The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-01-07
1eferreb Matter.
Washington Monument.

OF this imposing shaft, completed after
many years, Kate Foote, Washington cor
respondent of The Independent, says: "The
city was stirred to its inmost centers by the
violent wind and rain of Saturday, and also
by the fact that the Washington monument
was to put on its topmost tip at two o'clock
OF that day. The wind was blowing at the
rate of fifty miles an hour in the exalted
region where this was to be done, and at q
not much less rate lower down, upon house,
tops Nevertheless, at the appointed time
opera glasses from all parts Of the city
pointed in that direction, and from the Gu
polas of houses distinguished members OF
the senate and society BOTH might have
been seen with their hats tied on, and their
eyes fastened to the glasses of their binu-
clears They had their reward. A busy
group was seen around the caIestone; as it
was lowered to its place from the tackle,
which projected even higher than the cap,
the tall form of Captain Davis, second in
command, and of Colonel Casey, and even
the dark face of the negro who mixed the
cement, were clearly made out. Then the
cleaning tip of aluminium, which 1 had
seen a few days before in the window of
jeweler on the avenue, was lightly lifted,
the thread of the screw which runs up its
center fitted to that OF the copper rod, and,
with half dozen twists, the top was placed
on the Washington monument, and Colonel
Casey ran up flag to the apex of the frame
work, to let the world in general know, and
the cannon in particular which were wait
ing below to below forth the fact. After
this had been done, the party joined the
group below, at the five-hundred-foot level,
and had as hearty time congratulating and
shaking hands as the size of the platform
would allow. Mr. Horatio King said after
ward that some one, standing near him, in
dulged in some gesticulatiOn: | gently
pressed his hand to his side, brought to his
consideration the fact that there was no rail
to this platform, and that five-hundred-
foot fall would not be a thing which one
would survive to be congratulated upon
Mr.. King is tall and thin, as are most of the
men connected with the monument, except
DIR. Toner; and yet he might well have been
a little nervous on that narrow, unrailed
height. Afterward the party, going down in
| the elevator, sang the Star Spangled Ban
ner and America their voices sending
volume of sound up the narrow throat of
the shaft to the men who were left behind
| to finish up This process is akin to going
into hole and drawing the hole in after
you, or going up ladder and taking the
ladder with you. They have to take down
| the beams and ioists of the scaffolding and
put them through a little window cut in the
cap-stone-the aperture three feet long and
| two feet wide-a little platform, like a tea
tray, being hung from this window. After
the last beam is down, and the last man
has come in, then the window will be closed
with stone cut to fit it, cemented in care
fully, and the shining top and aluminium
| tip-top with the names of Colonel Casey,
! Captain Davis and few others cut in
! its sides, will be left to the wind and the
| lightning, the sun and rain. in defiance Of
the ages, and the true lover of his country,
at that suggestive idea looks off into centu-
ries and oceans of time, when the name of
the great Washington will have become
still more hallowed and endeared by the
mists of time throughout the bounds of a
prosperous republic. Two people paused
upon the steps of the Capitol building, the
| day after the monument was finished, to
! look at it from that elevation. Um-m'
said one. 1t is a factory chimney now, as
1t has been for thirty-six years. 1t looks as
! if some manufacturing company, bloated to
an unhealthy size by government devoted
to protection, had come here to the head
center and gratefully raised higher chin
ney than any other on the surface of the
globe How strongly and gracefully the
delicate, clear shaft rises and perces the
skies' murmured the other. How the
morning light will play around its top, and
the clear falling light of MONDAY will soften
its gray-white sides; and at sunset how the
clouds, rosy and golden, will bring out its
perfect proportions Beautiful! Beautiful.
a fitting emblem for a republic to raise to
its great foundern These are the two
opinions of contending factions, and as
Washington continues to grow and become
more and more every year the lifting capt.
tai of the nation, and as a result more and
more visitors come with every season, each
faction will increase its numbers; families
may be rent asunder, warm friendships
cooled, and divorce cases spring from the
bitterness with which each side will insist
upon what it thinks about the monument