Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-06-06
MARY WAsHlNGToN'S TOMB.
A Visit to the Grave of the Mother of
the Gather of His Country"


the Father of His Country"
Driven by de man what knows mo-
! bout Fed'icksbu'g N emmy oder coach
man bout cher Gibout here), if the evil
dence of brother hackmen be of value, we
seek the burial place of Mary, the mother
of Washington.
The legend of the unfinished monument
is familiar to us all, as is the history of the
various attempts to revive In the hearts Of
the American people active interest in the
work of repairing the wrong done to
motherhood and to the memory of our
greatest chieftain. Yet we are conscious
of a shock when the carriage draws up
within a few feet of the grave. A square
construction, seemingly composed of I'M
mortared blocks of marble, supports Co
rinthian pillars set between buttressed
corners. There are two columns upon each
Of three sides; from the fourth, one is
missing. A marble obelisk, blackened by
mold and stained by the SHOWS and rains
of fifty-nine years, lies upon the ground at
the base of the memorial" (heaven save
the mark.
The intelligent coachman says his piece:
''Marthy, or Mary Wash'n'ton, or what
ever dey call FER, been buried under dat ar
movement Some folks say twas mighty
handsome monerment bout bundled year
ago. Oder folks say tain neber been fin
ish' no time. Dom look like It eber will be
finish now. Ki-yil When folks been dade
q bundled years nobody gwine ter take de
trouble ter put up tombstone for 'em."
We are wiser than he on the last head.
The recurring consciousness of this salyes
the modification and pain induced by the
sight of the disgrace, and the recollection
of the abortive enterprises for the removal
of the blot from the national escutcheon.
We do not add to our cicerones stores of
general information our knowledge that
the ground on which we stand, and the five
acres Immediately encompassing the grave,
are the decided property Of the National
Mary Washington Memorial association;
that collections are steadily if not rapidly
being made by the organization for the
erection of a new and fitting monument;
that the faith in ultimate success of the
women who have the movement in charge
has never wavered since they set their
hearts and heads upon righting Mary
Washington in the eyes Of republic that
is rather unthinking than ungrateful.
Our busy fancies fall to work instead
upon the shadowy outlines of the pile that
is to do away with the fact and the memory
Of the crumbling fragment before our
bodily eyes. Two of us sit upon the half
buried obelisk, a third walks about the
ruin, thrusting tentative cane into inter
stices and shaking mournful head. The
tentacles Of wire grass are digging out the
disintegrated mortar, tufts Of sheep mint, |
bruised by the intrusive ferrule, breathe
pungently; II rank plant that may develop
into "jimsen weed" leans impertinently
toward us from the earth deposited upon
the top of the memorial by the winds of
sixty years, save one. Sir Oracle is look |
ing over the wall into the small burying
ground behind the incomplete tomb as
motionless as the marble.
The cornerstone of what we see was laid |
May z 1888, In the sight of 1900 people. |
AS President Andrew jackson deposited |
an engraved plate in the followed block, |
he Is reported to have predicted that the |
American pilgrim will, In after ages, come |
up to this high and holy place and lay his |
hand upon this sacred column. May he re- |
call the virtues of her who sleeps beneath, |
and depart with his affections purified and |
his piety strengthened, while he invokes |
blessings upon the mother Of Washing |
ton.--Marion Harland in Harper's Bazaar. |
when Labouchere Was In Washington. |
When Labouchere was about twenty |
three years old he tired of his wanderings, |
and through his uncle, Lord Taunton, was |
appointed an attache to the British lega- |
ton at Washington. Some odd stories are |
told of him there. The minister, Mr. |
(afterward Sir &ohn) Cramptons chief
object In life was to escape the wiles of the |