Page 252 [252]
Pine hp ee ae RATE
These Lawsons and their kinsmen, the Walkes, who occupied
the place so many years, identified themselves with all that was
fine in the history of the new country. One of them was always a
vestryman in that ancient and most interesting church known as
Old Donation, as well as the little church that preceded the present
one. Another Lawson helped select the site of Norfolk. ‘There
were women, too, of charm and beauty. One, Mary Calvert
Lawson, has had her name handed down from generation to genera¬
tion always Mary Calvert, whether it be Lawson or Walke, Hill
or Truxtun, as it is today.
When the moonlight streams over this garden, and lingers
lovingly there, one feels that much of interest has happened in it.
That these wonderful trees through their several generations have
been revered is truly evident in that during these more than two
centuries they have never been harmed, keeping their foliage green,
and making of a lovely spot a perpetual summer, and well may
the poet have applied to it:
"A place of rest with swaying trees,
A lovely garden by the sea.”
CORNELIA HODGMAN.
L153]