The record-union., 1894-05-11

| success Is your reward, and you will
| henceforth be blended in our generation
With her, whose name is inscribed on
| this sacred stone. 1t was fitting, indeed,
that your pious hands should rear the
| first monument on the earth erected by
women to woman, and fitting, too. that it
should bear the name of Mary, the
| mother of Washington.
There were 10000 Mary Washington's
among the mothers of the revolution, and
honOrlng her. we honor the motherhood
OF heroic days and heroic men. 1t was
in his character, all sufficient in every
emergency, that was displayed the over
towering greatness of George Washing
ton, and it is not doubted that this char
acter was toned down and shaped by his
mother. The principles which he applied
to nation were those simple and ele-
mentary truths which she first imprinted
upon his mind in the discipline OF home"
Senator Daniel reviewed eloquently the
facts of history concerning the mother of
Washington, and the spirit of the times
in which George Washington was reared,
was discussed.
Fredericksburg Lodge. No. II. f. and
A. NJ, in which George Washington was
made Mason, gave banquet at the
opera-house after the ceremonies around
the monument. Covers were laid for $50
people. Vice President Stevenson was
at the head of the right-hand table, Chief
Justice Fuller presided over the left, and
the place of honor at the center table was
vacant when the banquet commenced.
During the banquet President Cleve-
land entered the hall, and was standing
in the center of the stage with members
of his cabinet and their ladies before he
was recognized. The hush took to yells
when Judge James B. Seney introduced
the President, pointing to the portraits OF
Washington and Andrew Jackson above
the proscenium arch, and alluding to MIR.
Cleveland as the legitimate successor of
both.
The President responded: Gentle
men, / am good deal embarrassed by the
mention of my two distinguished pre-
decessors, and by the fact that they are
both members of the society under whose
auspices this banquet is given. / con-
graduate the members of the fraternity
represented here. l am obliged to ac-
knowledge my own shortcomings in not
being member of it. Perhaps it is my
fault certainly it is my misfortune.
Those IN fault seek compensation. l, too,
have the honor to belong to great fra
ternity, one Of which Washington and
Andrew Jackson were prominent MEM
bers A fraternity whose grip means
united stand for American interests,
whose password is the peoples cause
not as old as the temple of Solomon. but
as old as American institutions, frater-
nifty that can never die; for its fruits will
always be before the world. Would you
know the name of this fraternity? 1t is
the brotherhood of free and accepted
patriotic American citizens"
The monument is plain granite mono
lith, fifty feet high, upon base eleven
feet square. 1t bears the inscription
MARY, the Mother of Washington"
The monument was made possible by
the persistent efforts of two patriotic
women-Mrs. Amelia G. Waite, widow
of the late Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, and Mrs. Margaret Helzell of Cliff
ton Station, Virginia. 1t was paid for by
contributions from almost every State in
the Union. The idea of building this
monument had existed ever since 1880.
In 1888 Silas L. Burroughs. prominent
merchant of New York, offered to con-
struct in Fredericksburg, at his own ex
pense, memorial to the mother of Wash
ington. The work was begun, but Mr..
Burroughs met with financial reverses
and died before he was able to resume
work. In 1890 the Martha Washington
Memorial Association was formed with
Mrs. Waite and Mrs. Hetzell at the head,
and the work of raising the money for
the monument commenced in earnest.
All the work had to be done over again,
the stone work in the one under the di-
rection of Mr.. Burroughs having by this
time crumbled away. The monument
does not stand upon the site of the house
in which George Washington was born.
He was born near the village of Wake
field, on the bank of the Potomac River,
sixty-five miles below Washington. The
monument has been raised over his
mothers long neglected grave, quarter
of mile or more beyond the city of
Fredericksburg, on which was once the
farm of Colonel Fielding Lewis, husband
of her daughter Betty.