The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-11-03
Towards the Centennial.
wAsHrNeToN. D. c. Oct. 20, 49,;

yet We found plenty OF sights
10 attract our attention.
Washington IL indeed beautiful City.
1t is situated. as no doubt most of your
readers are aware, un the left bank of the |
Potomac and on the right bank of the |
Annacosta river. The City is embraced |
in natural amphitheater,.. formed bv'
range of hills, the chiefest
of which is Arlington Heights, of
which ! will inform you more presently. |
Nearly all these elevations afford beau
tiful sites for suburban villas, which |
command the most extensive and charm
ing prospect of the undulating plains
below. But ! am growing in the way of
space too much, and must condense a
long story into short one. or you will
consign il to your waste basket The
first point interest was
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS,
located about A miles vest, on the op-
posite side of the Potomac The house
and National Cemetery are open to vis-
tiers every day. The grounds have an
altitude of two hundred feet above the
river level, and enables one TO get
birds eye view" of the City and sur
roundings. Arlington House was the
home ofGeorge Washington Park Curtis.
President Washington's adopted SON. 1t
was inherited by General Robert E. Lee,
who married daughter Of Mr.. Curtis. He
abandoned it when he Joined the rebel
lion. In 1868 the estate was sold under
the confscation act, and in 1864 the
Government took possession of it and
set off about one-6fth for a national
cemetery. Here rest the remains of II :
266 soldiers, Of whom a great many
were rebels. At the head of each Union
soldiers grave has been erected mar
| bic slab, with the name. The names OF
all who could be identified are thus Civ
en-. The rebels are buried in rows, some
times alternating. and are marked by
wooden slabs, with their names painted
on in black letters. The white soldier:
are buried in the west cemetery and the
colored ones in the north part of the
grounds. 1t is beautiful place to visit
and in ones rambles the time grows any
thing but monotonous. If person has
any patriotic blood in his veins, it il
sure to be stirred on reading some of the
inscriptions which may be found here
and there throughout the ground, among
which ! note the following:
1.-THE hopes the fears, the blood, the tears,
That marked the bitter strife,
| Are now all crowned by victory,
That saved a nations life"
Another yet more beautiful, which {
was careful to note, was:
''The muffled drums sad roll has beat
The soldiers last tattoo,
No more on life's parade shall meet
Those brave and allen few.
On faIne's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn sound
| The bivouac of the dead"
"Unknown," as veied beneath the shelf" rim
| sod,
Yet, dear to liberty and known to God.
South of the house Is granite sar
cophagus, surmounted with cannon ant
balls. In 1866 it was erected to mari
the last resting place of 2,111 unknown
soldiers, gathered from the battle field
of Bull Run. The inscription is as fol
lows:
Beneath this stone repose the bone
Of two thousand one hundred and eIeve
unknown soldiers gathered after tn
War from the fields of Bull Run an
the route to the Rappahannock. Thei
remains could not be identified, bu
their names and deaths are recorded i
the archives of the country, and il
, grateful citizens honor them as of thei
noble army of martyrs. May they res
in peace. September A. D. 1866"
The vault beneath, containing the re
, mains, is twenty feet in diameter an
i, thirty feet deep.
Leaving the cemetery We reache
: Fort Whipple, short distance nortl
e west. 1t is now used as school of il
t struction for the Signal Service.
y With this we brought our Sunda
a rambles to close. On Monday morI
)! ing we visited the Department of tf
Il Interior and Patent Office To atteml
It a description of this mammoth stru
y ture would be preposterous. No on
n can realize its magnitude until he b;
= .raversed the different halls. Il is o,
d of the finest and most imposing stru
Is tnres in the City, and second to the Cal
n itol itself. 1t contains one hundred an
ninety-one rooms, and cost two million
seven hundred thousand dollars.
the second floor is to be found the mus
um of models which occupy four magn
!, fcent halls, extending along four sid
" of the building. They are filed wi
= cases containing models of all the pa
8 ents granted by the United States sin
: 1886. Next comes the
, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE,
II founded by James Smithson, an illegir
ID mate son of Hugh, first Duke of Mort
al umberiand. He was an educated ge
T. tleman and an ardent lover of the SC
il ences. Dying in 1928, he left his pro
If erty, estimated at half million of dc
Id lars, to his nephew with proviso that
il case of the nePhew's death witho
1e heirs, it should go to the United Stat,
is ito found ut Washington, under t
M name of Smithsonian Institute an esta
ne lishment for The increase and ditfuSi
l Of knowledge among men"
e, The nephew died without heirs a
re the institution was founded accordiE
he ly.
ed We next looked into the Treasn
mt Medical Museum, Agricultural Bull
he ing, which are all worthy ofspecial no
r. but my space is occupied, and nj
er, not attemp; to describe them
y, w. 0. SHEARER
ut
&C. For the Press.
Centennial Notes,