Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-26
A NATIONAL NAUSOLEUM.
The Crying Need Of the Timss-Whers ths
Past Presidents are Buried.

1t would be a good idea for the
United States to have . national maui
soleum. like Westminster abbey, in
which presidents could be buried. and
statues of them erected. At present
some of them have neither a slab nor a
monument to mark their graves. Gen.
Harrison's body rests in a brick vault
on the top of little hill fifteen miles
west of Cincinnati. A big, fiat stone
lies on its top. but there is no inscrip-
ton, and the only beauty about the
grave is the pine trees which surround
it with their perpetual green. John
Tyler's body is buried in the Hollywood
cemetery at Richmond, Va. and has
not a stone or bust to mark its resting
place. Ten yards away is President
Monroe's grave. but he was not buried
here until after the centennial ami
versary Of his birth.
Monroe waited twenty-seven years
for an appropriate tomb, and he now
rests in a vault over which is . large
granite sarcophagus, and on it an in
scription testifying that it was erected
las an evidence OF the affection Of Vir-
ginia for her good and honored son."
Van Buren's grave, notwithstanding
his wealth, is now bleak and bare,
without a flower or shrub. at Kinder
hook. and a year or two ago the little
granite shaft which stood over the re-
mains of Thomas Jefferson had been
mutilated and its inscription destroyed
by relic-hunters. Its gates we're rusty
and its appearance that Of ruin.
George Washington has been twice
buried, and Henry Clay showed ono
day in the senate a piece OF his first
coffin. Mount Vernon is now his
tombstone, and the sarcophagus in
which he lies is brick vault overlook
ing the Potomac. 1t has but one word
on it. and that is Washington"
The two Adamses are buried in the
Unitarian church st Quincy. When
John Adams died, his son, then presi-
dent. obtained deed to burial lot in
the cellar Of the church fourteen feet
square. and in this he built granite
tomb for himself and his father. Here
lie the two presidents and their wives,
and on the walls of the church above
are long inscriptions commemorative
of their lives and worth. John Quincy
Adams inscription commences: Near
this place reposes all that could die Of
John Quincy Adams And it closes:
A son worthy Of his father.
A citizen shedding glory on his country.
A scholar ambitious TO advance mankind.
This citizen sought to walk humbly in the
sight of God.
The inscription devoted to tho first
Adams and his wife Abigail ends in the
following verse of advice. headed ..Pil-
grim:"
From lives thus spent thy early duties learn;
From fancy's dreams to active virtue turn;
Let freedom. friendship, faith, thy soul en-
And serve, like them. thy country and thy
age.
The most expensive of the presiden-
tial monuments are, l suppose, those
of Lincoln and Garfield. Lincoln 5
monument at Springfield cost $780,
$50, and the ground devoted to that of
Garfield is said to be worth 800, 900,
and the monument is to cost $3.50, 900
more.
There have been . number of stories
published in regard to the graves of
President Tyler, in that he was first
buried at Washington and his body af-
terward moved about from place to
place. The truth is that he has never
been buried, but was brought imme-
diately, on his death at the capital, to
his fathers old farm in Kentucky and
there put into vault. His body has
lain there ever since, and there is a
gray granite monument, surrounded by
marble statue of the general, near
by.
Frank Pierce has a monument OF
Italian marble at Concord, and, strange
to say. the name engraved upon it is
Francis Pierce, instead Of Franklin
Pierce, as he was known to the coun-
try. 1t has no long inscription. and
is, like the monument Of Millard Fill
more at Buffalo, simple to an extreme
James Buchanan lies in vault in the
Lancaster cemetery, and chronicles his
life N the dates of his birth and death
and the fact that he was the fifteenth
president of the United States. 1t
takes twenty-three lines to write the
inscription on Folks tombstone, and
it lies in Nashville, twelve miles away
from Andrew Jackson, $ much greater
man, who sums his record up in three.
Jackson's body lies in his garden at
the Hermitage beside his wife. The
monument above them is Of Tennessee
limestone. and Jackson's life is given
in these words: 'Gen. Andrew Jack
son. born March Is. 1867; died June 8,