FOR THE HOME BEAUTIFUL 31 



great wide valley of the Potomac, with the Na- 

 tion's Capitol way off in the foreground ; the dome 

 of the Capitol Building and the tall shaft of the 

 Washington Monument standing out boldly and in 

 relief in the beautiful picture ; one has a glorious 

 panoramic view of the sublime beauty such as we 

 have tried to picture in words in the forepart of 

 this chapter. 



Standing on this spot, Lafayette once exclaimed 

 that in all his travels he had never beheld a more 

 beautiful. 



On this famous hillside were erected two homes 

 on sites of great natural beauty; a place that 

 since has become a Mecca to patriotic Americans 

 coming from the north and from the south, from 

 the east and the west. 



I speak of Mount Vernon, and of the Custis 

 Mansion at Arlington. Mount Vernon was the 

 property of the great-grandfather of George 

 Washington, and here his half-brother Lawrence 

 erected his home in this wonderland 1 ; the property 

 finally passing to George Washington by inheri- 

 tance, and it was here that he spent the latter 

 years of his life, and here that he died and lies 

 entombed. 



Likewise, the Arlington site belonged in the 

 Washington family; later passing into the pos- 

 session of Mary Custis, the granddaughter of 

 Martha Washington, who married General Robert 



