1922. The Gateway to the South Section II.

The Hygiene of Old AlexandriaI The advanced thinker of today is

nt to regard with amusement andgust, the apparent neglect of hy-ne by our ancestors of a few gen-itions ago. Yes from the very in-ition of the town of Alexandria,irts were made to make it a healthyce. By reason of its elevated posi-n on the banks of the Potomach rainfall carried impurities intowater, thus, naturally tending*to-

*d clean streets. When the found-of Alexandria, constituting a

rd of trustees, met in July 1749.er selling the lots, and conferringds for the same, one of the firstisures adopted was for the care ofstreets. The town was divided

> two wards, north and south, a;tee being appointed to overseei. The byways and lanes, for) were hardly streets, were to bet free from rubbish and nuisance,for any neglect of duty the war-was fined 20 Shillings, the finese used for the benefit of the town,trustees had little real authoritywere generally supported by therinia Assembly, but not always.1752 the trustees ordered Johnt to survey the marsh at the northof the town, through which the

loka Creek flowed towards ther. This stream was once navigat-as far as Lannon's corner, it tookise from a spring near the inter-on of Princess and Pitt streets,survey was made in order to

"e an act of the Virginia Assemblyjelling its drainage. But the mea-did not receive the King's en-

ement, and the marsh remained aice to the town's health, for manys. The people called it in de-n "King Georges Meadows." Not

far from the low grounds of the Ori-noka and just under the banks of theold canal, was a Chalybeate Springsupposed to be of great medicinalvalue. It was protected by the townand a heavy penalty imposed upon anyone bathing, washing clothes or in anyway rendering the water impure.Within the memory of our older citi¬zens, this spring was still valued forits health giving qualities, but dur¬ing the civil war it seems to havefailed and to have passed into ob¬livion.

[ < Previous to the Revolution, so in¬timate were the relations between(church and state, that in many mat¬ters apparently appertaining to civilJaw< the church had swav. The churchwardens under the direction of thevestries levied upon all free holdersfor'the benefit and maintenance of thepoor, the crippled and blind. Inden¬tures were made binding orphan child¬ren to those who pledged themselvesto teach them to read and write andprepare them for a trade. The re¬cords of Old Christ Church Alexan¬dria begin in 17(55, and on the firstpage we see that Wm. Payne and .JohnDalton had care of the poor of theparish. As at that time there hadbeen no home established for the ac¬commodation of the poor, thev werequartered on the people, who boardedand cared for them and rendered theirbills for expenses to the church war-

jdens. Dr. Wm. Ramsey was appointedphysician in I7G5 and his semi-an¬nual account of 19 Pounds, 18 Shill¬ings and (! Pence was ordered paid.Margaret Payne and Jemima Copperassisted as nurses and made salve forthe wounded soldiers brought hereduring the Revolution. The burialpermits issued between 1787 and 1796number -152, of these 1C8 were men,122 women and 198 children, showinga deplorable mortality among infantsduring the summer months. ThePresbyterian Register between 1789-1815 gives about the same average. In

1787, the authority of the Church inthings temporal ceased, a hustingscourt was established, and the ward¬ens of the town reported at eachmeeting of the court, the condition

land treatment of orphans and paupers.Very early in the town's history aboard of health was established eon-sisting of 8 members and a healtnofficer who was a physician for manyyears. Dr. E. C. Dick held this posi¬tion. It was the duty of the board ofhealth to see that all streets andalleys were kept clean and that themarket master kept the market squai ein good and cleanly condition andthat he condemn alt produce unfit foiKale. The board of health was ren-

j resented at different times by twomembers, to inspect all incomingstages and packets at such time as any| epidemic or malignant disease was inIhe country. The health officer hadto take all precautions and not render,a certificate of health to any vesselunless deserved, and for every over-sight he was fined 5 pounds. He wasto receive reasonable compensationfor each dav emwloyed on officialduties. The' City Council had juris-diction over the harbor or any pait()f it below "Pearsons Island" for pre¬venting and removing nuisances thatmijrht be prejudicial to the health ofthe town, even if on board of vesselslying off the shore.

In 1790 smallpox having broken outin several places in Alexandria, per-mission was granted by the court tointroduce inoculation, which took placeforthwith and within a few days 000oeople were inoculated. In 1797 therewas a very fatal epidemic of yellowfever, many prominent citizens suc-cumbed to it and Governor John Woodof Virginia ordered a strict quaren-tine at Alexandria and appointed Dr.Dick as superintendent. The news-papers of the time call attention to thebad condition of lower Prince streetand stringent orders prohibited thethrowing of rubbish and other nuis¬ance in the streets. Xo sunken placessuch as could contain stagnant water

! were allowed under penalty of aheavy fine. A Mechanics Relief So-cietv met at McKnight's Tavern andall caritable persons were interestedin freeing the town of this dread dis-ease. In 1800 an Act of Council waspassed to procure a suitable house for

1 the poor of the town, and a properkeeper for those committed to thework house. This was accomplishedthe following year, when the com¬modious old structure which is still anornament of the country side wasbuilt. Ten acres of land adjoining itwere.-purchased .for a. .small farm tobe worked by those paupers who wereable and by those persons committedfor vagrancy or* small offencesagainst the law. At the close of theeighteenth century the _ town hadlargely outgrown its original limit ofGl.'< half acre lots, and as the old gravedigger John Nitisjail said "There wasa rijrht smart chance of people herein 179D."

Alexandria was a loyal old town,its people bound together by a com¬munity of ideas.not progressive,perhaps, nor as a whole well educated,education in ihe higher branches be-ing confined with but few exceptionsto professional men. They knew noth¬ing of the germs, bacteria or microbesthat lurked in the grass grownstreets, but they were clear mindedmen, our old cily fathers, and thefaith ministrations of the family phy¬sician, and loving friend, often broughtabout the same results accomplishedby our modern scientific physiciansand trained nurses, and they no lessdeserve the tribute of the sage whowrote"He is most nearly akin to the GodsI who giveth health to his fellow men."

¦ . ?*-=

Vast Commerce Between SectionsHandled on Maze of Tracks IntoWhich Five Railroads Rush 1,000cars of Freight Daily.Service Vi¬tal to Nation.

"The Gateway Between the Northand the South."

Situated a few miles from Wash¬ington on the road to Alexandria arethe Potomac freight yards, amongthe biggest yards devoted solely tothe handling of freight in the coun-try. .These yards are the heart of the!

traffice system which unites the Northwith the South. Through them theindustries of the North, turning outuntold amounts of merchandise, arelinked with the buyers of the South¬ern sections of the country, and the!fruit growers and plantation owners;of Dixie are connected with theirNorthern purchasers.As through a narrow bottle neck,jI the results of toil of the two sections

are passed through this gateway,never closed and never blocked. My-raid cars moving in one side and out;the other carry the produce to theconsumer and the machinery to the;user.

Covers Three Miles.Extending for more than 3 miles

along the bank of the Potomac river,the yards, to the layman, seem to bea maze of gleaming tracks, inter-1spersed with low-lying begrimedbuildings with hundreds of freight:cars moving lazily by gravity fromplace to place or being rapidly;pushed along the tracks by puffingswitch engines.While the yards are not the largest!

in the country, their position on adirect airline route down the Atlantic Jcoast line makes their importance inthe matter of distribution second tonone. There are other routes fromthe North to the South and from theSouth to the North while do not comethrough the yards, but they are allmuch slower and necessitate the useof car ferries in order that the carsmay reach their destination.

Should anything occur to make it| impossible to operate through the Po-

eastern section of the nation wouldimmediately feel the result.

Vital to North and South,Industry in the South -would -suffer

because machinery and other productsof Northern factories could not be(sent through without considerable de-lay, necessitated by re-routing andJ distribution over a circuitous route,Northerners who have become accrs-tomed to the luxury of fruit and otherSouthern products would be forced toforego their luxuries for weeks be¬cause the freight in transit at the1!mi* of the tie-up would be ruined'Lk f ore it could be re-routed.An idea of the immense size of the

yards and the amount of work carriedon in them can be obtained by con¬sidering the fact that daily more than4,000 cars arc handled. Five railroadsconverge at the yards and pour intothem a steady stream of trains to be"broken up" then "rebuilt"' into othertrains and finally dispatched. Theroads which operate into the yardsfrom the north are the Pennsylvaniaand the Baltimore and Ohio. From thesouth come the trains of the Southern,the Chesapeake and Ohio, and theRichmond, Fredericksburg and Pu-tomac, the latter also operating forthe Atlantic Coast Line and SeaboardAir Line. During the month of June

tomac yards, business

Ill 1HIIIIWI1 Ulllll 111 35HSEBS80

CARTER BROTHERSUKNTS LOAN'S AND INSURANCE SALES

1318 Kin» Street Alexandria. Va.

Monster Potomac RailroadYard Links North and South

10-4,8:17 cars were handled through theyards.

While the yard performs as great avariety of tasks as any other in thenation, perhaps its biggest feature isthe classification department. An av¬erage of 58 trains per day is broughtinto the yard from the North andSouth. These have been made up atthe train's original yard without re¬gard to the kind of freight in thevarious cars or the final destinationof those cars. As a result, cars ofperishables are mixed up with deadfreight, there are occasional emptyfreight cars in the train, and whilehalf of the cars in the train may bedestined for the same point, they al¬ternate with cars in the train whichare bound for other points.The trains average ">0 cars each,

although this number has ben knownto run as high as 98. The intricacyof the problem of properly and ac¬curately assorting these cars and re¬building them into other trains isshown by the fact that a train of 50cars necessitates an average of 10tuta*

Experts Handle All ( arsOn one side of the yards all north-

bound traffic is handled and on theother side all southbound traffic ishandled. These general zones arefurther broken up into receivingblocks, classification blocks and ad¬vance blocks. . .As a train arrives at the yards it is

sent into the receiving block. Thereit is subjected to a rigid inspection.While ten experts examine themechanism of every car, a score ofclerks examine the way bills andrates to see that the cargo is in pro¬per condition. Passing the inspectionthe train moves on to the "hump"and its various cars are ready forclassification.The hump is situated at the mouth

of the classification block. From infront of this mound of earth and ce¬ment. '50 tracks, each bearing a classi¬fication spread out in fan shape. Asthe train moves up to the mound abrakoman climbs abroad the first"cut." which is then released fromthe train. Gravitation carries the cardown the slope.

Cars Are ClassilicdFrom a high tower on top of the

mound the car is directed through tiicintricate switching system by meansof pneumatically controlled switches.After the first cut has passed throujrhthe first switch, the second cut is re¬leased and proceeds to its classifica¬tion. , ,

After the cars have been properlyclassified, and the classificationtracks become crowded, the cam ineach particular classification arecoupled together and are ready to bepushed to the advance block to awaitihe assigning of locomotives to pro¬pel them to their final destination.With an average of -1,000 cavs com¬

ing into the yards daily the highes-degreo of efficiency and speed are t en¬quired in keeping them moving be¬cause it is imperative that rhey begotton out the same day as thcr ar-rival owing to the fact that thestanding capacity of the yards isonly -1.800. On May .'51, 1.1 .'16 nunwere employed in the yards. Bymeans of this large force a train canbe completely reclassified and dis-patched within three hours of its a:--rival.

Some Freight TransferredThe fact that the roads running into

the vards from the south virtuallyall travel through open country,while north of the yards there area great number of trunels. adds an-other task to the many which areperformed in the yards. Cars whichbring freight from the south and arebound north, are often found to r>tIn- >iiri|k also op'iate n "holdinir

I yard," ii> nrtlt1 In liartille 'hi* kind offreight be lnpp-1 mnthe \ n I, .i' .| ^ 1m 11 i,( '"'!d'ill ! IItllt I' I ll 't' t i ll'i « I '. t111,, t {oil ii 'o the inn''>.'( in hit bt in I Mlilpped M» «Hed 11 out.»t f-

Herp T ' .*' ". ( hhi li .. »t|! | ' litfdt I'll ni! H i t

ii ii »r |t aiHl = i'«5 >i ». on «. I. i I. . . . .. , a .« Ill 11 I.OIflll

ly be "lost." For as Ions: as an hoursometimes, track of a car is lost, hutwithin two hour? it is always ac-counted for. Through an efficientcheeking system, officials of the yardare enabled to keep in ttouch with acar for every minute of the time thatit is in the yards. Another checkingsystem enables them at any time totell what particular brakeman hasbeen in charge of any car while itwas on its way to a classificationtrack.

In order to keep tne cars movingand in good condition, three repairshops are kept in continual operation.Two of them are gicven over to mak¬ing light repairs, while in the thirdevery kind of repair which could benecessary on a freight car is alsomade, hi addition to repairing theears, running repairs are also madeon locomotives.

Thirty engines are used with-n theyards in switching cars for classifi-cation.

PROUD OF OUR ARMY

"The people of the United Statesought to be proud of their Army,"

I said President Cuno H. Rudolph, ofthe Board of Commissioners, of theDistrict of Columbia, today He ad-ded that many are now living whowould undoubtedly have died in theKnickerbocker Theater disaster atWashington, on January 28th last, inwhich 9fi persons were killed and .150injured by the falling of the snow-covered roof, had it not been for theprompt and efficient assistance givenby the Regular troops under Briga-dier General H. H. Bandholtz. Uni-ted States Army, who commands theDistrict of Washington.

In an official communication em^bodying this, Mr. Rudolph thanks theArmy for its work in succoring theinjured and bringing out the dead. Hi\asks that this expresison of the grat¬itude of the Commissioners, on behalfof the citizens, be made of official re¬cord. In referring to the work ofthe Army, Mr. Rudloph said:"Every citizen in the District of

Columbia owes a debt of gratitudeto the Army for the prompt, work-manlike and unselfish manner inwhich it responded to the call for help

J during the Knicekrbocker Theaterdisaster.a debt which our people cannever repay The Army furnishedhundreds of willing hands and pro-vided the tools with which they work

led to rescue with all possible speedthe scores of dead and dying victimstrapped in the mass of snow coveredwreckage. Just as the Army answer¬ed after the Johnston Flood, the Gal-veston disaster, the San FranciscoFire, the floods at Dayton and Pueblo?

j and in the recent West Virginiamine disorders, so its men came tothe rescue when Washington neededhelp the most. It has been reportedto me that the first acetylene torchand the gas to work it, the firstjacks, picks and shovels, were .'< Hrushed to the scene of suffering inQuartermaster Corps trucks bymembers of that efficient corps,nroof that our Army has its missionin peace as well as in war, and theNation can count on it in the futureas it has in the past. I thank Clod

i that the Regulars were as close athand when thev were so urgentlyneeded in the Nation's Capital."

General Bandholltz has supplement! ed this with a letter to Major Gene-ral H. L. Rogers, The Quartermaster

Romance Of The Female StrangerA newspaper of 1819 in paying: tri¬

bute to an Alexandria Woman, says:"But for her inherent modesty hername would be recorded with a penof steel." This tribute was well de¬served by one who is still rememberedin our community as the "GoodSamaritan." Mrs Stewart was of thedistinguished Ramsay family and livedon King1 street in a house built on theproperty of her grandfather WilliamRamsay who was one of the foundersand trustees of Alexandria in 1740.

! Her reputation as a nurse was so wellestablished that she was the first per-

! son that Dr. Samuel Richards calledupon to assist him in the care of the

j "Female Stranger." This romance hasbeen so embellished with fictitious ad-ditions, that the real story is knownto few. In the summer of 1816 thefather of the writer, then a young

General, concerning the work of thej Quartermaster Corps, the big SupplyDepartment of the Army, in whichhe says:"Every officer of your Corps on

duty with this command respondedimmediately and effectively, and theservices of all of them, as well as

j their personnel, is deserving of thehighest praise. They worked untir-ingly during the 36 hours of reliefwork and their prompt assistancewas the direct cause for the savingof many lives It must be to you acause of much gratification that a!!of the members of your Corps up-held in such a fine manner the tra-

j ditions of the United States Auny"

CLEANING THE SICK ROOM

Every sick room should be keptthoroughly clean at all times, but tlie

I less dust is stirred up in cleaning the(better. Dry sweeping or dustingj should not be allowed. If ordinary, brooms and dust cloths arc used theyj should be dampened or the* broomcovered with damp clothes, hut dust-j less mops and dusters are better still.Vaccum cleaning is very desirable be¬cause of its efficiency, and the noise,

j which is the only object is not at serious drawback in most cases. The.cleaning of rooms after a eommuni-icable disease must have an articleto itself.A sick room must be kept tidy as

well as clean. The efl'ect of order is.quieting, hut it must he maintainedj whether the effect upon the patient isj apparent or not. Food and medicineshould not be kept in the sick room.and all used dishes, tumblers, soiledlinen and so forth should be removed

jr.t once. Papers should not he leftlying about.1 I Unnecessary articlesshould not be found in the room at anyrtLne. and every necessary article

j should be kept in its place whichshould be especially adapted to it.Maintaining order in the sick room

'does not mean that, patients shouldj be made uncomfortable by it. Allpatients, especially old people, want,'certain possessions within reach andothers within siyht, and t heir Jr^hvw

j should be considered in spile of thej fact that the aesthetic ell'ect is gen-orally far from good. There are manysmall things about the care of the

! room that may well be decided by thecomfort of the patient. For instancea per feet ilv smooth bed is a very de¬sirable thing ordinarily, hut it is un-desirable if in order to make it smooththe patient must be tucked in s years and S months

This stone is ereeted by her dis-consulate husband in whose arms shebreathed out her last, sigh and whounder (Jod. did his utmost, to soothethe cold dull ear of death.How loved how honored once avails

j thee notTo whom related. or by whom begot;j A heap of dust alone remains of theeTis' all thou art. jind all the proud

shall be."To whom gave all the prophets wit¬ness that through his name, whoso¬ever believeth (ill Him shall receiveremission of sins."Soon after the funeral the afflicted

widower bid :i grateful farewell to his;manv sympathizers, and leaving allhis bill-; unpaid was seen no more. Thetradition of his returning each yearto visit the crave is absolutely wji!1-out substantiation. Some years afterthis occurrence. Mr. Lawrence Hillwent to New York to enter into busi-ness with his uncle Mr. Robert Mc-('rea. formerly a merchant at Alexan-

! ilria. Mr. Hill had occasion to visitSing Sing, and while going through

i the prison he was accosted with cheer-!'ul etVrontrv by one of the prisoners,

: who said "you don't remember meMr. Hill." Turning he recognized hisformer friend "The Stranger" On in-

j (juiry of the prison authorities, theonly information elicited was. that theronvict. was an educated Englishman.imprisoned for forgery and theft, but

j that he had many aliases, his realname hau never been ascertained. Thisis all that is know!! of the Alexan¬dria romance, but as years rolled on!it