McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, April 06, 1939, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1939
Restoration of the Garden at
Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s
Home, Will Begin This Spring
Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
. - © Western Newspaper'Union.
T HERE’S a new “resto
ration” program on in
Virginia. This time it is
not an entire town, as was
done at Williamsburg, his
toric Colonial capital, nor a
building, as was the case of
the law office of James Mon
roe at Fredericksburg, but it
is none the less interesting
for it is to be done at one of
the great patriotic shrines of
America — Monticello, near
Charlottesville, the home of
Thomas Jefferson, author of
the Declaration of Independ
ence and third President of
the United States.
The restoration at Monticello is
that of Jefferson's garden which
long since disappeared and it will
be made possible^through the re
currence of Garden week in Vir
ginia, when more than a hundred
famous estates, most of which
are privately owned, are opened
to the public by their owners.
The week of April 24 has been
set aside for this event, which is
held under the auspices of the
Garden Club of Virginia, the or
ganization that is sponsoring the
restoration of the Monticello gar
den. Each year thousands of
gaxden lovers from every part of
America flock to Virginia for the
garden week event, when the
Colonial gardens not open to the
public at Hny other time are
shown by their owners. A small
2ee is collected and this money
goes to the restoration fund of
the Garden club.
r The plan to restore Jefferson’s
garden at Monticello came about
in this way: Fiske Kimball, au
thority on early American archi
tecture, unearthed the original
Jefferson drawings, now pre-
served in the Coolidge collection
.at the Massachusetts Historical
society, while serving on the res
toration committee of the Thom-
as Jefferson Memorial Founda-
tfcln, owners of Monticello. Over
t long period of years the com-
mittee, consisting of Dr. Edwin
M. Betts, professor of botany at
the University of Virginia, and
considered the foremost author
ity on Thomas Jefferson as a
botanist; Milton L. Grigg, Char
lottesville architect; R. T. Halsey
of the Metropolitan museum. New
York, and Dr. Charles Moore of
the Fine Arts commission of
Washington have been aiding Mr.
Kimball put together the informa
tion essential for the restoration.
Due to the meticulous notes
and drawings of every detail of
Jefferson’s full life and its work,
unearthed by various researchers
and fitted into the restoration pat
tern, the committee announced
recently that it is now prepared
to embark on “the most faithfully
accurate restoration possible in
America.”
Drawings for the garden res
toration and the research still
essential is being carried on by
Grigg & Johnson, Charlottesville
Architects. Execution of the work
Is to be under the direction of
Mrs. Allen Perkins of Charlottes
ville, former president of the Gar
den Club of Virginia, and Mrs.
Delos Kidder.
The restored Jefferson garden
will include some three acres
known to the committee as the
east garden and will include re
placement of all the trees known
during Jefferson’s lifetime.
Plans call for long elliptical
paths, bordered with plantings of
native wild flowers and ever
greens, because Jefferson was in
terested in determining the deco
rative possibilities of using wild
materials which he considered
more beautiful than formal ar
rangements usually found in the
pretentious gardens of Virginia.
One of the most interesting fea
tures of the restoration will be
the replacement of the two fish
ponds, small oval pools, the size
of which Jefferson carefully com
puted on the basis of the average
annual rainfall and the amount
of water which this would yield
to keep his fish in fresh water.
In carrying out the research it
was found that Jefferson wrote
in praise of the splendid ideas for
garden development in a now
rare volume published by Thom
as Whatly in London in 1777. A
copy of this volume was secured
and it was found that the garden
as executed at Monticello was
described in almost minute de
tail, the description apparently
•influencing Jefferson so favorably
that he adopted most of Whatly’s
recommendations for what was
considered the ideal garden.
A Herd of Pigs ‘Saw America First’ When
They ‘Toured’ With De Soto 400 Years Ago
Four hundred years ago this
year a herd of pigs went on a
“See America First” tour. Un
like later tourists who go because
they want to, these early “tour
ists” went because they had to.
They were driven and they- prob
ably went none too willingly. Be
that as it may, the record of their
cross-country journey from the
Everglades in Florida to the
. Ozarks in Arkansas, through a
thousand wild and hostile miles
of forest, prairie, mountain, flood,
swamp, snow and summer heat,
is one of the most amazing in
American history.
In 1539 Hernando De Soto, who
had been made governor of Cuba
so that he might use that island
as a base of operations in con
quering and colonizing Florida,
arrived in Tampa bay with nine
vessels. On board were 600-odd
soldiers, 350 horses and 13 hogs,
. the latter being for the use of
the colonists he planned to estab
lish on the Florida peninsula or
beyond.
Heading northward from the
bay, De Soto’s expedition
marched slowly onward in an
amazing arc of zigzags which re
sulted in its touching at least sev
en and perhaps 11 of our present
southern states, traversing moun
tains and the great Mississippi
river, before the weary surviv
ors, riding in boats of their own
wilderness manufacture, and clad
principally in the skins of wild
animals, were finally to reach
safety in Mexico four years later.
An Amazing Sight.
At the start of the expedition
in Florida and Georgia, appar
ently on into both the Carolinas,
and seemingly over the moun
tains to somewhere near Chatta-
hooga, the moving column must
have been an amazing sight.
First came the armored cavalry
in its glittering splendor; behind
limped the infantry, sore alike
from battles and blisters; while
somewhere between or around
the two scampered a squealing,
reluctant treasure of pork—the
rapidly multiplying herd of. hogs
—and its herders. And from the
hilltops and forests along the way
peered savage eyes that had nev
er before beheld horses, or pigs,
or firearms, or white skins, and
that sometimes visioned the rider
and his horse together as a single
shining animal.
Sometimes the party was well
fed by friendly or frightened In
dians; sometimes it was half-
starved — one such occasion,
seemingly somewhere in Georgia,
finally compelling apparently the
first dressing and serving of pork
in the present continental area
of the United States (1540). Even
then, however, each man was al
lowed only half a pound of meat
per day, to sustain him until more
grain, nuts, or roots were found;
for in general the rapidly grow
ing reserve of pork was still be
ing saved, “with infinite labor,”
for the colony that De Soto hoped
eventually to found.
From the Chattanooga region
the expedition apparently
marched southwest into central
Alabama; then northwestward
across the state of Mississippi.
In each of these sections a des
perate battle was fought with the
red men, whose teeming straw
village the Spaniards set afire in
each case (winter of 1540-41); but
in the end the invaders lost in the
flames not only a collection of
pearls, the only riches so <ar ob
tainable, but also most of their
ammunition, saddles, and cloth
ing, and many .horses, and all but
100 of the hogs (the herd had re
cently numbered 500).
After a 30-day delay for build
ing boats to cross the Mississippi,
the expedition began a year of
wandering in Arkansas (perhaps
entering Missouri and Oklahoma,
too), finally returning to the
banks of the Mississippi with the
plan of building ships to return
to Cuba for reinforcements. Here
De Soto died, however (May,
1542; three years after the land
ing at Tampa); and the hog herd,
now increased to 700, was auc
tioned off among his men, who
thus ate pork much more often,
but started observing religious
holidays!
De Soto’s successor, Moscoso,
at first abandoned the plan of a
voyage by sea in favor of the
supposedly easier land march to
New Spain (Mexico). The sum-
HERNANDO DE SOTO
mer was, therefore, spent in a
westward trek which apparently
reached halfway across northern
Texas. But the approach of au
tumn on the seemingly limitless
Texas plains sent them trudging
back to the Mississippi to begin
building ships. They used the
shawls of the Indian women for
sails, and turned into spikes and
anchors their firearms, their cap
tives’ chains, and such bits and
stirrups as remained. The re
maining hogs and most of the sur
viving horses were turned into
meat for the voyage.
After a desperate 16-day battle
with hostile river Indians in
their much swifter canoes, and
after six weeks of feeling their
way around the Texas coast, 311
hairy beings clothed and shod in
deerskin and claiming once to
have been Spaniards reached the
shelter and welcome of a Spanish
settlement on the Panuco river
near the site of modern Tampico,
Among all the homes of great
Americans which have been pre
served as historic shrines, Monti
cello is unique. It not only re
flects the personality of the man
who lived in it and loved it so
much but it is a monument which
Thomas Jefferson literally erect
ed to himself. He himself select
ed its site—a wooded peak at
which he, as a young man, gazed
long and often across the Rivanna
river from his boyhood home at
Shadwell. He determined to
establish his home on the “Little
Mountain” some day.
Upon the death of his father
he inherited the landed estate
which lay along both sides of the
Rivanna river and in 1770 he be
gan clearing the summit and pre
paring for building. But there
was much to do before actual
construction could be begun. The
whole apex of the mountain had
to be removed. When this was
done there was left an eliptical
plane upon which the buildings
were to be located. The place
was named Monticello, meaning
in Italian, “Little Mountain.”
In the fall of 1770, the dwelling
at Shadwell burned, so that build
ing began in earnest at Monti
cello, beginning the establish
ment of an entirely new home
stead upon this wild and almost
inaccessible site. But true to his
vision, the owner ignored the
much easier and cheaper process
of replacing the old dwelling
where were still the other numer
ous buildings that were then es
sential to a plantation—barns,
mills, slave quarters and stor*
age houses of many kinds.
Self Made Architect
At that time there were virtu
ally no architects in the country
and few skilled workers in the
building crafts. So Jefferson took
up the study of architecture and
architectural drawing. Guided
by his inherent appreciation of
the essential elements of fine con
struction, he taught himself so
well that he became his country’s
outstanding architect of the pe
riod. He made vast numbers of
drawings for his home and
worked out the last details for
every part of the structure.
More than that, he selected the
stone and timber used in the
structure, looked after the con
struction of the brick and the
nails made by his own servants,
devised advanced and ingenious
contrivances for comfort and con
venience, designed the decoration
of the interior and personally se
lected the furnishings and orna
ments. He not only planned but
gave personal supervision to the
laying out of the various build
ings on the estate, the gardens,
the walks and the roadways.
Though architecture was only
a hobby with Jefferson, today he
is acclaimed a great architect.
The exterior of Monticello is in
the Doric order of architecture.
The interior is in the Ionic style.
A portico, the full height of the
house, with stone pillars and steps
projects 25 feet. It is a brick
mansion 100 by 100 feet, with
white pillars, cornices and balus
trades surmounted by a dome,
standing in the midst of a lawn
overlooking river, woodlands and
fertile valley, with a view of
mountains to the west and of long
extending coastal plains to the
east.
Hidden Staircases.
The appearance is of one story
and entering the hall one is still
deceived, for Jefferson disliked
staircases to such an extent that
he shut them all up in closets.
The hall shows only a gallery on
which the bedrooms open. In the
dome itself Jefferson planned a
billiard room, but a law was
passed by the state before it was
completed, forbidding the game
and so it was left in an unfinished
state. The wings of the house end
in octagonal projections; the
northern one containing the din
ing room, tea room and two
guest roorps, the southern form
ing Jefferson’s private suite, sit
ting room, library and bedroom.
Under the dome on the west is
the great drawing room, famous
for its parquette flooring of na
tive woods and its pillared por
tico.
Most notable of the architec
tural features of the house is the
hiding away of all signs of kit
chen, laundry, stable and the
many workshops necessary on a
plantation of that period when
almost every article in daily use
was manufactured on the estate
by servants and slaves. The
sharp declivity of the mountain
made it possible to have these
offices all at a lower level than
the house.
A tunnel from the basement
leads right and left to one-story
pavilions, used by the slaves. By
this contrivance dishwashers,
cooks, butlers, maids, troops of
slaves with wood for fires, cans
of ashes, pails of hot or cold wa
ter did their work without dis
turbing the tranquillity of the
family and their guests. An odd
ity contrived by Jefferson is a
dumbwaiter for hoisting wine
from the cellar, with a capacity
of but one bottle.
Monticello, undoubtedly the fin
est mansion in that section of
Virginia, cost its owner, accord
ing to his account books, about
$7,200. The ornamental stone
was brought from Philadelphia to
Richmond by water and hauled
from Richmond in carts.
What to Eat and Why
C. Houston Goudiss Offers Practical Help in Planning
Meals That Avoid Hidden Hunger; Illustrates
Right and Wrong Methods of Menu Building
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
A GENERATION ago, homemakers approached the prob
lem of feeding their families with but two objectives:
to put weight on their children and to send adults away from
the table with their appetites appeased. If the child failed
to gain satisfactorily, or if his teeth were crowded and sub
ject to decay, he was said to “take after his Uncle Abner”
or perhaps to have inherited «> —
the poor teeth of his maternal
grandmother. And if adults
were chronically tired or suf
fered from “nerves,” that,
too, was blamed on circum
stances that had nothing to
do with the diet.
No one had ever heard of hid
den hunger! For nutritionists had
not yet startled the
world by demon
strating that food
may satisfy the ap
petite and yet fail
to feed . . . that
the absence of mi
nute amounts of
minerals and vita
mins may be re
sponsible for a long
train of deficiency
diseases which
cause untold mis
ery and are responsible for men
tal and physical inefficiency.
Planning Meals Scientifically
Today we know that a definite
relationship exists between food
consumption and bodily activity,
and that normal individuals can
usually control body weight by
regulating the amount of fuel
foods in the diet. We know that
minerals and vitamins play a pow
erful part in building and main
taining sound teeth as well as
healthy nerves; and that we can
build resistance to disease, defer
old age, and even lengthen the
span of life by choosing our food,
not merely for its appetite appeal,
but for the qualities that contrib
ute toward what nutritionists term
a balanced diet.
The Balanced Diet
Every modern homemaker
therefore owes it to her family not
to plan meals at random, but to
take into consideration the seven
factors that science has deter
mined to' be essential for top
health. These include: protein
for building and repairing body
tissue; carbohydrates to produce
quick heat and energy; fats, a
more compact form of fuel; min
erals, which serve both as build
ers, and as regulators of body
processes; vitamins A, B, C, D, E
and -G, which act as regulators,
and help to prevent the various de
ficiency diseases; water, which
serves as a vehicle by which food
is carried to the tissues, and cellu
lose or bulk, required for the nor
mal functioning of the intestinal
tract.
A Day's Food Plan
The various food essentials will
be supplied if the three daily
meals include a quart of milk for
every child, a pint for each adult,
which may be served as a bever
age, with cereals, in soups, sauces
or made into desserts; an egg
daily, or at least three or four
weekly; one serving of meat, fish
or chicken, usually at the main
meal of the day; a second protein
food, such as cheese, baked beans
or nuts, usually served at lunch
or supper; two vegetables besides
potatoes, one of which should be
of the raw, leafy variety; two
servings of fruit, and at least one
serving of a whole grain cereal.
By adhering to this plan, you
will help to supply your family
with the necessary proteins, min
erals, vitamins and cellulose. Fuel
foods may be added by way of
breadstuffs, macaroni, rice and
other cereals; butter or margarine
and the fats used in cooking.
Common Errors in Menu Planning
Common mistakes in menu plan
ning are a concentration of too
many proteins or carbohydrates
in one meal; the failure to include
adequate bulk by way of fruits,
vegetables and whole grain cere
als; and the massing in one meal
of too many foods that are high in
fat.
The following menu, for exam
ple, contains more protein than
necessary, and too little bulk, yet
it is typical of the dinners served
in many homes: Hamburger
Steak, Baked Beans, Potatoes,
Stewed Corn, Custard Pie.
Since both meat and baked
beans are rich in protein, they
may well be served at separata
meals, as indicated by either of
the following combinations: Ham
burger Steak, Creamed Potatoes,
String Beans, Lettuce Salad,
Fresh or Cooked Fruit. Or, Baked
Beans, Stewed Tomatoes, Cabbage
Salad, Custard Pie.
In the first menu, the beans, po
tatoes, corn and pastry are all
high carbohydrate foods. To pro
vide additional bulk, as well as
to reduce the amount of carbo
hydrate, it would be advisable to
serve a green vegetable such as
string beans, and choose fruit in
stead of pie for dessert. It is as
sumed, of course, that eggs would
be given in some other form dur
ing the day.
Since baked beans contain both
protein and carbohydrate, we omit
potatoes in the third menu, and
serve a food rich in vitamin C—
the tomatoes, and add a bulky
raw vegetable by way of the salad.
It's Balance Thai Counts
It requires no more time or ef
fort to prepare nutritionally cor
rect meals than those which lack
balance, nor is it more expen
sive. For elaborate meals can lack
balance, if they are deficient in
minerals, vitamins and bulk, while
those composed of such simple
foods as bread and milk, and
stewed fruits may provide an
abundance of the protective sub
stances which satisfy the hidden
hunger of the body.
My plea to homemakers is to
give less thought to the prepara
tion of elaborate recipes, and
more thought to supplying the food
values that will create abundant
health and vitality. In that way,
I believe we shall take a real step
forward in human progress.
©—WNU—C. Houston Goudiss—1939—87
Gay Fruit Motif for Towels
Pattern 6037
Here’s your chance to add color
to the kitchen in the simplest of
stitchery. Do the large fruit in
applique or outline stitch and let
the cross-stitch (4 and 8-to-the-
inch) give the finishing touch.
Make them for the bride-to-be but
here’s fair warning, you’ll want to
keep them yourself! In pattern
6037 you will find a transfer pat
tern of six motifs averaging 4 by
10 inches and the applique pattern
pieces; color suggestions; materi
al requirements; illustrations of
stitches used.
To obtain this pattern, send 15
cents in coins to The Sewing Cir
cle, Household Arts Dept., 259
West 14th St., New York, N. Y.
Please write your name, ad
dress and pattern number plainly.
SNOW-WHITE PETROLEUM JELUT
Nothing Is Lost
Nothing is lost, neither thoughts
nor even dreams. They remain
the soul of the earth, in order to
produce other thoughts — other
dreams.—Pierre De Coulevain.
or high egg bred—
6c up. Ga. U. S. approved, pulloruui
tested. 100,000 weekly. Reds, Rocks,
Orpingtons, Hampshlres, Giants, Leg
horns, Mlnoreas. AA, AAA, Super A
grades. Light and heavy assorted. Write
for details on livability guarantee that
protects you. We have the breeding,
equipment and experience to produce
champion chicks. Oldest hatchery In
Georgia and first in state to bloodtest.
Write today.
BLUE RIBBON HATCHERY
215 Forsyth St., S. W., Atlanta, Ga.
' I— | ■ |