We all got along very well during the holidays and were beginning to corgratulate ourselves that we had escaped any serious illness following the yuletide feasts when shorty before the middle of January, 1929, our daughter Bernice came home one evening from her work at the Veterans Bureau feeling quite poorly and by the next morning she was so ill that Dr. Walsh was called and he said she had a bad attack of la grippe, which of recent years, is always called the flu. She had a high temperature and for several days she was a very sick girl. Before she had recovered, Irene and I both contracted the disease. Irene had not entirely recovered from her operation and I was still more or less afflicted with acidosis and the flu soon got its work in on us and we were a sneezin’ and a coughin’ in the way people with old fashioned grip did in days of yore. Then John and Bethel got a good dose of it, and next Grandma Slavens, Nelle and Mary until before Bernice got well enough to resume her work there were several of us in bed at the same time. Dr. Walsh came to treat our ailments every day and gradually under his careful ministrations we all got so as to be able to sit up and eat same, but the flu on its departure from me left its aftermath of a bad stomach disorder. Dr. Walsh said take Phillips magnesia and although on a previous occasion magnesia combined with other remedies had nearly prostrated me, it did as the doctor directed, also took ovaltine and after their continued use for some time I got better. All off the family had the flu except Carroll, who had it when Irene was in the hospital.

During the months immediately following our convalescence from our attack of the flu very few automobile trips were made by any of the family, except occasional short rides in the city and nearby suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. Our time was principally occupied in conserving our strength and endeavoring to regain our health before the advent of hot weather. We succeeded fairly well and by the national holiday, the glorious Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, had rolled around, we were all able to enjoy a good chicken dinner without any apparent ill effects following the feast. Many of the children had firecrackers and othe fireworks, there was a celebration at Takoma Park in the forenoon which I attended and all night there were fireworks at Takoma Park and Brightwood, neither of which any of us attended, but we could see some of each from our home. On the thirtieth of May, I attended the memorial services at the small National Cemetery near our house where the Federal soldiers who were killed in the battle near Georgia Avenue, and only a few blocks from our home, between Confederates who were attempting to capture Washington and Federal troops who repulsed the enemy, the battle being witnessed by President Lincoln. There was music by the Marine Band, vocal selections by choir, several short speeches and an oration by Senator Guy D. Goff of West Virginia.

Not having been able to go on any automobile trips during most of the year 1929, I had forgotten that any of the family took other than short rides in and around the city until I was told by some of my daughters that in April of that year, Irene, Carroll, and their children, Mary and Nelle and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Donohoe went on a trip through a part of northern Virginia. They went by way of Fairfax courthouse to Fredericksburg and thence through Orange and some smaller towns to the important city of Charlottesville, where is located the State University of Virginia, one of the great educationai institutions of the Old Dominion. Thomas Jefferson had a great deal to do in the last years of his life in the establishment of this college and to him is due much off its early success. For years his home was near Charlottesville, at Monticello, which was designed and built by him, on an elevation overlooking the university city. From Charlottesville they went to Monticello, about two miles distant and from which they had a fine view of the city and the surrounding country. The Jefferson Mansion is now a patriotic shrine maintained by patriotic voluntary contributions of admirers of the great Virginia statesman to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation.

Monticello is a large two-story brick structure containing thrity-five rooms, only a part of them being open to the public. The house is surrounded by spacious grounds shaded by many large trees and the part adjacent to the mansion a beautiful well-kept grassy lawn. The house is of the colonial style of architecture with ample porches supported by large columns. Many of the rooms are not very large, but a few of them are similar to those at Mount Vernon. Over the front door of the house was a large weight clock which the former President made. The clock was inside the room, only the dial showing outside. Near the cLock was a small ladder, up which Jefferson went to wind the clock. In one room was a letter file alphabetically arranged and in his Library his writing desk and chair which he constructed. The Mansion is approached by a winding road from a distance, which ascends the mountain and near this road is Jefferson’s grave, over which there is a monument, with inscription relative to the various activities of his life.

After viewing both exterior and a part of the interior of this famous Mansion the party came home late in the afternoon by the same route they traversed in the morning. At Orange they passed near Montpelier, home of James Madison, not then open to the public.

On the second day of June 1929, Mary’s birthday, another all day automobile trip was made through a part of the extreme northern section of Virginia. Starting out early in the morning of a lovely June day, Carroll and Irene, their children, John and Bethel, Mary and Nelle motored to near the Highway Bridge over the Potomac and there fell in company with Mr. arid Mrs. Joseph A. Donohoe and their friend aunt Molly Crissey of Washington and Mrs. Rose Edwards, Mr . Donohoe's sister of Baltimore, Maryland, they crossed the bridge and passing through Fairfax Courthouse, and Aldie in Fairtax County, they continued their journey through a part of Loudon County to Leesburg the county seat of the last named county. This is a very old town, some of the oldest houses having been built in revolutionary times. In fact, Leesburg was founded same time before the beginning of the Revolutionary War and it is said that in the period when the Colonists were having war with the Indians, there was a stockade and fort built at Leesburg, where the settlers in the surrounding country came for protection and for defense during uprisings of the Indians. The only public building they saw of any note was the courthouse in the public square, a very old two-story brick building with porch in front with colonial columns, and surrounded by large old shade trees. The courthouse was built, I think, before the Civil War and contains many deed and court records, extending back to the settlement of the county.

The trip out to Loudon County was specially interesting because it was the birthplace and early home of Mr. Donohoe and Mrs. Edwards. About the time Mr. Donohoe was grown he lived in Leesburg, learned the art of typesetting and followed the avocation of a printer for several years. They said that many of the dwellings and business buildings that they saw in Leesburg looked very old and must have been erected many years ago. After viewing the various points of interest in Leesburg they continued their journey on through a mountainous region about 15 or 20 miles to Bluemont, a health resort located at a high elevation and which is visited by many people every year in search of healthful surroundings and a pleasant place in which to abide awhile during the hot season. It is a small place, its only importance being its advantages as to healthfulness. Leaving Bluemont, on their homeward bound journey they came by the farm a few miles west of Leesburg where Mr. Donohoe‘ s and Mrs. Edward’s parents resided for many years and where they died, but they were buried in the Leesburg Cemetery. The old farmhouse is still in a fair state of preservation and is occupied by the present owners of the farm, who are not related to Mr. Donohoe. They returned home by the same route over which they had driven during their morning ride to Leesburg. Altogether, they said they had a very enjoyable day and arrived at home late in the afternoon.

As usual on the 30th day of May, 1929, the usual Memorial services were held at various places in and around Washington, D.C. The greatest gathering was at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, where the few living G. A. R. (Grand Army of the Republic) veterans of the Civil War, the veterans of the Spanish American and World War, many high civil military and naval dignitaries, foreign diplomats and a large concourse of civilians from Washington and near by localities in Maryland and Virginia assembled to commemorate the valor and bravery of the heroes of many wars who made the supreme sacrifice of their lives in defense of their beloved country. The address at Arlington was delivered by President Herbert Hoover and was a very fine tribute to the nations lamented dead.

In the afternoon, as it has been my custom every year we have resided in the National Capital, I attended Memorial services at the small cemetery near our home where are buried only the Union soldiers who were killed in the Battle of Fort Stevens also near where we live, fought between the Confederate invaders and Federal defenders of Washington, D. C., during the Civil War. The exercises consisted of devotional services, music by quartet and by band, several short addresses, and an oration by a member of Congress from Idaho, whose name I do not now recall.

About the first of July 1929, the children in the "Home of the Friendless" in Baltimore, Maryland, left for the camp of Mr. Edwin Gould in northern New York, having been invited by the wealthy philanthropist to become his beneficiaries for two months as he had done the previous year. And as the children under her charge would no longer require her attention during their absence, she was released from duty at the Rome while they were to be gone, and given a two month's vacation with pay, and she came to Washington, and to our great delight she was with us all the time, at our house except when gone with some of the members of the family arid sometimes other persons on various automobile journeys through parts of the North and the South. Inadvertently I have omitted the name of our guest, who was my wife’s sister, Mrs. Laura White, who had been almost constantly at the Home in Baltimore during the past year. When she came, we observed that she was not so stout as she had been, when here the previous years and we feared her work had been too strenuous for her but she said she was feeling well, and thought the loss of avoirdupois was a benefit to her. As I was feeling much better than I did the previous summer. I had been taking long walks in the part of the city adjacent to our home, but still I did not feel able to take any long automobile rides. The walking though had done me good and when weather permitted I have continued them.

After Sister Laura came, she and I and sometimes accompanied by our daughter Mary went on tramps of a mile or more on several occasions, usually in the early morning. One of these walks was over in a section southeast of our home, and extending nearly to Blair Road and close to the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This trip was through a newly constructed part of northwest Washington, of semi-detached, two-story brick residences, which have been erected by the Wardman Construction Company and which comprise several hundred large buildings with nice lawns and cement streets and alleys. On this trip we went past the Whittier Public School building, a large two-story brick structure, and near the school building we passed the Albright Memorial Evangelical Church and School, a large building built of cut stone, part of the structure being three stories and part of it only two stories high. It is a very imposing Church and school edifice and in a thickly settled portion of the city. Then further on, and on Second Street we came to the Methodist Home for Children, a large stone building, which extends for about half a block on Second Street and probably 100 feet deep. About the center of the building there is a large porch supported by large columns and on the front of the porch are the words “Methodist Home tar Children” and "Edwin Gould Hall". The same Edwin Gould who gave the "Home" children their outing. It is a very impressive looking building.

Another walk that Sister Laura, Mary and I took early one summer morning was in the section of Georgia Avenue, northwest of our home, we went two blocks on Van Buren Street, crossing Piney Branch Road, thence north on Georgia Avenue about one block to the Battle Ground Cemetery, where are buried only Federal soldiers who were killed in the engagement at or near Fort Stevens (which is just west of the present location of the Emory Methodist Church, south on Georgia Avenue) between the Federal and Confederate forces during the Civil War. This is a small cemetery on probably one half of a block and is enclosed by a high stone fence. There is a small brick dwelling in the cemetery facing on Georgia Avenue which is the home of the caretaker of the cemetery. At the back or rear part of the cemetery is a stone pavilion covered, partly closed at the rear, and with large columns in front, which is used every year for the sheltering of the speakers, singers and others in the Memorial exercises on the 30th day of May. All of the graves of the deceased soldiers are marked by small marble head and footstones, the name of each soldier being inscribed on the respective headstones. About the center of the cemetery is a large flagpole on which constantly floats Old Glory. There are nice cement steps in the front entry and cement walk as far as the flagpole and the cemetery is covered with beautiful grass. After going past the cemetery we crossed Georgia Avenue, and almost directly west of the cemetery, across the avenue is an old frame dwelling, which is said to have been the model used by Charles Dickens when he wrote the story "Bleak House." It is said that he saw the dreary weather beaten structure when he was in Washington at the time he made a tour of the United States and he was so impressed with its somberness that he called it "Bleak House" and hence the name of the story. It is a very old looking building now but is said to have been remodeled and repainted several times since Dickens saw it. Soon after we saw it, it was partially burned and afterward repaired. Passing by this old landmark, we next came to the grounds of the Walter Reed Hospital, a federal government installation. The grounds comprise several hundred acres of land, on which besides the main large brick two-story hospital building, there are many other structures scattered over the grounds: the homes of the hospital officials, the quarters of the soldiers stationed at the hospital and houses for accommodation of patients recovering from operations or undergoing treatment. We passed on north beyond the hospital grounds to the line between the District and the state of Maryland, which is probably nearly two miles from our home. Coming home we left Georgia Avenue at Butternut Street thence east to Butternut to Piney Branch Road, thence on Piney Branch to Van Buren and east to Eighth Street and home.

Chapter twenty-nine continued...