The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-11-11

timonial, and in his speech delivered on
that occasion ~prophesied that the Amer
lean pilgrim of after days would come
up to that high and holy place as to a
shrine.
Alas, the pilgrims in the days since
then have been numerous enough, and no
doubt the reverential feeling in the
hearts of most of them was strong, but
the place OF their pilgrimage was desc
late enough to have been the scene of
some great national dishonor. The mon
unent was never finished, and the ground
around it soon became neglected and for
lorn and SO remained for years, for dec
AIDES, for more than half a century. The
shrine of a peoples loving remembrance
had become an abomination Of desola-
ton. a national disgrace. Students and
bibliophiles of future centuries will sigh
over it if they are animated by the spirit
of true patriotism, for pictures of the
long neglected scene have crept into his
tories, encyclopedias and other books
that are likely to be preserved. Let US
venture to hope that the plain lesson it
will teach will not be needed to urge
them to atonement for some similar Of
Tense.
Our own generation has needed the
lesson at last. A band of noble women,
approaching the nobility of character Of
the mother and mentor of the best and
greatest of Americans, and feeling the
mockery of pretending to honor him and
his deeds while neglecting the memory
of her to whom he repeatedly ascribed
all that was best in his life and conduct,
have devoted the past three years and
more to repairing the long neglect and
have called upon their American. sisters
to help them purge the nation of its
shameful contempt.
And nobly has their call been answer
ed. On the Esd of October last another
cornerstone, containing some cf the rel
les that had been inclosed in the irst one
and a few other appropriate tokens, wa
laid upon the site of that forlorn grave
at fredericksburg, Va, and this time
the monument will be completed. 1t is
TO be dedicated on the 1st of December
with fitting ceremonies, Senator John
w. Daniel of Virginia delivering the
Grafton. A large number of prominent
Washington women have promised to
attend, and many government officials
n ether citizens of distinction will be
present.
The celebration is to be, as it should
be, distinctively a women's affair. The
Daughters of the Revolution and the
Colonial Danes, who are in thorough
sympathy with the undertaking, viii
have numerous representatives on the
scene, and OF cours many Of the
members of the National Mary Wash.
ington Memorial association, the ladies
who have carried this noble work to {
successful conclusion, will be on hand II
see the crowning of their achievement.
The monument is a classical monolith
90 feet in height, severely plain, simpl
and honest, like the character of tn,
woman in whose memory it Is reared
The association has secured several acre
nf ground around it, and the work O
the members will not by any means en-,
with the dedication. The plot is to b
beautified and kept in the best possibl
order and the monument carefully locke,
after and preserved.
When the present generation of mem
beers shall have passed away, this honor
able task viii be b~eqneathed to thei
daughters and their daughters daugf
ters, as other patents of nobility In othe
lands descend in the male line from on
generation to another. This has bee
carefully provided for in the constitr
ton OF the association, and SO far "a hi
MN provision can see there will nevs
Mmch itself with neglecting what
1ew Indeed q sacred shrine.
Il. T. WnIrx.