Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-03-07
VOL. XVIII.--N0. 80.

will soon have fallen, and as We look out
upon the glowing brilianoy of the clos
inc scene we can but exclaim that the
principle of human liberty belongs to
ages of liberal ghtenment, and that
progress is the law of its being. Indeed
from the hour that first the Mayhower
stood shivering in the gale, the spirit of
progress seems to have been the watch
word The lido Of emigration has been
continually rolling in upon us until its
waves are dashing over the sunset side
OF the Aileghanies. Institutions of learn
ing and places Of worship have sprung up
all over the land literature, science and
art have developed their treasures and
have invited the rich and the poor to par
ticipate skill has bridged our rivers and
filed our marts with the messengers of
commerce rails have been laid across
the continent, thus binding us together,
not only by bands Of iron but the bands
of mutual intercourse; by the application
of steam, time and distance have been
annihilated. See your lighted palaces
! freighted with humanity leaving the me-
tropois of the nation at the mid-hour of
night; the morning sun greets it slowly
climbing over the Aleghanies, onward
and onward through the vast and fertil3
plains of the Great West which are stud
ded with the products of u hardy, enter
prising and industrious ycomanry-on-
ward still until lost in the gorges Of
the Sierra Nevadas of America, where
its wild screams of triumph are caught
up by some bold and enterprising pioneer,
who, in the pride and gladness of his
heart exclaims, Westward the course Of
Empire makes its way onward still
until it halts upon the golden Ellorados
of the Pacific, and there, like. "a gay and
thoughtless beauty, her ear catching the
music of the continuous roar Of the NIGH
ty waters, her hair dripping with the sill
vered foam which comes riding on the
tilal-crestcd waves, she, too, exclaims,
"bchold my conquasts p Hardly have
her words been caught up by the surging
sea, ere our own Morse has sent it on his
educated wires into every editorial closet,
mighty press unlimbers its artillery,
and in an hour it is falling on the civili-
zed world like snowhakes from winters
storm.
Such the land of Washington, the Fa-
thcr Of his Country, Under the shadow
as it were. Of the lofty dome Of the Capt.
toI, sleep, Father of our Country guar
dian spirits will ever delight to watch
over your sacred resting place; :. every
purplng morn as she grows into royal
beauty, flinging out her crimson and gol-
den banners, will come to kiss the virg
dew which Heaven has sent to moistcn
your grave /; and as the shades Of even
ing throw around its sombre mantle.
the cold glitter Of the stars and the gol-
den sheen Of the midnight moon will
throw u soft and mellow light on your
grave. Sleep, hero, patriot and sag,
midst the shades Of your own Mount
Vernon, and upon the banks of the stream
you loved so WE'LL aud which will only
cease to chant its melancholy dirge around
your sepulchre when it shall have lost the
purity of its mountain birth-right home.
Rest, Washington, at the great Mecca
Of the world, and though the black in
gratitude of your countrymen has given
you as a monument, rude and unfin-
ished column, to proclaim your services
and perpetuate your virtues you require
aonc The poorest sod of Independent
America, with nothing but the dew-drop
to Gid it, is n grander mausolcum than
Kings and Conqucrors can bonst. In tho
language Of gifted writer. ''your coun-
try is your monument and your Farewell
Address the proudest epitaph the world
can give"
A great historian has said that it is
moral grandeur which produces a dura-
bic impression--it is patriotic heroism
which permanently attracts the admiro-
ton of mankind how true. The pass
of ThermopyIm, the graves of Marathon,
will warm the hearts Of men thro' every
succeeding age. The field of Marcngo
still attracts the generous and brave from
every civilized State The name Of Wal
lace and the plains of B1nnockburn have
rendered Scottish history immortal in tho
annals Of the world; and so long as the
muse delights TO linger around that Gu
chanted spot, as though to catch the mel
ody Of the harp that once swept through
Tara's Hail. the Emerald Isle will keep
green and fresh as her own hills those
ever memorable words. ''Whon my coun-
try takes her position among the nations
Of the earth then, and not until then,
let my eptaph be written" The time
will come when the vast and devastating
wars which have conyused Europe from
centre TO circumference, will be buried
by the obscurity Of revolving years, whcu
the great names of Alexander, Caesar,
Napoleon and Hannibal will be recolect-
ed only as the shadow Of ancient days,
and the fields Of their fame be lost be-
meath the waves Of succeeding change,
but even then the name Of Washington,
like an endless halo of glory. in all its
beauty and brilliancy, win rise triumph
ant over the deepening foods of time
Horace Greeley.