Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1876-07-01
THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
A Istsrestiag Articls-The Early Hisssry
or she United states-The Obelisk - the
Ms.sry or The Father Of bic Country
- be Fiaished.
A hundred years ago the American
colonies contained less than three mil.
lion people. and their homes, extending
from New Hampshire to Georgia, were
bounded on the east by the pillows OF
the Atlantic, and on the west by the
earthly Handicapped pillows Of the
Allegheny mountains. Beyond that
range were scattered settlements, mostly
military or trading posts, chief among
which were Pittsburgh and the Falls Of
the Ohio, now Louisville. An English
port called 6ackville stood upon the
banks Of the Wabash, and an old French
settlement with an English governor
was the only European settlementin ILL
nois. All the South which fronts the gulf
OF Mexico, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana,
and Texas, ss we'll as that part OF the
continent west OF tho Mississippi, be-
longed by title to European powers, but
occupied by Indians, who were really
the lords OF the forest. Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Charleston were scarcely more than
villages Albany, Carlisle, Frederick
and Winchester were frontier hamlets.
Manufactures scarcely existed. Coast.
ing smacks, with few ships from the
West Indies and from Europe, consti-
tuted the only commerce. The women
whirled their spinning wheels, or piled
the shuttle in the loom, in almost every
house, while the AZ and the pillow were
the tools of nearly all the men. News
was q slow traveller, and it took weeks,
even months, to receive intelligence Of
what was doing in remote sections Of
the country.
John and Samuel Adams and James
Otis were aspiring young lawyers in Bos-
ton, where John Hancock was mer-
chant prince Alexander Hamilton was
at Kings, now Columbia College, New
York Benjamin Franklin was in Lon.
don representing the postal necessities
OF his native country the Lees were on
their estates on the Potomac Patrick
Henry and Thomas Jefferson were men,
bers of the House of Burgesses, in Vir.
ginia /; the Pinckneys and Rutledges
were on their plantations in South Caro-
lima George Washington was at Mount
Vernon, none of them anticipating their
great future, for what sage or statesman,
though endowed with quickest eye and
keenest faculty of observation, could
have cast the horoscope of a century and
foretold what three generations have
brought forth A nation born in day.
Europe dispossessed of continent and
America from the st. Lawrence to the
Rio Grando, the abode of many peoples,
speaking one language, swearing fealty
to one political faith, aud under one
flag, on which are mixed all the hues of
heaven. The shores of the Atlantic and
Pacific bound by hooks of steel, and the
Sequoia Gigantea on the slopes of the
Sierra Nevada, which were growing
when Solomon began his temple, the
property of race which fells its pine
forests in Maine and hews it way through
the cactus of Arizona. California coins
its gold in Philadelphia, New England
sends wares to the banks of the Colum-
bia, the orange groves of Florida find
marts in Boston, San Diego and Virginia
City find all they need in New York, to
which city Texas ships it's cattle !;
Rockland lake sends ice to New
Orleans, and Chicago supplies the world
with wheat and corn, Forty millions of
people, gathered from every zone on
earth, of every hue, race and tongue,
are fused into one nationality, while
the kings and counselors of Europe gaze
in establishment on the activity of our
Atlantic coast; and Asia, rising from the
sleep of ages, beholds in startled wonder
the civilization of our Pacific shore.
Who hath wrought this wondrous
transformation which more than fulfills
the dreams of Plato in his "ideal re-
public7" The underlying religious
sentiment OF the people will answer,
God, and to Him be all the glory. Yet,
under His benignant sway, one man,
more than all others, was raised up for
this achievement. "Many sons have
done virtuously" in this great cause
whom the nation honors, and whose
fame with pious care she will "embalm
to Immortality" But one "has eX-
celled them all ;" to him the nation
owes and always will owe its largest debt
of gratitude. Travellers who visit
Switzerland come home to tell us of
Mont Blanc; those who visit the Cordil-
leras, returning, tell us only of Chin
borazo; but any citizen of the world,
speaking of American history, feels that
Washington is it's synonym.
Has the nation forgotten her illustri-
GUS son? If not, why has the monu-
mentintended to commemorate apeople's
gratitude been permitted to stand in an
unfinished condition so long, under the
very shadow of the nations capitol9
children that our muniicence shall show
us mindful of the glorious legacy he left
lis in his character, and worthy to be
sharers in the benediction of his fame.
The simple planter by the Potomac, by
disinterested and self-renouncing patriot
ism, reared himself to the loftiest station
gained by man. The titles which he
stunned and the power which he re-
linquished could not have added to his
greatness. The influence of his life has
unconsciously become an ennobling
power in the life of every genuine
American, and our country is to-day the
home of more wise, well educated, self
governed and happy people than are to
be found in any land on earth, because
of his inspiration. Should our love and
admiration for his patriotism fade into
forgetfulness there is no hope for lesser
men.
The Pharoahs reared the pyramids as
tokens of their peoples slavery and of
their own uncurbed and kingly power.
The monuments of Babylon and Nine
veh, now only ruins, covered by heaps,
"where very desolation dwells, were
bat the signs of autocratic and imperial
pride. The pillar of Najan and the
arch of Hadrian were not peoples
tribute, spontaneous and glad, but were
reared by unwilling hands to commem-
crate despot's name. Westminster
Abbey and the cathedral of st. Paul's
are noble mausoleums, guarding the
duat of Enoland'a mighty dead hnt