Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-12-13
WASHINGTON MONUMENT.
a Trip in the Elevator to the Top of
the Great Shaft.
esns1siens Experienced In Waking the A.
e"nt-N a~t.if'c~nt sad Impressive View
OF the ny sni Surrounding C0an-
try-i Memorable Visit.


From ths monument visitors can OBJ
tain a charming Wow Of the clty and
vicinity. which they can carry away ia
their memories as one Of their most
precious souvenirs. A trip up. with
The car LOADED. occupies about ten
minutes. Ten minutes are spent at the
to- % give the visitors n chance tolol.,,
out Of the windows. AMI tho, tho,
who vish - 90 dow. are taken back
T. tae lower regions. abou. nine min
ute 'e4n' occupied by the descent.
nose who wish Co remain above. how
eY"f. an permitted to do -. bat they
must wait for the next downward Trim
OF the cur. since no visitors are al
lowed 70 ascend or descend b. means
81 TIE stairway.
At last tLe word vas civea. tho door
was shut with u bang. anI the con-
cor'or. with q glance ar, and the car.
pulled the hauI-cabl1 d0wuvar,, sey-
eral times in succession. There WA. \
Slight trembic or shake las the chr y-n-
lifted from the eoor. and then the
heads Of tina watchnan. and the floor
man. and the square doorway full OF
light seemed to Zip down. down, unit!
they were lost The car moved noise-
lcssly and smoothly as il slid up e.
longest elevator shaft in the world
The eye. turned instinctiveIy inward.
Utnked at the immense vista. through
which the strong. stiff red cables
twins they looked iikc-spin them
selves up and over two great wheels in
the roof. i've hundred feet overhead.
The hgr.t from the iucaudescent lamps
hlte-ed through the grated roof and
sides Of the ear. giving a spotted an
pearence to the passengers. On either
side were the rough. uneven courses
al tho old masonry. tho stones ragged
and the same zigzaginy v ithoat eg,trd
20 uniformity
The eye had about tired Of the
rionotony Of tAe surroundings wh. n
some one Exclaimed at the appearance
o. the srst Of the celebrated memorial
stoves set in the wills TNi~ fr..
series occurs on the Jhirty-foot level
BY the way, evecy thing in the nona-
rnsnt Is located b. levels The bot
tom Il called the ground level. aud
eVe-y landing i known by tho number
OF feet OF it. elevation. On the thirty
foot level sre the stones OF Maine.
Delaware. Arkansas ard the National
Grays. Of Washington. From this
point TO the halfway level the trip /,
iut of Interest, the attention being
drawn 70 alternate sides Of the ear Ia
note the various tablets and inseriu.
lions \ good plan tn follow IA 70 take
one side going up and the other qo.se.
down. paying strict attention 10 each
IN it. turn- IT, level at forty feet
contains tbs stones from Nashville.
Ienu-- louisiana, Colorado. Alabama
an' the Columbia Typographical
Society Thence the States and
Al sorts 81 societies and military
companies are iutermiugled. On the
sixty-fcot level l. an old square tablet.
80 osslly weather-bcaten that Il il H.
ieslble from the car. On the pext
level IS = magnificent stone from Mas
sachusetts and one from Connecticut.
The latter Is worn 50 on the left-hand
side TIA. SOU Of the raised LETTERING
: very t.distiHct. while that on the
oiaer side /, sharp and clear. The
10y 81 Nsshjugtou's tribute 20 her
gOdiather e a Hc5-hE1r af thc stones
FROM Maryland AID virginia on the
eighty lzveL On the two hundred
foot leves j. enc 81 hsudzo.uest col Hs.,.-
;lons u stone in the monument. The
Tablet from Bremen Is rich piece Of
dark stone. highly polished. standing
out two inches from the wall. with
rounded edges The lettering i ele-
gautly gildei on the surface In the
center of the landing l. stone. in re-
lief from Turkish temple. The rich
Oriental OrnameatatiOu Is in sharp
contrast 10 the simplicity exhibited in
the majority OF the stones, and at
tracts instant attention
To the right, under the Bremen
stone. Is = large tablet from the Swiss
Federation This shows 20 n greater
extent than any other stone in the
shaft the vandalism Of visitors that
finally forced the now extinct Monu-
ment Commission 10 close the shaft to
the public Five or six Of the large
raised letters Of the stone have been
bodily removed aud the tablet other
wise injured In many instances the
stones have been blacs5ened pern1-
nently b. the close application OF can
Ole flames This occurred when
every visitor was obliged 10 carry
with hirl a candle or lantern to light
the way up the steps through the
Egyptian darkness Of the shaft. Alichi-
gan l. represented on the two hundred
aud tea-fOOt le.el By a solid block Of
copper suitably Inscribed. and ten
feet above Is the gem Of the collection.
stone from Nevada. bearing the
name OF the State in letters Of solid
silver. set into the block. flush with
the surface On this sane level i a
steHs froa Sal, LAKE City. with The