Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1906 — GEORGE WASHINGTON LETTER. [ARTICLE]

GEORGE WASHINGTON LETTER.

Said to Have Been Written by Flrat President About an Artlat. George Fields of 494 Bergeuline avenue, West New York. N. J., has a letter purporting to have been written by George Washington to Franz llopkinson. Fields says he found it among the effects of Helen Mary Taylor Wessel, a grand aunt, who died many ytfcrs ago at the age of 97. He doesn't know where she got it. The letter is as follows: “Dear Sir —'In for a penny, in for a pound,’ i*“an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter’s pencil that 1 am not altogether at their beck and sit like patience on a monument while they arc determining the line* of my face. “It is proof among many other* of what habit nnd custom can effect. At first 1 was impatient at the request and restive under the operation a* a colt is of the saddle. The next time 1 submitted very reluctantly, but with legs flouncing 1 hqvc yielded a ready obedience to your request and to the view of Mr. Pirn;. “Letters from England, recommendatory of tlii* gentleman, came to my hand previous t<l hi* arrival in America, not only a* an artist of acknowledged eminence, but as one who had discovered a frlhndly disposition toward this country, fqr which it seems he had been marked. "It gave me pleasure to hear from you. I shall always feel nn interest in your happiness, and with Mrs. Washington's compliments nnd best wislie* joined to my own for Mrs. llopklnson nnd ypurself, 1 am.‘dear siri. your most (obedient nnd humble servant. GEORGE WASHINGTON. “Mount Vernon. May 1(1, 1785.” —New York Sun. » ......