Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-11-11
The Mount Vernon Aid Fund.
A special appeal to the Sons and Daughters Of the
County of Monmouth, on behalf Of the " me-. Ferno"
Ladies' Association Of the Union.

Ladies' association Of the Union.
CITIZENS OF M~oNMoUTH-The Lady Managers
for Monmouth County, appointed by the Vice Re-
gent for New Jersey, desire to stir your patriot
hearts to lend your aid in redeeming from decay and
desolation, the tomb of Washington. What a liv-
ing reproach to our Nations ingratitude that this
should be necessary! But, alas, though little mere
than hall a century has seen his noble form entonbed,
though there are still some honored few among US,
who have taken him by the hand, and in whose rec
objection his God-like mien is inefacably impressed.
bis grave o'erspread with rank-grown grass and
weeds, pr0claims too truly that Republics are un-
grateful.
1t is the object of the Association to purchase
Mount Vernon, as a gift to succeeding generations.
1t is a noble thought, and one we'll worthy the noble
lady who first suggested it. Too long, already, has
this hallowed spot been allowed o remain in private
hands too eagerly we cannot show our willingness
to carry out this object; and to you, sons and
daughters of Monmouth, need we appeal but once
to have your ready cooperation, to have you join
with US, in heart and hand, in furtherance OF this
great and glorious work. No! That noble spirit
which filed the bosoms of our ancestors, and led
them on to conquer or to die, still burns within our
hearts. That indemitable courage and innate love
of country which carried them to the cannon's mouth
in defence oftheir homes, and to keep inviolate from
the oppressor's foot the green graves OF their sires,
still glows within our breasts, or we are no longer
worthy to be called their children. Here, where
every foot of ground on which we daily walk in
peace, has been stained with the blood CT m~artyred
patriots where fulfilled armed hirelings fed before
a half-starved, shoeless band of yeomen where the
] enemy made his last stand within our borders5 and
the clarion notes of Freedom aud Victory re-
sounded over hill and plain, we must be patriots
still.
The Battle Ground of Monmouth! What a sacred
charm enshrines 1t. What hallowed associations
cluster around the Old Parsonage, majestic even in
its decay. Those grassy slopes, over which the
mornings sun throws the deep shadow of the Ten
nent Church, how bright and cheerful now. Those
noble trees which surround it; how peacefully do
they whisper to the summers breeze above that
silent " city of the dead!" But was this scene al
ways thus Can we look upon it without recalling
most wildly to mind the glorious results of that
e~ventful 28th Of June, when he, the Father of his
Country, after a long succession of reyerses, deter
mined to advance against the foe Are We not,
then, peculiarly indebtd to him, and shall we not
show by our liberality in aiding this work, how
deeply we feel our gratitude to him? 1t is a work
for the nation, and it is designed that every man,
woman and child in town, village and hamlet, shall
contribute something toward it. Let us then set
about it with all the zeal and enthusiasm of our
| souls, each vieing with the other, regarding it in
the light of a sacred, christian duty. Let the min
listers of the Gospel proclaim it from the pulpit,
judges from the bench the mechanic in his work
shop Let it be brought before the youth Of our
schools talked of in the nursery; by the fire-side
at home and abroad in the store, in the Office, in
the field. Give the noble object a national publicity
| and it must succeed. The appeal is made through
out the length and breadth of our Union. Citizens
of Monmouth shall we not endeavor to sand where
our fathers stood, in the foremost rank 2 Thus, oh
glorious spirit of Washington, shall we prove that
in our hearts thou hast a lasting memory.