be conceived than expressed. At first a general
disorder, wildness, and consternation pervaded the town. The tale
appeared as an illusory dream, as the raving of a sickly imagination.
But these impressions soon gave place to sensations of the most poignant
sorrow and extreme regret. On Monday and Wednesday the stores were all
closed and all business suspended, as if each family had lost its
father. From the time of his death to the time of his interment the
bells continued to toll, the shipping in the harbor wore their colors
half mast high, and every public expression of grief was observed. On
Wednesday, the inhabitants of the town, of the county, and the adjacent
parts of Maryland proceeded to Mount Vernon to perform the last offices
to the body of their illustrious neighbor. All the military within a
considerable distance and three Masonic lodges were present. The
concourse of people was immense. Till the time of interment the corpse
was placed on the portico fronting the river, that every citizen might
have an opportunity of taking a last farewell of the departed
benefactor.--_The Alexandria Times and District of Columbia Advertiser_,
December 20, 1799.

[Illustration]

PART THREE

Five Sketches of the Nineteenth Century

[Illustration]

Chapter 24

The Yeaton-Fairfax House

[607 Cameron Street. Owners: The Misses Crilly.]

William Yeaton was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1766, and
migrated to Alexandria to enter the shipping business when a young man.
In the early nineteenth century he launched into the building trade--an
"undertaker" he would have been called in the eighteenth century--an
architect and contractor today.

On July 15, 1805, he purchased from Cuthburt Powell a part of a lot,
granted unto Levin Powell by James Irvine in a deed dated September 10,
1795, and described as situated at the intersection of Cameron and St.
Asaph Streets, running west on Cameron for the distance of one hundred
feet and north on St. Asaph for ninety-eight feet. The consideration
involved one thousand one hundred dollars.

[Illustration: Recessed and panelled doorway to my Lord Fairfax's town
house]

The elegant three-storied square brick house which William Yeaton
erected upon his land is a monument to his talent as a designer. His
residence is an individualized interpretation of the best Georgian
traditions. The facade of the house is broken in the middle by a long
recessed shallow arch,