $1,000,000, and is one of the finest institutions of its kind in the world. It is primarily intended for demented men of the army and navy; and there Lieutenant Cushing, of torpedo-boat fame, and Captain McGiffin, the hero of the naval fight of the Yalu, in China-Japan war, ended their blighted days.

Hospital for Insane.

The low, level grounds of Giesboro Point, bordering the river below the asylum, were occupied during the war as cavalry camps and drilling stations. Opposite it is the broad estuary of Four-Mile Run. Alexandria now comes into view.

(A ferry also runs at hourly intervals between the Seventh Street wharf and Alexandria. The Macalester also stops at Alexandria both going and coming.)

Just below Alexandria the lighthouse and opening of Hunting Creek, already described, are passed. This creek gave its name to the Washington plantation before Lawrence Washington named it "Mount Vernon," in compliment to an admiral with whom he had served. Near here is a little stopping-place called Gunston Landing, where some of the river boats stop to take on milk and vegetables for the city market. It is the ancient landing for the estate of the eminent Mason family, whose colonial seat, Gunston Hall, is still standing a short distance inland, though no longer in possession of the Magons. It was a familiar calling-place for Washington, his nearest neighbor in fact.

On the hilly Maryland side of the Potomac, toward which the boat now heads, was another commanding earthwork, Fort Foote, once of military importance, This fort was kept in repair for years after the Civil War, and the United States