Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-01-15
MOUNT VERNON.

land consecrated ground II 10,
The FIRST the hallowed home of enc" b
Who lives upon oil memories, ,t..
Though with the buried gone.
suchgray as this are pilgrim shrfnes-- q
Shrnes to no code or creed confined
The DeIpham vales, the Paleslines,
The Meccas Of the Mind"
1t has been, said that America has no
PAsT--that with her all is FUTURE. True
it is as people we are prone to forget the
Past-our national air ever breathes of the
present and immediate, which De Tucque-
vile to be the natural language of Dem
ocracy. But, if we did not sufficiently
appreciate the fact we are inhcritors Of a
most glorious Past and as our, national
existence has been so brief, the more shame
TO us if we forget it, and neglect to honor
the memory of those high hearted, and
strong minded hefoes who made that Past
a glorious one. For the purpose of hold
ing forever in grateful remembrance the
deeds and character of one--the noble
chief Of those heroes, the "Mt. Vernon
Association has been formed it has for
its acknowledged object the purchase and
preserUatiOn Of the home and grave of Wash
ington." This, too, is the work of woman,
and if she is proving that when prompted
by right motives and high resolves, her
arm is not feeble, and her voice is not pow
erless. tits but just that this should be
the work, for woman ST. s-es the renowh of
the men she made great,--we shall be great
women if we have great sons. Thus,
though little is said in our country's an.
nails Of the father Of Washington, we al
ways read of his mother and his wife !;
thong II we scarcely ever hear the name Of
the father of Clay, his mother and his wife
are to repose close on either side of him
in that noble pile of architecture which is
now being erected to his memory. Nay,
more, let any man live in the hearts Of his
countrymen, and the wife he loved, the
mother who bore him, stand there also, re-
ceiving homage together, with the grand
character which they have developed and
sustained, perhaps almost created. Who
shall dare question thesimportance Of this
work who presume to cavil at the work
ers?-The stole Mussulman enshrines at
an
Mecca the earthly remains of his Prophet
the volatile Frenchman sends his stately
vessel to bear from "lone barren isle in
the far seas the ashes of his loved Napc-
leon.--While stout hearted England has,
and is still searching the wild Arctic
wastes for the few white bones which were
her heroic Franklin, shall we not, whose
Prophet, Prince and Pioneer lies neglected
in view of our fre side, rouse ourselves to
emulate the noble gratitude of the sons of
the desert, the dweller upon vine-clad hills
and she whose amorning drum beat is
heard around the world?'' Aye, and veri-
ly-let there be no cavillere now, though
there was Tom Paine in the days of
Washington, let there be none now, let
them all be changed to noble Everetts.
This is mighty movement bit the Press
and the people are for it, and where the
former leads, and the latter sustains, we
shall still from time to time hear the cheer
ing shouts go up to heaven-"The work
gose bravely on" AS for us-''Mt. Vern-
ON Sisters" we deem it noble privilege
thus to be able to lend our aid in spur
chasing and preserving" the last resting
place of him who sleeps in that gray old
tomb by the tdarmuring river the man
whom the ploughman Of Marathon blesses
as he remembers the struggle of his own
and for liberty, whom the Swiss peasant
reverences among men as he does Mont
Blanc among the nountains-upo whose
estate the deep eyed italian gazes with
affectiouate enthusiasm, whom French
remembers as che bosom friend of Lafay-
ette,--Mho. while Poland has one patriot
exile, will be loved as the child who led to
the battle field her Pulaski and her Kos
ciusco-whom even the poor Indian in
untutored admiration has immortalized by
making him the only "pale face" who is
allowed by the Great Spirit to enter the
''happy hunting grounds Like the lit
tie rills thatfrom the mighty river, we will
unite our thousand forces--like the still
| frost that beauties the autumn forest, our
sure aud silent influence will shed a glory
over desolation and decay. We will work
that our children may behold with pride
the fruits of our labors and that the Al
mericans who wanders in foreign land
may realize how the mystry of Mecca the
stateliness Of Westminster, the glory Of
the Hotel des Invalides, and even the gran