The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-02-17


said in solemn tones:
"And now 1 pray that those whom
God hath joined together, man may
not put asundcr."
The Famous Washington Monument.
The history Of an attempt to erect,
in the city OF Washington, a monu-
ment to the memory of the "Father of
his Country" is one ofthe most singu-
lar to be found anywhere in the annals
of the republic.
The subject opens in 1888, when con-
gress unanimously decided that an
equestrian statute to be erected at the
national capital, and inscribed rs fol-
lows:
"The United States, in congress as
sembled, ordered this statute to be
erected, in the year of our Lord 1888,
in honor Of George Washington, the
illustrious commander-in-ch Of the
United States of America during the
war which INDICATED and secured their
liberty, sovereignty and independence"
Our minister at Versailles was in
structed to engage the best European
artists for the work. In 1896, five years
after the foundation of the present cap
ital, General Washington, at the solicit
tation Of L'Enfant, engineer of the city,
and some personal friends, designated
as an appropriate site for "a monument
to the American Revolution" mot to
HIMSELF the spot directly south of the
| Executive Mansion, at the western ex-
trenlity Of the Mall. His death in 1899
revived the question, Mr.. Macon, of
North Carolina, called the "father of
the house" urged in congress that to
provide for such a monument would
be establishing an injudicious prece-
dent.
However a monument was agreed
on, and President Adams requested
Mrs. Washington to permit the remov-
al of her husbands body thereto To
this she replied Taught by a great
example I have had so long before me
never to oppose my private wishes to
the public will. I must consent to the
request made by congress; and in doing
| this, need not, cannot, say what a
sacrifice of individual feeling 1 make
to sense Of public duty"
! The next monumental manifestation
is feeble. 1t is a speech by Buchanan,
then a young member, trying to arouse
his associates enthusiasm. Then follow
a series of abortive efforts to disinter,
inter and renter the body of Washing
to in score of places, one Of them he
ing under the capitol. At last some
citizens Of Washington, headed by
Chief Justice Marshall, organized a
society for the erection of Il suitable
monument, and by 1S47 they had ac-
cumulated enough funds to justify a
beginning. Calls were issued for de-
signs, and finally that of Robert Mills
was accepted. A rotunda of vast pro-
portions, wherein labyrinth of mas
siye columns supportsa dome covered
with allegorical relieves; on its walls,
historic paintings; in its inches ashes
Of American patriots; above magniti-
cent galleries, rich in architectural
beauty; whence, gazing into the crypt
beneoth, should be described with its
mysterious art, the colossal statute of
the great hero-white and silent-sur-
rounded by the men who having in
life drawn their inspirations from him,
stood to pay eternal homage; and over
all, crowned with star, emblem of his
glory in sublime grandeur. the obelisk
was to lift its superb head six hundred
feet in the sunshine and moonlight.
Such was the monument designed to
portray to coming generations three
elements of George Washington's char
acter-majesty, simplicity, plainess.
On the 4th of July, 184S, the corner
stone was laid, and the ceremonies
correspondent to the importance of the
occasion. President Polk, his cabinet,
the supreme court judges, congress,
diplomats, political, literary and social
celebrities, military and naval officers.
state delegations and representations
from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw
Creek and Sawbridge Indian tribes
formed part of the glittering procession
that filed under the triumphal archess
and waving banners making gay the
streets
The cornerstone Of the monument
was block of marble weighing "a, 500
pounds, quarried and presented by
Thomas Lymington, of Baltimore, Md.
Robert C. Winthrop delivered the ad-
dress, and B. B. Master, of the Crane
Lodge of Freemasons in the district, a
world-famed Mason, replied. He wore
the apron and sash, and used the gavel,
worn and used by Washington when he
founded the capitol. Before separat-
ing, each guest was presented with a
piece of corner stone.
In the thirty-two years which have
elapsed since the magnificent beginning,
eighty-one memorial stones to be set
as panels along the interior staircase
have accumulated. Among the most
notable of those from abroad may be
mentioned block of granite Alexan-
drian Library, Egypt, an ancient Egypt
ian head in relief, block from the tenn
pie of Carthage, block from Mount
Esculapius, Island of Paros; also tab
lets from the Governments of China,
Japan, Switzerland and Turkey, City of
Bremen and Greece. The superstruc-
ture, an obelisk, fifty-fve feet square
with walls fifteen feet thick, was reared
to height Of ia feet, and then the
work ceased.
In 1874 the architects estimate for
the completion of the monume nt was
$4,000. Two hundred and thirty
thousand dollars had already been ex-
pended; and, judging from the work
covered by the sum, the original esti-
mate must be doubled, nay, treb]ed and
quadrupled, to carry out Mills idea.
In 1876 Senator Sherman submitted
a concurrent resolution which
was passed by a unanimous vote,
which concluded as follows: We, the
senate and house of representatives, in
congress assembled, in the name of the
people CT the United States, in this the
| beginning of the second century of our