Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1855-10-11

rTbe author encountered in up a'ohg 'he ro
tomac, European gentleman OF rank hhu cuuac
ton; who, with the magnifcence of Nes'h'i's.e
Abbey doubtless before his mind, on behodli'2 IN
simple, unadorned aspect of Mount Vernon, remark
ed with surprise, uumixed with sarcasm, land i
this all your country does for Washngton2"l
And is this all! What would you havei
Some vast
And colonadcd pile whose mounting front
Should look with daring gaze in Heavens calm
face;
And adaman,ine walls aud pendent arms
With royal deckd to guard the clay,
The cofInd clay of greatnesst Not such, not such
For him. These the cold and solemn mockeries
Which cunning tyranny invents to awe
The pulseless souls Of his tame worshppers,
Be6t not him, whose life majestic was.
And grand, yet free from pcmp and empty boast
As these high, everlasting hills, and pure
AS Won clear heaven which smiles upon his grave;
What wouldst thou havel Is not this spot of earth
More beautiful, Toll not that dolefull bell;s
like it not. Is tones might well befit
The wall OF woe, sternimuges of shroud.
And pail and agonizing fears. butthis,
Oh ths--why, tits a scene ofjoy! The blue
Rejoicing stream, kissing each stalwart rock,
AS ITO win the sternness from its face,
Goes singing on its way past happy homes
Blest with the kindliest fruits of EARTH And here
The hills have found pathway to tho sun,
Catching tina earliest smile of coming morn,
And the last glory Of departing day.
The flowers breathe their holies, incense round
And all the air is musical with birds
That fit from spray to spray.
And here, in this
Sequestered nook, whore trees of deathess verdnre
Spring from out the mold, taking their root
From consecrated dust--here sumbers ALL
Ali of the greatness that can dle Tread lightly!
For methinks his sained spirit broods in oil
The pertum'd air. and hallows every scene
OF this most lovely spot.
And is this all1
Back to thy lordly isle, and say to them
Who wear their greatness in jeweed star,
A purple robe and razoned sepuchre:
That thou hast seen the grave of him whose fame
Is welded to eternity-beneath
Whose eye their haugh ion quailed, before
Whose eye earhs proudsst monarchs shrunk, abash.
ed
AT their own bitterness; aud whose mighty arm
1t was that broke, as straws, the CALLING yokes,
And dash'd TO earth the claniing chains they ormd
For men Of lree.born souls!
And is this af
And say, beside that grave thou sawest one, who,
Nurturd in the free and fertile West, and taught
By nis own lofty hills and cha inless floods
To loathe the very name nj tyrant, how'd
Him there, and telt such aspir ations high
Such price unu terable, and such holy awe
As no Delphnid vale, no pilgrim shrine
Of blessed Mscca, and moldering cross
Or tower clad in verdure rich wi h blood
OF fmartyr'd saint or warrior, ere could stir
Within his youthful vein! Anl his but one
OF twice ten million hearts that throb like his;
And gather here such nerve Tor noble deeds,
That should some rash, intrudng foe ere dare
To wrest from them the secret birthright won
BY MIN who sumbsrs here, or even seek,
With sacriugious hand, to mar the deep
Repose of the most consecrated spot. then,
As multitudinous as the oceans waves.
Tie swords would leap from out their sheaths, and
strike
In their avenging arms for freedom home
And God, deeming their lives patry price
For the bare privilege to Fl Iht for such
A Heritage.
And say, the grave that thus
Could fire the heart ofyouth could win the love
Ofmatron and OF maid, none need trace
OF his blazo ned eulogy, no funeral urn,
Ne sculpturd shaft of Panan marble
And no blistering arm o'ercanopied with gold,
But simple, grand, serene as hi, own life,,
1t lies within the dim old woods he lovd
So well; the broad blue heaven that smiles above
His epitaph the stream that murmurs by,
His everlasting dirge. .....
Back with thy thoughts
Oflordly birth; bring not thy empty rappings
Here. He sneeds them not.
sIt is the custom OF vessels to toll their bells when
passing Mount Vernon,