Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1884-06-16
MRS. ARTHUR'S GRAVE.

able to speak from long and intimate
knowledge of General and Mrs. Ar
thur, | asked her many questions
about the latter, by whose grave in the |
rural cemetery at Albany had stood !
a few days previous. The sarcopha
gus that covers the grave is of the
finest italian marble, and around its
edge, like running vine ,are carved
in relief, in antique lettering, her
name, Ellen Herndon Arthur, the
date and place of her birth, Culpeper,
Va, August 80, 1887, and of her
death, New York, January y, 1880.
The inscription begins at the lower
left hand corner, bringing the hus-
bands name, Chester A. Arthur,
across the head of the sarcophagus. ].
The father and mother of the Presi- 4
dent, and Jane, one of his five sisters,
who ,aied at Is, lie on the same lot;
also Mrs. Herndon, the mother of
Mrs. Arthur, and William Herndon
Arthur, their eldest child. 1t is
very unpretentious sepulcher for the
household of the head of the nation,
and it is not easily found, lying well
to the rear of the handsome old GEM
etery, of which it forms part; but
the grass of the burial lot has been
worn nearly bare by the feet of many
pilgrims, and the myrtle vine, which
grows thriftily around the edge of
the marble block that covers Mrs.
Arthur's grave, is reverently de-
spoiled of innumerable slips to be
pressed within the leaves of feminine
| bibles and albums as a memorial of
her whose pathetic fate it was to fade
suddenly out of life just when that
life had reached Its full-orbed matron-
ly prime and was Learing the zenith
of the proudest American woman's
ambition. Mrs. Arthur has left
vivid and pleasing memory in the
circles of New York and Albany in
| which she moved. She was a sing
ing spirit, going winsomely through
life. Mrs. Morgan speaks of the
more than ordinary attachment be-
tween the husband and wife, and of
his accompanying her into society
more than most men SO engrossed in
official life. Her death, of pneumo-
MA. was occasioned by cold con-
tracted one rainy Friday at a dinner
| party, from which she went to con-
cert, and it occurred the following
Monday evening. Gen. Arthur was
away on business, and, to his. un
speakable grief, did not reach home
until she had lost the power of recog-
milton. There is place called
Three-mile Point, which every travel
carriage from Richfield Springs to
Cooperstown, through the beautiful
country lying on the borders of Otse-
go lake. At this point, three miles
from Cooperstown, New England
man named Thayer has veranda-
red cottage, which enjoys a great
reputation for its dinners. and there
parties from Richfeld and Coopers-
town come all through the pleasure
season to dine by special arrange
ment, late in September, and Mr..
Thayer told us that Gen. and Mrs.
Arthur and the children came there
annually the last six years of her life,
on the 3Uth of August, to eat Il din
ner in honor of her birthday.
He said the household, even to the
servants, were always delighted with
her coming, and when she good
naturedly sat down to sing at the
piano, as she always did, they would
open the kitchen doors to listen, and
she had smile and kind word for
all, remembering their names from
one year to another, and saying some
thing bright and merry to each. He
came to Washington last winter and
went to the White House to see his
old patron, who expressed pleasure
at meeting him, and sat down and
talked over the old days with him for
an hour or more. All that hear of
Mrs. Arthur in the state which be-
came hers by adoption fills me with
sincere regret that the White House
should have lost by her death so ac-
complished and admirable mistress.
1t was sad to stand at her tomb and
see, instead of the high and brilliant
usefulness that might now be hers,
only the solemn marble pressing
heavily on her voiceless breast
Cor. Philadelphia Press.
CURIOUS PROPERTY OF ICE.