The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-09-23
He PRESIDENTS GRAVESBANK OF HAWAII. lid
NEGLECTED RESTING PLACES OF
THE DEAD.
Nothing Marks the Spot Where Tyler
Lies-Men Who Made the Nation
Great are Left Forgotten.

OF all the Presidents of the United
States who have lived their allotted
time and passed away forever from
those scenes which formerly knew them
only three-Lincoln, Garfield and Grant
may be said to be worthily entombed,
says Harpers Weekly. The graves of
the remainder, scattered here and there,
are in most cases only very moderately
commemorated; and usually the memo
rial has been erected by the family or
friends of the dead, rarely by the public
or the state. In three instances forget
fulness of the departed has assumed
something more than the aspect of neg
lect, and the last resting places of
James Madison, william Henry Har-
rison and John Tyler have for long pc
RODS either presented all the melan
choly signs of utter desolation, or, as
in the case of Tyler, have remained al
| together unmarked
| The pilgrim who would visit Madi-
| sons grave must first cross wide open
| field of that red clayey briery kind
characteristic of the Old Dominion. In
! the midst is small burial plot, en-
! closed by a Wondering, dilapidated
brick wall. The spot is solitary and
desolate, and lonely with that loneli-
ness peculiar to the family graveyard,
where fallen headstones, sunken
mounds and wilderness of weeds at
| test but too plainly the ingratitude of
| the living thrOng. Within the enclosure
are several graves, and in one of these.
almost forgotten in the sleep of death,
/ lie the ashes of James Madison, the
/ fourth President of the United states.
and one of the great men of the ma
| tons earlier history.
! William Henry Harrison died a few
weeks after assuming his duties as
President; a few days thereafter he was
buried in the Congressional cemetery at
washington; but in July of the same
| year his remains were removed to
North Bend, o., Harrison's former
home, fifteen miles west of Cincinnati,
and there Inferred in a vault on the
family domain, which had been prepar-
ed to receive them. For many years
thereafter his tomb was totally neglect
ed by friends and state and the world
at large. In the summer of 1897 how
ever, Benjamin Harrison rebuilt his
grandfather's tomb, and, as restored,
the monument is worthy of a kinsman's
memory, though, of course. it is in no
sense a testimonial of a nations rever-
ence.
OF all the occupants of the PTesiden-
tial seat, Tyler alone may be said To
have been wholly and persistently neg
lected in his place of sculpture Tyler.
whose administration was a stormy one
and marked by stirring events, died in
January, 1862, and was buried with
great honor in Hollywood cemetery, at
Richmond, Va, in what is known as
the Presidents plot" This is a Sec
ton of ground containing S04 square
feet, which was purchased by Governor
Wise of Virginia on behalf of the state
the original intention having been to
bury therein all of Virginia's sons who
attained to the Presidency. The plan
failed of execution, however and James
Monroe and John Tyler only have been
buried in the Presidents plot. They
lie there, side by side, in undisturbed
repOse. MonrOe's grave is marked by q
modest monument but only a spread
ing magnolia tree shows where Tyler
takes his long rest; and few of those
who pass along the cemetery walks
have any idea that beneath that little
mound of green lie the ashes of one
whose part in American history was
neither languid nor uneSteemed and
small. Could the fulfillment of Presi-
dent McKinley's suggestion, that the
Confederate cemeteries be placed under
national control, be better prefaced by
anything than by the erection over Johr
Tyler'S grave of a fit memorial, raised
from funds subscribed by the people oil
the whole country? Especially now
when the flag of the nation is floating
over distant lands, it is appropriate rol
the American people to remember thai
the man who was largely instrumental
in securing the annexation of Texas
and the vast territory beyond sleeps to.
day in an unmarked grave. unhonored
and so far as the nation is concerned
neglected and unknown.