Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-10-23
GRAVES OF OUR RULERS,


Grounds Honored by the Dust of Deat
Presidents-Many of the Spots in Ne
elected Disorder-The Stones and Shaft,
that Mark Their Graves.
1t is not very difficult matter to prove
that the United States is an ungratefu
republic, if her neglect of her dead pres
idents is to be taken as complete evidence
of it, without any counterbalacing testi-
monv. Not even the states in which the
presidents are buried are known to most
people The graves of most of them are
unmarked with monument, while those
of others are cared for with scarcely the
attention due to the lowest citizen. There
are few noble exceptions, but it is not
the United States that has been grateful,
but the state of the dead ones nativity
or his personal friends.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
The grave of the first president, the
father of his country, has been visited
by so many thousands of Americans
and foreigners that it will be of very
little interest to the majority of readers
to peruse a description of the place
now. The Mt. Vernon association has
taken good care of the first presidents
last resting place. Washington's remains
were deposited IN their present recepta-
Gle in 1887 The vault was built in &C.
cordance with the provisions of the pres
ident's will. 1t is of brick, with an
arched roof. Over the gateway, in mar
BILE tablet is the simple inscription:
''Withln this enclosure rests the remains
of General George Washington" TIVE
coffins lie in the vestibule of the vault;
the first is that of Washington, the other
of Martha Washington.
JOHN ADAMS.
Beneath the Unitarian church of Quin
CT, Mass, may be found the remains of
two American presidents. The church
was completed in 1928, and the body of
John Adams was removed from the fam
lily vault in the cemetery just across the
street into the room beneath the church.
John Quincy Adams body was place in
the same room in 1o4S. Their wives are
buried with them. The bodies lie in
Ieaden caskets placed in cases hewn
from solid blocks of stone. The tombs
are seldom visited, and the apartment is
kept dingy and dirty. In the church
room above may be found
the following inscription "Be
meath these walls are deposited
the mortal remains of John Adams, son of
John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams, Sec
ond President of the United States. Born
1880 October, 1875. On the 4th of July,
1776. he pledged his life, fortune and
sacred honor to the independence of his
country. On the Sd of September, 1888,
he affixed his seal to the definitive treaty
60. -h,rh n01vv lodi
that independence, and consummated
the redemption of his pledge. On the
4th of July, 1926, he was summoned to
the independence of Immortality and to
the Judgment of his God. This house
his birth place, to his munificence, history
to his patriotism, posterity to the depth
aud composure of his mind"
JOHN Q. ADAMS.
On the other side of the pulpit is the
tablet containing the inscription to the
other Adams. 1t reads thus: "Near this
place reposes all that could die of John
Quincy Adams, son of John and Abigail
(Smith) Adams, sixth President of the
United States Bora 18th July, 1857,
amidst the storms of civil commotion
he nursed the vlgor which inspires a
Christian! For more than half a century,
whenever his country called for
his labors in either hemisphere or
n any capacity, he never spared
them in her cause. On the
oath December, 1914, he signed the Sec
ond treaty with Great Britain, which re-
stored peace within her borders. On the
23d of February, 1S4S, he closed Sixteen
years of eloquent defense of the lessons
or his youth by dying at his post
in her great national council. a son
worthy of his father, citizen shedding
glory on his country, scholar ambitious
to advance mankind, this Christian
sought to walk humbly in the sight of
his God'' The church itself is built of
Quincy granite and surrounded by elms
and horse chestnuts.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
In thick growth of woods, few hun
dred yards to the right of a road leading
from Charlottesville, Va, to Monticello,
may be seen the grave of Jefferson, in
little inclusure, with thirty others. An
obelisk, nine feet high, marks the spot.
The base has all been clipped away, and
the monument looks like rough, mean
ingless stone. ''Born April 2, o. s. 1743,
died July 4, 1896" is put upon the base.
Another inscription has been almost en-
tirely obliterated.
On a fy-leaf of an old account book,
Jefferson wrote this. "Choose some TN
frequented vale in the park, where is no
sound to break the stiffness but brook
that bubbling winds among the woods
no mark of human shape that has been
there, unless the skeleton of some poor
wretch who sought that place out to
despair and die in. Let it be among an
Gent and venerable oaks; intersperse
some gloomy evergreens. Appropriate
one-half to the use of my family, the
other to strangers, servants, etc. Let the
exit look npon small and distant part
of the Blue mountains" His wishes
have been well carried out The old
family house was in ruins three years
ago, and tenanted by an old man who
made living by demanding fee from
visitors.
JAMES MADISON.
At Montpelier, four miles from Orange,
Va, Madison is buried. The grave is in
the center of a large level field, in lot
about 100 feet square, surrounded by a
good brick wall. On the gate is
a SIGN "MadiSOn lS20'' Four graves