The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-11-21
ARLINGTON.
Classic and Poetic Description of the
National Cemetery and its Surround
ings.


ings.
Arlington holds within her bosom
seventeen thousand heroic warriors.
Like an Egyptian Queen in mournful
majesty, gazing on the eternal waters
of the Nile, Arlington rears her TO
matte head to the sky and bathes her
feet in the rnurmuring waters Of the
Potomac.
The gnarled oak, the cedar and sigh
ing pine echo back the cav Of the
crow and song of the wild bird, and
through the morning sunlight and eve
ming twilight, the various voices Of Ma
ture chant requiem over the moul-
dering remains of the loyal dead.
This spot is dedicated to heroism.
lis green sward is the mausoleum Of
patriotic hearts, its dome the bending
heavens: and its altar candles the
watching stars Of God.
As the years glide away and COM
ing centuries usher into life millions
Of human beings, Arlington shall be a
Mecca for the unulterable principles
of truth, and around its undulating
wales and green hillocks, the spirit Of
Of love and loyalty shall kneel at the
vespers of Nationality, and swing per-
fumed censors at the Holy shrine of
prayer and patriotism.
Monuments in marble, granite and
bronze lift their modest or pretentious
head, appealing to the memory of
those who wander near the lonely bed
where valor sleeps, but when these
emblems of love and remembrance
shall have passed away and Crumbled
lmpalpable dust, the truth for which
they died shall shine out like the
rising sun, and be as lasting as entern-
lty.
The former home ofromance, wealth
and slavery has become at last the
sepulcher of the dead, and the laugh
ing musical voices of the proud past
are but a memory in the columned
mansion OF lIeneTal Lee.
Sheridan of the army, and Porter of
the navy, sleep their last sleep in
front of Arlington Mansion; and the
stars and stripes floating from the tall
staff throws its glnty shadows over the
heroes that rest below.
Long regimental lines Of white
marble headstones fade away into
forest vistas, and Sheridan seems
again to ride down the valley, through
Winchester, to turn retreat into VIC
tory.
Tempted, unlike the Roman Pan.
theon, the divinities of Arlington are
dedicated to patriotism, and its wor-
| shippers are Christian people. From
It's columned porch the eye beholds to
the East and North across the Po-
tomac the mansions, temples, steeples,
domes of Washington and George
town, framed in by rolling hills Of
Maryland. To the South and West,
the eye may linger on the historic
Long Bridge and Alexandria, where
the martyr Ellsworth lost his life for
freedom.
In the dim distance chain of forts
and earthworks rear their Crumbling
heads. Thirty years of rains, SHOWS
and suns have wrinkled their bald
brows, yet Dame Nature with her uni
versai kindness has covered the rude
scars of war with the daisy, the morn
ing glory and Virginia creeper.
The plowshare of industry has lev
elled down the red ridges of rebellion,
and where once the reveille and long
roll of battle resounded, the horn of
the husbandman calls his toilers OF
peace from fields of waving grain and
golden fruit to the rustic board of Joy
and love.
The brave hearts that slumber for
ever at Arlington, as we'll as those who
rest at Chickamauga, Fredericksburg
and Gettysburg dedicated their lives
to liberty, and immortalized their
devotion by death. Who will care
for their loved mounds when we are
gomez Who will strew roses and plant
bright flowers in the Maytime of Ma
ture? Other patriotic bands of brave
men and fair women will take
up the roll OF duty, and even when
all but liberty has persisted from the
earth, the robin and the blue bird,
the jay and the mocking bird, will
MARBLE at sunrise a reveille over the
green sod that wraps their sacred clay.
Nature herself will deck the graves Of
our fallen comrades, and the winds Of
heaven will chant requiem to thei1
memory, and kiss the loved spoI
where heroes slumber.
Thousands of loved soldiers rest ir
unknown graves, far away from the
loved ones at home. They sleep in :
land of strangers, where the tears o
of love cannot moisten the greer