The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-02
WHERE SLEEP THE BRAVE
VISIT TO BEAUTIFUL ARLINGTON,
THE RESTING PLACE OF THE
SOLDIER DEAD
MOST PRECIOUS SPOT THERE
That In Which the Unknown Are
Buried-The Most Interesting
Points In the National
Cemetery.

Cemetery.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Nov. 2S.-(spe-
eial correspondence. )-When you enter
the red stone gate of Arlington you
lind yOuself walking under the loved oaks
Of a once cherished home, and through a
stiffness so great that only the echoes of
your own footsteps break the silence.
Upon one side of you stand hundreds of
beautiful gravestones, marking the last
resting place Of some of the most gallant
army and naval officers this country has
ever known; on the other side are the
thousands of little white stones marking
the graves of men who served in the
ranks of the armies of the republic. 1t
is always dark within the gates of Ar
lington, no matter how bright the sun
may be on the outside, and the wind
means in the tree tops and the acorns fail
one by one upon the green graves. AS
far as the eye can reach are the rows
OF white stones, each one marking the
grave of soldier who died upon his
countrys battlehelds, until in the dis
lance they seem to blend together and
look like the white caps upon a lake
when the wind is driving them ashore.
SUN PEEPS THROUGH.
Here and there a narrow sunbeam will
find its way between Me oaks and smile
upon grave, but the trees are very
thick and the grass under them yery
green and clean and level The graves
are all fiat and are very close together,
and those OF the officers have great pol
ished granite stones above them. and
many of them are covered with beautiful
cut flowers. To show how closely the
lives of our military men have been link
ed with their homes, and how little
wars can divide loved ones, here YOU find
the graves of little children nestled be-
side the huge monument OF a great war
rlor' or general and his wife buried in
the same grave and one headstone mark
ing the resting place of both
AS one goes up the walk toward the
mouse he passes monument after monu-
ment bearing upon their bronzed plates
the names Of men whose deeds have gone
down into your country's history and
whose faces you were made familiar
with by your school history. In these
Gays, when so many little men are tell
ing you that your country is a deluston
II would be well if all could paw a visit
10 Arlington and pass down these silent
ranks OF our country's dead Here thew
sleep beneath the oaks with the silent
canhons looking out over them to the hills
peyoho' and the flag that they died for
tossing gently at half-mast.
OLD HOME OF THE LEES.
1t Is only a short distance from the
gate TO the house which was once the
nome OF the Lees of Virginia was later
Tort Tor the defense Of Washington.
t anu IS no" the home Of the keeper of
Ihe most beautiful graveyard in the
world Just before you reach the house
you pass huge round summer house
where congressman make speeches on the
Soth of May, and just beyond your eve
catches the CLINT of something white be-
tween the trees. 1t is the Arlington
house and is just what you ALWAYS
thought an old Southern home was like
1t is also exactly like its pictures whom
everyone has seen. 1t is nearly as Iong
as the White house and has a white
Vefanda overlooking the river and huge
Whlte columns reaching from the floor
Oh the Veranda to the roof above and
now almost yellow with age A few feet
In front is level and then the ground
dips suddenly and goes almost down for
hundred feet or more and then Is level
as floor for half mile to the river
winch flows out for many miles From
only one place around Washington can
one view the whole of the capital and
that is Arlington. From the veranda
one can look down upon the great city
and see it all, from the buildings of
Georgetown college in the west to the
navy yard In the east, and from the river
to the Soldiers home, the beautiful
white marble tower of which looks back
at you oVe- a sea of green tree tops Ar
hngton horse is almost as old as the
city of Washington and has stood among
its oaks for a great many years Think
what it must have meant to sit upon
this wide veranda and look down upon
this beautiful city which your fathers
had helped to found, and then to become
an exile from 1t and years afterward,
When allowed to return, find that 1t has
become the headquarters of an army of
the dead. Is there sadder page in the
history of a nation, or, for that matter,
a more beautiful one?
There were a great many red and
brown leaves scattered about upon the
graves the day I was there, and some
of the trees had become quite. bare. But
the ground had been we'll raked. and do
not think there was a single leaf any
where upon the broad grounds except
here near the house.
ALWAYS AT HALF-MAsT.
Upon the edge of the hill overlooking
the Potomac is a tall white flagstaff,
from which the American flag is kept
floating at half-mast If You will look
from the west terrace of the capitol you
may see this flag and the white columns
of Arlington house behind it, And look
ing down the river from beside this flag
building in the city and the smoke stacks
of Alexandria in the distance. Some day
there is to be a bridge. a beautiful bridge
of white marble, that will reach from
this approach to Arlington to the grounds
behind the presidential mansion 1t will
be the finest bridge in America, and the
statues of Americas great men will stand
like lamp posts along its sides. Plans for
it are now before congress. When it is
completed the drive to Arlington will be
one of the most beautiful in the world
1t was just sunset when we left the Lee
mansion, and the slanting rays of the
sun found their way under the oaks anC
smiled upon whole rows Of the narrow
graves. The thousands of little head
stones some Of which are nameless, were
white once, but rain and wind have stain.
ed them black in places.
HEADSTONEs IN RANKS
There are only eight or ten inches