Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-05-17

tfeueflckSDuFS, Va, May 1U.-Ine
special train with the presidential
party for the ceremony Of unwilling
the Mary Washington monument left
Washington at 8 o'clock. President
Cleveland was in i car in the rear,
with Secretaries Gresham, Carlisle, La
mont, Bissen and Morton and Private
Secretary Thurber, Mrs. Gresham,
Mrs. Carlisle and other ladies.
There was another car with Mrs.
Waite, widow OF Chief Justice Waite,
who is president OF the Mary Wash
ingtOn Memorial association, Chief
Justice Fuller and Daughters of the
Revolution. The National Marine
band was i'll another. The AleXan-
dria infantry boarded the train at
that city. The run TO Fredericksburg
was uneventful. 1t occupied two hours
The program for the dedicatOry eX-
erciSeS included addresses Of welcome
by Mayor A. 2. Rowe and GOV.
Charles O'Ferrell, Masonic ceremonies,
an address by Lawrence Washington,
a descendant Of Mary Washington,
and an grafton by Senator John w.
Daniel. President Cleveland also
spoke. Among other things he said:
1--WE have assembled on equal terms
to worship at a sacred national shrine.
Nothing can be more important to
those who have assumed the response
bility of Self-gOyernment than the Cul-
tivatiOn and stimulation among them
selves of sentiments which ennOble
and elevate and strengthen humanity.
AS a clear and wholesome stream
must have its flow from pure foun-
tain-head, so must u clean and beneti-
| cient popular government have It's
source in pure and morally healthy
men. This purity and this moral
health are in nothing better eXempli-
fed than in love and reverence for
motherhood. The man who said he
cared not who made a peoples laws,
he could write their songs, might have
said with more truth that he could
gauge the strength and vigor Of peo-
! pie and their fitness Tor seif-gOyern-
ment if he knew the depth and stead
! faStneSS Of their love for their mothers
| | believe that he who thinks it brave
! and manly to OutgroW his care and de
votion for his mother is, more than he
who has no music in himself, fit fol
treason, StratagemS and SpOllS anG
should not be trusted. Let us recall
| today as conclusive proof Of the close
relation between American greatness
and a lasting love and reverence fol
! our mothers, the proud declaration OF
| George Washington, All l am l owe
to my MOTHER and let us not forget
! that when his glory was greatest and
when the plaudits Of his cOunrymer
were loudest, he valued more than
these the blessing and APPROVAL of his
aged mother. While these exercise;
cannot fail to inspire us anew witt
reverence for American motherhood
we will remember that we are here tC
| do honor to the woman who gave tC
our nation its greatest and best c1u
zen, and that we have the privilege Oi
participating in the dedication of q
monument erected by women Of OuI
| land in loving and enduring testimony
| to the virtues of the mother Of Wash
| ingtOn. Let Us be proud today that
| the nobility Of this woman eXacted
! from a distinguished foreigner the ad-
| mission ii such are the matrons of
America she may well boast of illus
! trious sons and that Lafayette. who
| had fought with her son for American
! independence, declared after he had
received her blessing, L have seen the
! only Roman matron living at this day.
Remembering these things, let us leave
! this place with our love of country
strengthened, with a higher estimate
of the value of citizenship and with a
| prayer to God that our people may
hold fast to the sentiment that grows
out of a love and reverence for Amer
lean motherhood"
At o'clock a banquet was given the
guests Vice-President Stevenson was
the principal speaker, and George AL
fred Townsend, Cath" read a poem.
The monument does not stand upon
Washington was born. He was born
near the village Of Wakefield, on the
bank Of the Potomac river, SiXty-hye
miles below Washington. The monu-
ment has been raised over his mother S
long-neglected grave, quarter OF a
mile or more beyond the city limits of
Fredericksburg, on what was once the
farm of Col Fielding Lewis, husband
of her daughter, Betty.