Oldal 550 [550]
‘eRe VADRLE LS OR VIRGINIA
ladies by much yelling, the smashing of glass and china upon the
floor, and the parading through the house with certain articles of
feminine apparel waving at the end of rifle and sabre. The timely
arrival of a Union officer of American birth stopped all this, and
a guard was stationed by him about the house to protect the family.
One other occupancy of the house by Union troops must be
mentioned, because it has to do with the garden. There stands
under one of the southern windows of what was then ‘‘the chamber’
a very large bush, and near it grows a trumpet vine. When the
soldiers arrived this time, Mrs. Burwell, from the window above,
dropped into this bush a sword that had belonged to her elder son,
Nat, who had been killed at the Second Battle of Manassas. Her
other son, then a boy, owned some bantam hens and, as all the
large poultry had been killed or carried off, the soldiers turned
their attention to the bantams. Some of these little fowls ran
under the bush to escape capture and the soldiers after them.
Sad to say, when the pursuers emerged they had not only the
bantams, but the sword, which, of course, they carried away.
This bush is one of a great many old shrubs, principally lilac
and mock-orange, that are still hale and hearty. Scattered about
under them and through the grass of the garden are hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of daffodils, as well as a few poet’s narcissus
and grape hyacinths. The ancestors of these bulbs were planted
long ago—no one knows just when—and, together with the shrubs
and some interesting old trees, constitute what is left of the old
planting, though, of course, the terracing and general outline of
the garden is still the same. And it is upon this foundation that
the garden is being rebuilt, little by little, the location controlling
the character; for it lies north of the house and between it and a
line of old stone stables. These, in the days before the railroads
came, housed the particular wagons and horses used for hauling
farm products to Alexandria, sixty-five miles away, and bringing
back necessary supplies for the house.
Parts of the garden are much shaded by houses and trees and,
[337]