Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-22

dews, or shropging the sidewalks. or
grouped in countless thousands upon
the monument, grounds. But look
around in vain for any Of the principal
witnesses of that imposing ccrcmo-
nial--thc venerable widows Of Alexan-
der Hamilton and James Madison; Pre-
sidcnt Polk and his Cabinet, as then
Observation-Disclosures, Marcy, John
| Y. Mason, Walker, Cave johnson,
and Clifford: vicc-President Dallas,
George Washington Parke Curtis,
the adopted son Of the great chief; not
forgetting Abraham Lincoln and An
drew johnson, both then members of
the House Of Representatives, and for
| whom the liyelisst imagination could
hardly have pictured what the future
had in store for them. 0f that whole
| Congress there are now but handful
Of survivors. and probably not more
than two or three Of them present here
to-day one in either branch OF
Congress. nor one, as believe. in any
department Of the national service.
TO those Of us who took part in the
laying Of that first stone, or who wit
messed the ceremonies of the august Oc-
casion. and who have followed the slow
ascent Of the stupendous pile, some
times with hope and sometimes with
despair, its successful completion is,
need not say, an unspeakable relief, as
well as q heartfelt delight and joy.
hazard little in saying that there are
some here to-day--unwearied workers
in the cause like my friends HoratiO
| King and DIR. Toner, to name no
| others-to whose parting hour special
pang would have been added had they
died without the sight which now greets
their longing eyes on yonder plain.
dare not venture on any detailed
description Of the long intervening az
ony between the laying Of the first
stone and the lifting Of the last. II
would fill volume, and will be sure
hereafter TO furnish material for an elab-
crate monograph, whose author will
| literally find ''sermons in stone for
almost every stone has its story, if not |
its sermon. Every year Of the first de- |
cade, certainly, had its eventfnl and
noteworthy experiences. The early en-
| thusiasm which elected contributions /
to the amount Of more than quarter !
of a million Of dollars from men, wo- I
men. and children in all parts of the /
land, and which carried up the shaft more
than hundred and seventy feet almost at ,
bound the presentation and formal
reception Of massive blocks Of marble,
granite, porphyry, or frecstOne, from
every State in the Union and from so
many foreign misunderstanding, ac-
cOrdiDg TO the catalogue. with a stone
from Bunker Hill and ending with one
from the Emperor Of Brazil the an
nual assemblies at its base on each sue
ceeding Fourth of July, with speeches
10y distinguished visitors; the sudden
illness and sad death of that sterling
patriot, President Zachary Taylor, after
an exposure to the midday heat at the
gathering in 1850, when the well-re-
membered Senator Foote, of Missis-
sippi. had INDUCED in too exuberant an
addIess-thcsc were among its begin
nings the end was still whole gene
ration distant.
A DISHEARTENING PAUSE.
Later on came the long. long, dis
heartening pause, wher-partly owing
TO the financial embarrassments of the
times, partly owing to the political con-
tcntons and commissions of the country,
and partly owing to unhappy dissen-
sions in the Association itseli--any fur
ther contributions failed to be forth
coming. all interest in the monument
seemed to flag and die away, and all
work on it was suspended and practi-
cally abandoned. A deplorable civil
war soon followed, and all efforts to re-
new popular interest in its completion
were palsied.
How shall depict the sorry spec
tacle which those first one hundred and
seventy-four feet, in their seeming hope
less. helpless condition, with that dis
NAL derrick still standing as in mockery
upon their summit, presented to the
eye of every conner to the capital for
nearly a quarter Of century, No won
der the unsightly pile became the sub
ject Of pity or derision. No wonder
there were periodical panics about
the security of its foundation
and chronic condemnation of
the original design. No wonder that
suggestions for tearing it all down be-
gan TO be entertained in many minds
and were advocated by many pens and
tongues. That truncated shaft, with
its untidy surroundings, looked only
like an insult to the memory of Wash
ingtOn. 1t symbolized nothing but an
ungrateful country, not destined-aS,
God be thanked, it still was-to growth,
and grandeur, and imperishable glory,
but doomed to premature decay, to dis
cord, strife, and ultimate disuniOn. Its
very presence was calculated to dis
courage many hearts from other things,
as well as from itself. 1t was an
abOminatiOn of deSolation standing
where il ought not All that followed
of confusion and contention in our
country's history seemed foreShadowed
and prciigured in that humiliating spec
tacle, and one could almost read on its
side i'll letters Of blood, Divided
Weighed in the balance, Found want
ing"
And well might that crude and un-
digested mass have stood so forever, or
until the hand Of man or the operation
of the elements should have crushed
and crumbled it into dust, if our Union
had then periShed An unfinished,
fragmentary, crumbling monument to
Washington would have been a tit EN-
blem of divided and ruined country.
Washington himself would not have had
I il finished. lie would have desired no
tribute, however imposing, from either
half ola disunited republic. He would
have turned with adherence from bein.
thought the father Of anything less than
one country, with one Constitution and
one destiny.
And how cheering and how inspiring
the reflection. how grand and glorious
/ the fact. that no sooner were our I'M