FROM, the hall of, the second floor we may take either of two easy stair cases, each about a third way from the end of the building, leading up to the attic. We take some eight or ten steps, and are on a little landing; now we turn —a few steps more, and we are in the large, pleasant attic. Here we find six good sized; well-finished and nicely lighted rooms, very conveniently arranged. Their furnishings are neat and simple.
These rooms were used as spare chambers, the house furnishing nearly a dozen guest chambers in all. And doubtless there were occasions when all would be filled, for Mr. and Mrs. Washington followed the old custom of keeping “open house,” and many of their friends were attracted to Mount Vernon.
As we pass from room to room, the colored man, who seems to be stationed as guardsman on the third floor, watches us with rather forbidding countenance, as if he fears that we are about to meddle with something, or perhaps to bother him with questions. Let us go up to him and try to learn if he is a Christian. We hand him a couple of little papers which speak of the love of Jesus, and of the solemnity of eternity, and ask him if he knows Jesus as his Saviour. Ah! see how his face relaxes as he takes the little papers, and with a smile says, “yes,” in answer to our question. Now a few words in which we speak of the goodness and grace of God; and now we mention Washington, whose memory is very dear to the colored people, and express a hope that he is among the redeemed, and that one day we may meet him in the glory; the face before us grows very bright and happy; but, we add, there is One in the glory whose face will be dearer to us than the face of Washington. The young man’s countenance is now radiant; but we must hasten, and with a little word of exhortation we pass on.
Descending the two flights of steps, we are once more in the lower hall. Here we notice some things that had escaped our attention before. In a large glass case is a huge key; it is made of wrought iron, and is seven inches in length, and it would fill your hand pretty well if you were to take hold of it. The part that turns in the door is two and one-half or three inches long, and is very clumsily constructed. This was the key of the Bastille, a building which was, originally, a fortress in Paris, but afterwards became a State prison. Many persons were unjustly thrown into this prison, and were treated with cruelty while there.
This led the French people to hate the building and one of the first events of the French revolution was its destruction. This occurred ten years before the death of Washington, and LaFayette sent the key, and a model of the building, to Washington and it is still preserved.
Other things of interest we will not-wait to speak of, but we may, at another time, take a little look at the out buildings and grounds of the mansion.
ML 07/03/1904