The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-17

The meeting held yesterday afternoon
OF the Lafayette Square Opera House. un-
der the auspices OF the Longfeilow Ma
t.ousi Memorial Association. attracted q
large gathering Of the representative pco-
Die of Washington. This meeting had Tor
its object the formal announcement TO the
public Of the plans Of the association. and
the awakening Of popular interest in tho
project of placing a monument in this
city. which shall befttugly commemorate
the genius and fame of the poet Long
fellow
Pres dent Mckinley. accompanied by MT
Corielyou. his private secretary. and the
Secretary OF Agriculture. occupied one OF
The left proscenium boxes. The audi
forum and galleries were packed and
among those present were the families Of
Cabinet officers. members Of both houses
Of Congress. and hundreds Of private citi-
zons. drawn thither by their interest IN
the poet Of the people.
Seated on the stage was Rev. Alexander
Mackay- smith. d. D., President Of the
Longfellow Memorial Association. who
presided: Senator Chauncey NJ Depcw,
Hon John D. Long. Secretary of the Navy.
and Rear Admiral Edward Stewart, L. 5.
y On either side sat members Of the
association, among whom were Gen. \. "
Greedy. b. II. Warner, and Ainsworth K.
Spefiord Back Of these sat the Carlisle
Indian Band which furnished music for
the occasion.
object of the Meeting.
few minutes after O'Clock the meet
ing was called to order by Rev, Alexander
Macksy- smith, who welcomed the audience
and expressed the pleasure Of himself and
The committee in seeing so large a num-
Der present He explained that the OBJ
ject OF the gathering was TO further the
project Of erecting a monument in Wash
ingt0n to Henry WadsWOrth LOngfell0W
Mr. Smith explained that the object com
meBded itself to every member Of the
community. from the President OF the
United States to the smallest child in the
public schools, studying its first lesson
on a Longfellow leahet, In behalf Of the
association, he said, this meeting had been
called to announce formally to the nation
The plans Of the executive committee OF
the L0ngfellow Memorial Association
Dr. smith then introduced Zitlsala Sa, a
Sioux Indian girl. who reeited with fine e.
feel The Famine" from Longfellow 5
..HisRatha" Zitkala Sa was dressed in the
Indian costume Of her tribe and entered
with spirit and intelligence into the inter
probation Of the scene surrounding the
death Of Minnehaha.
senator Chauncey VI. Depew was then
announced. Dr. Smith modestly declaring
that it was impossible for ohscurity to in
troiuce eminence. Mr. Depew said that he
considered il a privilege TO be present and
to cooperate in the purposes Tor which
tho meeting had been called The Senator
then referred to Washington, whose birth
day had recently been so widely and en-
tia siically celebrated. He showed with
wha; wise foresight Washington had To-
Gated the Capital Glty. not in any state OF
city Of a State. but on territory which be
langed to the United States. thereby setting
apart the Capital of the nation forever ia
Federal uses. Mr.. DepeW thFl referred 10
the wisdom OF the first President in en-
ploying the French engineer IErfant TO
lay Out the city practically as il is today.
Snd be did not think Washington was
,.a0ved by toe much SELF esteem in drawing
q little circle at one of the intersections
n avenues and in writing on the map
Here viii be placed a monument 20 George
Washington"
The Man ON Horseback.
Senator Depew then spoke Of The monu-
ments already in the Capital City He said
that in the erection Of monuments thus far
The effort had been to commemorate the
deeds Of national heroes who had Won re-
n0Wu ou the field Of battle or in naval
WARTIME. The Senator thought it uuf5r-
UInate that monument building had been
pushed SC far in this one direction. It had
resulted IN startling multiplicity OF The
man on horseback, nearly all OF the public
monuments being OF that type.
L was also remarked that in the effort I'd
immuItalize military heroes some statues
are here OF men whose names are prac-
ticaliv forgotten. Mr.. Depew humOrously
referred 10 his asking a negro on one Occa-
sion who the mau was whose statue stood
before them. The negro didn't quite know
and was equally ignorant as TO what IN,
man had done but he believed thst he was
a general ard had At somewhere"
This ennobling Of short-lived heroes Mr.
DepeW depl0red. There was only one man
10 represent the Revolution and that was
Washington. just as there was only one
Andrew Jacksou-whose fame had come d
us from the war OF 1872 Mr.. Depew also
thought that popular judgment as well as
history was centring upon Grant as the
true hero OF the civil war. This. be
thought was the tendency, and as time
progresses the Senator hoped that the
Capital City would be our Westminster
Abbey. our Nalhalla, and our Pantheon
He thought 81 fortunate that the temple o.
the truly great should be vaulted by the
stars and confined only by the limits Of thi.
beautiful city.
To this end Senator Depew suggested
that 10 law be enacted by Congress estsb
fishing "a bureau in one Of the departments
or in fhc Smithsonian institution. TO maxi
ID choice OF subjects for statues In this ma
tionai Nslhall8. He would have 10 pro
vided also. that no monument should b
erected TO any man who had not been deaf
twenty-five years. Il was explained tina
quarter Of a century eliminated the ten
dency 0f the American people 20 gush. ans
would save the Capital City from statue
that would be n1melcss IN fifty years.
IonEfeIIoy Memorial Appropriate.
Turning from the man on horseback
Senator Depcw thought that no name il
American history was more dt for me
mortal In Washington than that Of Long
fellow. SO far as the literature Of the coun
Try was concerned. He was the people.