(WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1934. THE CARBON COUNTY NEWS, RED LODGE, MONTANA PAGE SEVEN
Scenes and Persons in the Current News The Most Famous 0mm—m ,*• k:-*M ■ iW'l v '% > y~-f ►; > 5 ; ■ * « ! t American Mother i V. Ji'- ■';< 5# m r : V.J| 1 m1,4>t\ ;S] 1 ■ L « mj
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4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Jack Has a Day Ashore in Panama HEN the special Mother’s day '• stamps were placed on sale re WT] cently, there was added another chapter to the romantic story of a J Éf ' ; w woman who is undoubtedly Amer . ica’s most famous mother. For the stamps bear the reproduction ■ \] \ of James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s I s; Mm V famous painting which Is called r 4 "Arrangement In Gray and Black,” \ & / p i w ' f but which Is more familiar to his N & fellow-Amerlcans as "Whistler’s m V., Portrait of His Mother, . j < >• m or, more V. iii ; t simply still, "The Mother.” ; * ■ /J—^ ! ! 1 Although Anna Mathilda McNeill J ■ Whistler needs nothing more than Self-PortraitWhistler Cl859) << this painting to guarantee her Immortality, yet \ ■ ; % I ' I the choice of her portrait for reproduction on a mm■ m. ■ ; : special commemorative stamp Issue this year and named Capt. John Whistler as commandant. ■M .; i (the first time, Incidentally, that such notice has m Accordingly the fort was built In the summer > been taken of Mother’s day) is an additional :■ % Fm ■_ y- :v ■" M of 1803, given the name of Fort Dearborn, In : : M . honor conferred upon her. In all of our history, ■ W- : ;> honor of Gen. Henry Dearborn, then secretary ;$i only three other women have had that distinc mm of war, and thus OapL John Whistler became V- r : k ■ ——... s tion. They were Pocahontas, the Indian prin the real “father of Chicago.” The original draft i. : While the United States Beet was at Panama on Its way from the Pacific to the Atlantic the sailors cess; Isabella, the Spanish queen; and Martha for the plans of the fort, drawn by Captain i were given welcome shore leave and thronged the cities. A party Is here seen leaving one of the ships. Washington, wife of our first President But Whistler, is still In the archives of the War de Bust of Whistler in Anna Mathilda McNeill Whistler Is not the only partment at Washington—a good soldierly Job, Hall of Fame, New York University one who Is honored In this year’s Mother’s day It is, but reveal’ng none of the artistic qualities JAVELIN THROWER Organizing Fourth Internationale stamp. It was Issued also to commemorate the which were later to make the name of Whistler one hundredth anniversary of the event which eldest of a family of five children. so famous. It would be pleasant to be able to record the took place in Lowell, Mass., on July 10, 1834— For the next nine years John Whistler, as M fact that It was a case of love at first sight for : j Y the birth of the son who was to achieve such builder of the fort and Its commandant, dom K- I >> Cadet Whistler and Anna McNeill. But that la M world-wide fame himself and to bring a similar inated the little community In this lonely out doubtful, for soon after he was graduated from :ÿ:: world-wide fame to her by his portrait of her. post of civilization which was to become the West Point be was married, but not to Anna w It Is doubtful If any other painting ever put second largest city In the United States. But the i McNeill Shortly afterwards young Whistler was ■ ' •> * ■ y£: on canvas Is so well known to so many people. building and the commanding were not the only left a widower and early In the ’30s he again ; Reproductions of It, running up Into the millions contributions he made to the history of Fort met the motherly older sister of his classmate, In numbers, have been printed and these prints Dearborn and the beginnings of Chicago. He William Gibbs McNeill, and married her. In 1833 have gone to every corner of the earth. During brought with him a growing family, some of Whistler resigned from the army and the next the last year and a half, while It was in this whose members were destined for renown even ■ year to George Washington Whistler and Anna ‘ft : ■' £ I country under a loan agreement from the French greater than his. Mathilda Whistler was born a son to whom was ■M government. It was exhibited In 12 leading cities His eldest son, William Whistler, accompanied : ; given the name James Abbott McNeill Whistler, throughout the United States and it Is estimated him to Chicago as a second lieutenant and f;j thus perpetuating the name of his uncle, James that during its triumphal tour more than 2,000,- served there throughout the elder WThlstler’s \ ; Abbott the Detroit trader at Fort Dearborn, as 4 000 persons viewed It Several hundred thou term of service. His eldest daughter, Sarah, was i; well as his paternal and maternal families, the ! ! I sands more will have been added to that number married In November, 1804, to James Abbott, a McNeills and the Whistlers. ; before It Is sent back to Paris late this month trader of Detroit, thus becoming Chicago’s first 34 After George Washington Whistler’s resigna (for the agreement with the French government bride. Another daughter married Lieut. Joseph ; tion from the army he rose to eminence as an calls for its return by June 1) to resume Its Hamilton, who was also a subaltern under engineer and In 1842 he went to Russia to enter j honored place In the Louvre. Whistler at Fort Dearborn. r « * .. the service of the czar In the construction of the ! For five months of the time that the painting But our chief interest Is In a toddling child railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow, winning was on a tour of the country it was exhibited of three who came with his father to Chicago In for himself from Czar Nicholas the decoration at the Chicago Art institute In connection with 1803. His name was George Washington Whist y- of the Order of St. Anne. To Russia with him •Y A Century of Progress. But among the thou ler. Thus did the ex-Brltlsh soldier honor the & went his wife and their two sons, one of them % sands who saw it there and who also saw the great commander of the "rebels” against whom a slender, weak lad, affectionately known to his replica of Fort Dearborn on the exposition he had fought under Burgoyne. Young George mother as “Jamie." And “Jamie” he was to her grounds It Is doubtful If one in a thousand Washington Whistler grew up Into sturdy boy ÜP to the end of her days, even when he became realized that there was a historical, if not a hood along the marshy banks of the Chicago t '*1 x? a world-famous painter. For the close tie be W.;; mi cultural, link between the world-famous paint river and on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan. ml 'IWA tween the mother and the son who was to Im ing, the highest exemplification of a man’s skill He was only ten years old when, as the result : unit j.71 mortalize her on canvas began during this Rus In the line of fine arts, and the crude architec of a garrison feud, the War department thought mm M- sian experience. Ralston Le Gore of North Caro ture of a building which had only the very utili It advisable to scatter the officers at Fort Dear She nursed him during those bitter years and lina hurled the Javelin better than tarian purpose of preserving the lives of Its In born to various posts In the Middle West and when they were ended In the death of Major anyone else at the Penn relay meet habitants from savage hatred. That link is the the boy accompanied his father back to Detroit. Whistler and when the widow and her two sons In Philadelphia, and so won that - theme of this story. And there, two years later, young George Wash were reduced to poverty, she brought them out event. V ■ -■ The story has Its beginning In Ireland more ington Whistler probably witnessed the scene of the land of snows back to her sunny North than 175 years ago. In the year 1758 there was which made his father unique In American—and Carolina. When “Jamie" grew up he decided to born to an English family named Whistler, liv perhaps In any other—history. DRAFTED AS MAYOR follow the profession of his father and become ing there, a son to whom was given the name For Capt John Whistler and his elder son, a soldier. He secured an appointment to West “A car In every garage and two fur coats for every scrub lady" Is of John. Long before he had reached his majori Lieut William Whistler, were officers In General Point in 1862, but his career there was a short the platform outlined by Arne Swabeck, organizer In New York for Leon ty young John Whistler ran away from home Hull’s army when that flustered American com a one. In fact, It lasted only two years. i Trotzky’s Fourth Internationale. His organization has branches In all and Joined the British army. In 1777 he came to mander surrendered the fort at Detroit to the But the loss to the military world, If indeed American Industrial centers and differs from the Communistic party only America as a soldier In the expedition with British at the outbreak of the War of 1812, and 4P It was a loss, was the gain of the world of art. In Its policy of International rather than national socialism. “Everything which “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne Intended tradition says that the captain was so enraged W ■ After leaving West Point, Whistler went to Paris, will work out,” he says, "after the government has seized the factories* to deal a crushing blow to the American colo over the capitulation that he broke his sword Ü resolved to become a painter, and his career in railroads, steamships, stores and banks.” nies. But the rapier thrusts of Daniel Morgan over his knee rather than surrendfr it to the that role Is too well known to need farther and Benedict Arnold warded off that blow at enemy. Perhaps it was only the shame of a comment During the years he was rising to Saratoga, and the end of the year saw John surrender without firing a shot that caused him fame his mother was In Europe, also, not with W’hlstler a prisoner of war along with the rest to do IL Or perhaps It might have been his him always, but nearby In case he should have Iowa Farmers Get Com-Hog Money of “Gentleman Johnny’s” army. Mark that fact realization that he was destined to go down In need of her. For somehow her little “Jamie” well, for It has a curious aftermath ! history as the only British officer who, having never seemed to grow up enough to be without m Before the end of the Revolution, Whistler, as once surrendered to a victorious American army, ■>: his mother. In 1880 Whistler left London for a paroled or exchanged prisoner, was back In became In turn an American officer who surren m three years more of study In Paris and hla England where he soon afterwards was dis dered to a victorious British army. mother returned to America for a last visit with charged from the army. Then he fell In love In due time John Whistler was exchanged for '-'Wi her relatives In North Carolina. For Whistler with the daughter of one of Ms father’s friends, a British prisoner, and the choleric old captain > j had decided never to return to hla native land eloped with her, came to America a second time remained In the American army only until the to live. So bis mother was going to wind up and settled at Hagerstown, Md. In 1791 this sol close of the war when he was honorably dis M what few affairs she had there and then return w dier who had worn the scarlet uniform of Old charged. He died September 3, 1829, but he to London, where they would live on the scant England put on the nondescript uniform of a lived long enough to see his son, William, win means which the son could provide. i lieutenant adjutant in the levies which made up some renown as an officer in the Indian and While she was visiting In Cumberland and a a part of the army of the new republic. From Mexican wars. Bladen counties In North Carolina, the storm of that time on he served continuously on the Old Capt John Whistler also lived long enough 4 the Civil war broke and her return to Europe Northwestern frontier under SL Clair, Wayne to see his youngest son, George Washington s ■ was postponed indefinitely. Finally early in 1864 and others who were trying to break the power W’hlstler, graduate from West Point at the age f"r came word from her son that ho had returned r of the savage tribes that were resisting the west of nineteen and assigned to the artillery branch. The men of Washington, Ark., be to London and established himself there. So t: ward push of the American frontiersmen. But he was not to have the satisfaction of know ing too busy to hold office, called on ■<: she announced her Intention of Joining him. In 1797 It was “Captain” John Whistler and ing to what heights his son would rise In another the women to run the town, and But no matter how much her relatives told In 1803 he was stationed at Detroit The Louisi profession, nor to what greater heights this son’s Mrs. Charlean Moss Williams was Anna Mathilda McNeill Whistler that It would ana Purchase had flung our frontier from the son would rise in still another. drafted as mayor, though she Is six to ; ; Mississippi back to the Rocky mountains, but if While George Washington W’hlstler was still a be Impossible for her to go to Europe now, her ty-five years old and n grandmoth- v only reply was the calm statement that her |$||| we hoped to make good our possession of this cadet at West Point he once visited, while on er. She said that with her com “Jamie” needed her and she was going. And go vast empire there must be garrisons In the heart leave, the home of a classmate, William Gibbs plete set of women officials, she M of the Indian country. One of the strategic McNeill It was a great brick mansion which she did. Somehow she arranged to take paaaage would “do a little house cleaning.” on a Confederate blockade runner and on It Y: m places for such a garrison was at the foot of had been built on a plantation near the Cape £ :4*'~ Lake Michigan at a place variously called Chl- Fear river In North Carolina before the Revolu arrived safely In England. Tobacco in a Cigar ' : i : There she lived to the end of her days, the In i cagou, Chlkago, Chekakou and a half-dozen simi tion by one Donald McNeill, scion of a Scotch The average cigar contains about Mi i separable companion of the man who came to be lar spellings. So, early In 1803, the Inspector- family that had emigrated to America from the ten times as much tobacco as an or hailed as one of the greatest painters in the general of the army stationed at Cumberland, isle of Skye In 1789. There Cadet Whistler made dinary cigarette, according to one Iowa farmers receiving their government checks as part of their world. Md., gave orders for the building of a post there the acquaintance of Anna Mathilda McNeill, the weighing test reimbursement under the corn-hog curtailment program of the AAA. C by W«t»rn Nrwipap« Union.
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