Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-11-08
ARLINGTON.
Classic and Poetic Description OF
The National Cemetery and Its
Surroundings.

hiHiiSicii iullS Wltiiu utT cHlcIdl
bosom seventeen thousand heroic war
riors. Like an Egyptian Queen il
mournful majesty, gazing on the eter
nal waters of the Nile, Arlington rear
her romantic head to the sky an,
bathes her feet in the murmuring wa
ters of the Potomac.
The gnarled oak, the cedar ant
signing pine echo back the cav of th,
crow and the song of the wild bird
and through the morning sunligh
and evening twilight the various voices
OF Nature chant a requiem over tht
mouldering remains of the loyal dead
This spot is dedicated to heroism
It's green sward is the masoleum o.
patriotic hearts, its dome the bending
| heavens, and its altar candles the
watching stars of God!
As the years glide away and coming
centuries usher into life millions oi
human beings, Arlington shall be 8
Mecca for the unalterable principles oi
truth, and around its undulating wales
and green hillocks the spirit of love
and loyalty shall kneel at the vespers
of nationality, and swing periumed
cansors at the holy shrine of prayer
and patiolism.
Monuments in marble, granite and
bronze lift their modest or pretentious
heads, 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
into impalpable dust. the truth for
which they died shall shine out like
the rising sun, and be as lasting as
eternity.
The former home of romance, wealth
and slavery has become at last the
sepulcher of the dead, and the laugh
ing musical voices of the proud past
are but memory in the columned
mansion of General 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 it's glinting shadows over
the heroes that rest below.
Long regimental lines OF white mar
ble headstones fades away into forest
vistas, snd Sheridan seems again to
ride down the valley, through Win
chester, to turn retreat into victory.
Tempted, unlike the Roman Pam
theon, the divinities of Arlington are
dedicated to patriotism, and its wor.
shippers are a Christian people. From
its columned porch the eye beholds to
the East and North across the Poto.
mac the mansions, temples, steepies,
domes of Washington and George
town, framed in by the 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
versal 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 oil
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 well as those
who rest at Chickamauga, Fredericks
burg and Gettysburg, dedicated their
lives to liberty, and immortalzed their
devotion by death. Who will care for
their loved mounds when we are gonel
Who will strew roses and plant bright
flowers in the Msytime of Nature?
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 warble at sunrise a
reveille over the greed sod that wraps
their sacred clay. Nature herself will
deck the graves of our fallen comrades,
and the winds of heaven will chant a
requiem to their memory, and kiss the
loved spot where heroes slumber.
Thousands of loved soldiers rest in
unknown graves, far away from the
loved ones at home. They sleep in a
land of strangers, where the tears OF
love cannot moisten the green shroud
that mantles their ashes. But, if no
kind hand is there to strew flowers, or
loved eye to shed the tear of sorrow,
there is One that reigns among the
eternal stars that daily floods the un-
known grave with sunshine, and
nightly waters the budding wild flow
ers with dews from Heaven!
j. II. CAvANAUGH. of Frances, WASH,
fell from window in the Hotel North