Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1889-08-02

in which George Washington dined,
under the shadow of the famous college,
over Aqueduct Bridge and the beautiful
Potomac, past Fort Meyer, where the
signal service prognosticators are trained
with military precision and discipline,
and we are at the gates of Arlington, says
Il correspondent. 1t is like entering a
new world. Behind lie commerce, wealth,
ambition, politics, the present, the future.
Once in Arlington you live in the past,
and the past alone. The road winds
among the oaks, elms, naples, magnolias,
many kinds of evergreens, arbor vite and
thousands of Towering shrubs. The air
is laden with the perfume of flowers, the
sward is green and restful, the shade
cooling. But the marvellous beauties of
nature, here spread with lavish hand, are
as nothing compared to the real Airing
ton. These natural attractions are but
the fair and graceful body. Arlington
possesses soul.
Under the sward repose the remains of
16,2SS soldiers. -Four thousand four
hundred and forty nine of these are un-
known. Vast as are these figures, one
can easily believe them true, for on either
side the long, regularly formed rows of
small, white headstones extend, perspec-
tives of green between lines of white as
far IT'S vision can reach. The grounds are
perfectly kept. There is no grave that
has become sunken, and none is marked
by an elevation of the ground. Smooth
and even is the surface everywhere. Walk
among these stones and in ten minutes
one may see such typical American names
as Sherman, Whittier, Spaulding, Jack
son, Lee, Buchanan, Lawrence, Sheridan,
Grant, Randolph, Allen.
One of the Jacksons bears the initials
gu. s. G." and near by, oddly enough,
is an "Andrew Grant" Not far away is
"George Washington, and within a
stones throw two other Washington
GA" and 81" Plenty of good Irish
names may be seen, too, and German as
well, significant of the valiant part borne
in the struggle by the sons of these
countries. Silent witnesses of wars
havoc are all these stones, but more es-
pecially the ones occasionally come upon
marked "a leg" or ''an arm" A few
of these unidentified members were
honored with separate burial, but in one
great pit were thrown the bones of 2111
unknown soldiers, gathered after war
from the fields of Bull Run and the route
to the Rappahannock. Over them is a
cannon surmounted monument bearing
the inscription:
"Their remains could not be identi-
fed, but their names and deaths are re-
corded in the archives of their country,
and its grateful citizens honor them as of
their noble army of martyrs. May they
rest in peace"
Frequently one notes the name of
woman, and on inquiry is surprised to
learn that the remains of several hundred
women repose here in honor. But in
this there is nothing inappropriate, and
on the records all go down as ''soldiers,
for they were the wives of officers who
fell in battle, or nurses in the field hos
pitals. Surely these women who kept
the homes and comforted the wounded
and dying may fittingly be included with
those of whom the roadside tablet sings:
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac Of the dead.
Driving through the cemetery these
iron tablets with raised letters of white
are seen by the way. Hundreds of thou
sands of visitors have seen and admired
them-never did poet have a better set
ting for his verses-but few know the
origin of the lines. They were written
by Theodore O'Hara, a gifted Irish
Kentuckian soldier and scholar, and read
by him on the occasion of the unveiling
of monument to the dead of the Mexi-
can war at Frankfort, KY, many years
ago. AS one enters Arlington by the
west gate nearly the whole of this beau
tiful poem is shown him, verse by verse,
as he drives along.
BY the roadside stand many pretty
monuments of officers and heroes. But
of greater interests than any other object
within the tract of 1130 acres is Airing
ton House, massive structure with a
great portico of doric columns. Here
Robert E. Lee was wed in 1881 to Mrs.
Curtis, granddaughter of George Wash
ington, and here he lived, when not away
in his country's service, for thirty years.