Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1854-01-27
Mount yernr,on

The Legislature Of New York have unanimous.
~ passed Joint resolution, urging upon Con-
greSs the purchase of Mount Vernon asia nation-
al inheritance The Legislature OF New York,
we would iain believe, expresses the sentiments
OF the heart of the nation, aud We deeply wish
that all the remaining Legislatures of the patton
would gratefully approve OF its patriotic sugges-
tons. and that oil the people of the nation would
unite i'll one loud and sublime petition for lis i'm
mediate and graceful enforcement.
For fifty years, the home and tomb OF WASH
lEgton have wasted beneath the mingled influ-
ences of time and neglect and ruthless vandalism.
untii oolh nave ialen into Solitary and repulsive
ruins, and the pilgrim from distant lands, attrac-
ted thither by The beautiful aud shadowless fame
OF Washington, turns away, panied and disguised,
from the dreary scene of desolation and deface.
nent that strikes his view and chills and repels
his bursting alteration. tits burning shame 10
the countrymen oil Washington, that this great
rellc OF his life and character, his home for nearly
nall centu.y, and the resting place of his ven
Grated ashes, should have been permitted to mould
er INTO runs almost beneath the eyes oil the as
ssmbied representatives of the nation. We hone
TOT the honor and welfare and permanence of our
country, that this revolving indifference TO the
memory Of our Great Delyerer and the worlds
purest patriot and brightest and lottest name NAV
vanish before the imminent peril uf>a still pro-
founder dissertation, aud one from whose lasting
lgnomlny no alter regrets or computations can re
lleve The nation.
We know there are those " no shrink from sncb
national recognition OF the genius and services of
great national benefactoIs, as savoring of batbar
ism and idolatary, but we Confess our inability TO
appreciate SO extremely sensitive TASTE and con-
SCIENCE. II Iehned esthehcs and scrupulous
observance oil the second comma ndment ,mply tn.
negaton OF all honor to tile memory of human yir.
tue, and the PROCLAMATION of its loved and beauti.
ul and treasured relics, consistency would reoure
our conscientious neglect of the graves of our pa
rents and clilldsen, and studied indifference IN
allthe preciousgi and memenlos of the CHERISH
ed departed. lit be a barbarlsn, fol example.
10 erSc monument to Henry Clay, it iunst be
unclassic to raise storied urn above the dust of
your mothet-if II be idolatry TO purchase and
preserve the tomb oil Washington, 1t was idolat1y
to build il. E.ds s5a st -a.f
Butthe impulse which prompts affection and
grateful admiration to enshrine themselves in out
ward forms is neither barbarian nor idolatrous for
it was the glory OF the classic ages, and il is the
glory of Chtistendoni. The human mind is not a
mere reasoning machine, feeding upon philosophi-
cal Illustrations alone, but glorious compound of
Judgment, Imagination, and emotion, deighting in
appropriate eacitiyes, ana pouring back upon its
surroundings the rich beams of its own light
Thus the physical attendances invariably reflect
the tone and culture OF the "indwelling spirit',-
a poet, whose SOULS sprnkled with tears and +
swept Ly the zephyrs of beauty, wreaks himseIfon'
Tue most tasteful, elegant and Charming surround.
lngs-his house is vine mbueds cottage, his
grounds are art springing into nature, like Pygma
nom statue, his affairs are snow white, and his
lombS are as fresh and stainless as the cuptures
III an artists studlo--he himself reflected in eve.
rythlng abont him, his refined taste and culture
are expressed in,llying characters eyeryw here. A
mans home Is, alter all, his true daguerreotype-
IL Is no nasty Transcript of ephemeIal expressionA
but The matrx in hch is gradually eed his ut.
most pote ntatity. On the other hand the home of
plLiui soyens OF clown is not less faithful to its
spiritual orlgIna andin its dilapidaton and decay
ils weedy gardens and trampled grounds, andits
suhken and neglected graves is Stamped most leg
oly lhe degree OF that civilization IN which mon