The times., 1897-04-29
Washington's ToInb.

after the dismal struggle which that town
| Grant, it would shrink from anything more
| Of the same kind for long years TO come;
| but this does not seem TO be the case. 1t
4 is suggested and not in a roof garden,
| either. but in all seriousness that the
! bones OF Washington be removed FROM
| Mount Vernon and inferred in a tomb Of
| proper eplenfior in Riverside Park. The
mayor and the aldermen have expressed
| themselves Us in favor OF the plan. and one
| OF the aldermen was SO good as TO say that
| New York did not wish to honor Grant
| above Washington. The idea that New
York honors Grant by allowing him, ty
bis express desire, to occupy a tomb on
her territory is an idea solemn humorous
and OF a character to make one grin
ever the Inconsistencies of it, as .eX-
pressed By New York alderman OF Celtic
ancestry The comptroller of the city,
who ought TO know something about the
tribulations Of the Grant monument fund,
still has the pluck to insist that New York
should be the burial place Of all the coun-
try's great men
This suggestion has an audacity which
is absolutely paraiyzing. New York is
something of a comoTant, as we all knew
but We had not realized that she was a
shark 1t does not seem to occur To this
financial gentleman that the Test OF the
country is anything more than a more or
less uncIvilized suburb OF New York But
from subsequent remarks, it would appear
that he does not think there are very many
great men outside of New York; So per-
haps, Ia offering TO build tornhs for them
his pluck is not quite equal to his iguor-
ance, after all.
The idea seems TO be that Mount Vernon
is a little, old out-of-the-way place, where
few people ever go, and which is. above
all, not handy for New York people. They
would like to have the tomb OF the Father
OF His Country where they could 30 over
and sit on the steps Sunday afternoons, and
take the children. OF course, If the idea
were really considered seriously, outside
Of New York, it would be stated that
Washington himself wished to be buried
where he is, aud as the last wishes Of
man, even if he has been a President ought
to have some weight that would settle it.
The President OF the United States, when
he has retired TO private life, is just ike
any other private citizen, and has just as
much right TO dispose of his own body
Theidea that after he has been buried, and
has lain in one spot, which was his life
long and beloved home for a hundred
years, his bones can be dug up and carted
off to some town that is afflicted with the
complaint of thinking Itself the center Of
the inhabited earth, is too ridiculous to
he seriously considered
In the case OF Grant, his interment in
New York was simply in accord with
his own wishes and those of his family
Grant had no settled home in which he had
taken root and which was like the apple
of his eye. Therefore. 1t is fitting that
he should be placed in the tomb which
nation has prepared for him But every
stick and stone and brick about the premises
OF Mount Vernon tells some story of Wash
ington. His hand designed its lawn: his eye I
overlooked the plans for the buildings; he
planted the very trees that stand in stately
groups about the beautiful old mansion
There is more majesty, more OF real king
illness in that place than there is in any
huge new pile of brick and mortar. This
is an idea which the advocates of this new
project do not seem to have entertained in
their heads.
And then, IL the body of great man
may be removed from its proper place 10
one city, because that city is big, why
should not another city make the same
demand at some future time? 1t is en-
tirely possible that Chicago, with her
phenomenal growing powers and her
money, may outstrip New York by nd by,
and then are Gen. WashinGtons bones to
migrate 10 the shores of Lake Michigan?
If there was one thing that the Father
of His Country liked, when he could have
it. 1T was peace and quiet, and the idea
that any of his countrymcn would con-
template making him travel about on rail-
road trains after he was dead, probably
would have been inconceivabls to bis
staid and well-regulated mind.
This new notion is probably deifriocs !,
fancy, induced by the excitement of see
ing the Grant monument actually built |
1t will pass, and then the originators |
thereof will want to forget that they /
ever had anything OF the sort The matter |
with them.
It is reported. as usual, about this time |
of year, that the peach crop is ruined
This bulletin is so familiar that we have |
come to look for 1t as one of the SIGNS
OF advancing spring, as surely to be reck-
H.