Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1918 — How Washington. Solved Marketing Problem [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

How Washington. Solved Marketing Problem

QHE one hundred and eightyslXth anniversary of the birth of George Washington i reminds one of many things, and among them the fact that the cost of living was an eco- ' nomlcal problem in Washington’s day, as it is now. Further, the first president set an example which is being followed today in some sections of the country with all the acclaim of something new. The markets which are being opened for the purpose of bringing the fann products to the consumer, to the exclusion, of the middleman, are by no means a twentieth century Invention. Most people don’t know that George Washington essayed truck gardening and the maintenance of a market wagon, to the no small blessing but the social dismay, of some Alexandrians, but It Is a fact. We read so much of the “groaning board,” steaming joints of luscious fare of all sorts in the days of colonial plenty, that we think the period a time of feasting and unlimited abundance, and recall but few of the hardships, of which there were many. It was to provide variety and to make his neighbors more satisfied with their lot that Washington sent his market wagon just once in so often to Alexandria loaded with the products of the farmyard and the field of Mount Vernon. History does not tell us whether Washington reached the hearts of his associates more speedily by the short route of their stomachs, but there is no doubt that his wise forethought brought him both gratitude and substantial reward.

The Cart Goes to Town. Old Parson Weems, who has chatted so glibly about life in Adexandria, tells us that there was a time there when the town had more reason to boast of Its beauty than its capacity to gladden the inner man. To quote that reverend chronicler: The neighborhood of Belle Haven (such was Alexandria’s early name) was not a desert; on the contrary. It was in many places a garden spot abounding with luxuries. But Its in-' habitants, the wealthy, were not wise. By the successful culture of tobacco they had money. And having filled their coach houses ■with gilt carriages and their dining rooms with gilt glasses, they began to look down upon the poorer sort and to talk about families. Of course it would never do for such people to run market carts! Hence the poor Belle Havenites, though embosomed in plenty, were often in danger of gnawing their nails. And unless they could cater a lamb from some good-natured ‘cracker,’ or a leash of chickens from the Sunday negroes, were obliged to sit down with long faces to a half-graced dinner of salt meat and journey cake. "This was the order of the day, A. D. ’59, when Washington, just married to the wealthy young widow Custls, had settled at Mount Vernon, nine miles below Belle Haven. The unpleasant situation of the families at

that place soon reached his ears. To a man of his character, with too much spirit to follow a bad example when he had the* Iwer to set a good one, and too much wit to look for happiness anywhere but in his own bosom, it could not long be questionable what part he had to act. “A market cart was Instantly constructed and regularly three times a week sent off to Belle Haven filled with nice roasters, kidney-covered lamb and veal, green geese, fat ducks and gobblers, chickens by the basket, fresh butter, new-laid eggs, vegetables and fruit of all sorts. Country gentlemen dining with their friends in town very soon remarked the welcome change in diet. ‘Bless us all I’ exclaimed they, ‘what’s the meaning of this? You invite us to family fare and here yon have given us a lorn mayor’s feast.’ ‘Yea,’ replied the others, ‘thank God for sending a Colonel Washington into our neighborhood.’ “The cat was thus let out of the bag, to the extreme mortification of the ‘Little Great ones,’ that Colonel Washington should ever have run a market cart.”

Famous Carlyle House. The market where Washington sent his farm products lay right in the heart of Alexandria and upon a square about which stood some of the town’s most noted residences and landmarks. Among these was the Carlyle house, and despite the passage of time and the physical changes wrought in that quaint Virginia city, this historic home survives intact today. The. Carlyle house is intimately Identified with Washington’s career and particularly with the very beginning of his military calling. As the story goes, the bricks for the building were imported and so, too, the stone of w’hich it was built in 1732. John S. Carlyle utilized for part of the foundation a portion of an old fort, which many years earlier had stood guard against the Indians for the protection of English traders on Hunting Creek, as the place was then known. The barracks of that advance post of civilization became the cellar of the Carlyle house, and there in its cool shadows was stored the mellow wine that tickled the palates of those days. From the heavy beams overhead hung pendant the luscious hams for which Virginia is still noted. Another part of the old fort supports the plaza at the rear of the house upon which the main hallway ends. It was there, of summer evenings, that the Carlyles and their guests gathered, and it was there the men discussed the problems of the hour over a heartsome glass amid the soothing smoke of the fragrant Oronoko. Then, the gardens ran down to the river’s bank and overlooked the docks at which the trading craft were moored —vessels, that came from over the seas to barter the silks and 'riches of the far East, the products of Europe, and the tropic abundance of the West Indies in return for the famous tobacco with which Alexandria’s one great ware-

housp was filled. Washington was a very frequent guest at the Carlyle house and one can easily imagine the part he played in that atmosphere of bounteous hospitality and courtly grace. Tradition has it that it was in that very house that Washington met one of his few defeats. On the right of the broad hallway is what was once a drawing room, said to have been finished originally in white and gold, and there on many occasions Washington took an active part in the social festivities —leading many a fair Virginian through the stately minuet and the less formal reel. The hallway, Itself, If tradition be correct, has its own sentimental interest, for it was at the foot of the beautiful staircase of solid mahogany that Washington awaited the coming of lovely Sally Fairfax upon a certain evening, and, while escorting her to the ballroom, offered that lady his heart and was refused. On the opposite side of this same hall is the “blue and white room,” which was John Carlyle’s particular retreat or sanctum. That room is of especial interest to us as a nation, for it w T as there that Washington received his commission as a member of General Braddock’s staff in 1755. What Washington learned upon that disastrous campaign against the Indians and with British soldiers taught him much which later he put to good service in behalf of his country. Braddock Took Possession. When Braddock .arrived he accepted the proffered hospitality of John Carlyle and established headquarters there. The little blue and white room became the military council chamber, and it was there that the plans were made for the campaign. Washington’s previous experience as a leader of Virginia troops against the savages made him all the more welcome at the conferences, and his keen judgment and practical advice earned for him Braddock’s admiration and won for him his colonelcy upon the general’s staff. We who count our dollars and make our purchases in hard coin but little realize the part the “vile weed” played in all commercial transactions in Virginia 150 years ago. The fragrant Oronoko tobacco had a fame which reached to Europe, and this was the common medium of exchange. The Incense of this leaf, as it were, bought the English bricks with which old Christ churcfr in Alexandria was built in 1773. The church was designed, so it has been said, by one James Wren, reputed to have been a relative of the architect of London’s famous St. Paul’s. Washington worshiped at Christ church. History tells us that it was within the shadow of that sacred structure, after services one Sunday morning in the summer of 1774, that he earnestly advocated the renunciation of allegiance to the king of England. Always deliberate and intensely devout, one can gather something of the spell which his words must have cast upon his fellow churchmen upon that occasion. There are many houses in Alexandria today that were in their prime when Washington was in their midst and closely identified with them not only socially but officially intermittently during his youth and just prior to his death.