The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-10-09
THE GREAT OBELISK.
Erected at the Nations Capital to tho
Memory OF George Washington.

Memory or George Washington.
The pittsburg Catholic.
The Washington monument, in the
capital city of the United States, is the
loftiest structure ever reared by man.
From the base line, Or rather, sill of
the door of the main entrance, to the
apex of the cap-stone, is exactly 555
feet and inches.
Phe famous Cheops pyramid in Egypt
is 643 feet high. As it is Of immense
area ut the base, and rises in easy
slopes to the ccnnmmit, old Cheops cons
veys little more impression TO the eye
than would lofty mountain from
plain. The great cathedral at Cologne
has spipe which reaches into the
heavens 524 feet, and there is q ca
thedral at Antwerp whose spipe ex7
tends upward 470 feet. ST. Peters
spire, or rather, DOME at Rome, is only
448 feet.
steers to the top of the monument, and
long lines of people can be seen at any
hour awaiting their turn. Thousands
have made ascents on foot, but it is q
dreadful task. There are 900 iron
steps to climb. True, the staircase is
broad, but the faces of the steps are
worn smooth with the tread of many
feet, and the cnd-well, the end is
afar. Long before YOU get to the top
you wish you had not starred.
The cornerstone of the monument
was laid, July 4, 1913. For six years
the work progressed, when il came to
stop, in 1915. S250,O00 had been
sre. upon IL, The monument was up
I65 leet. then :. " ""' housed eyer t,Ju9 ana q
years later, to w.t. in 1876. that Con-
gress could be induced to do anything.
The spirit engendored in the centen
NAL year set the machinery In motion,
ard the press and people took the mat
ter up in such vigorous shape that Con-
gress made an appropriation to begin
the.wOrk OF completion. The result was,
that in eightyear thereafter the work
was complete. On December 6, 1884,
the cap-stOne was set and the work
ended.
1t is a mistake to suppose that the
great shaft is marble column" 1t
is not. For the first 400 foot, the main
structure is of blue granite, the lower
walls being fifteen feet thick. The
thickness of tho walls decreases until
about the 450 feet level, when they
cease, and the rest of the altitude is
reached by solid blocks of marble, from
two and one-half feet thick to eighteen
inches. Inside this, however, is built
an interior structure and arch, with q
keystone which supports the capstope,
that weighs just one and one-half tons.
On each of the four faces of the py-
ramidal cap are two lookout windows.
From the ground they do not look
larger than bulls eyes, but once up
there, there is room for ten people at
each window. Fifty people can move
about on the upper landing and never
once get in each others way.
All interesting study Of the monu.
mont Is the tablets-the memorial
stones, which for more than genera
tion patriotic people and an admiring
wcrld have been sending to adorn the
interior of the structure. These tablets
date from away back in 1910, and some
OF them are immensely funny viewed
at this late day. All sorts and kinds
of human impulse seem to have prompt
ed these emorials-national patriot
ism, local pride, corporate vanity and
rivalry, religious zeal, private greed,
and hope of gain, all these conditions
visible, and not only visible but palpa-
BILE. Some OF the tablets are elabor-
ate, and must have cost a great deal Of
money.
There was one foreign memorial
stone received in 1854, which does not
appear in the monument. This was q
gift from the Pope. 1t was beauti-
full block of African marble which had
been taken from the Temple of Con-
cord, at Rome, and was inscribed with
the simple words, "ISope to America"
AT that time, the Know Nothing fever
was at it's height; on March 5, 1854,
the block was taken from the building
where it was kept, and, it is supposed, !,
thrown into the Potomac. At any
rate, the stone was never found,
though the monument association Of
| fered large reward for it.
The elevator Is one of the largest
and strongest ever made. 1t is sus-
pended by four two-inch cables and Is
| drawn by IT'S horse power engine In
the basement of the shaft. Every
| thing about the elevator gives way to
safety precautions. The safety clutches
are double clutches. The frame of the
elevator is light, but made OF the best
Of steel. The elevator Is limited to
thirty people, but it would carry In
weight three times that number. 1t
has often carried forty viaitors, or just
Us many as could squeeze into 1t. But
| 10 runs very slowly-another measure
of precautiop.
The view from the lookout windows
is one of the grandesb eyer spread be:
i fore the human eye. One certainly
y sees all the glory of vista. all the beauty