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

The meeting held yesterday afternoon
at the Lafayette Square Opera House, I'M
der the auspices of the Longfellow Ma
tjonsl Memorial Association, attracted :
large gathering of the representative peo-
pie Of Washington. This meeting had for
its object the formal announcement to the
public OF the plans of the association, and
the awakening of popular interest in the
project of placing a monument in this
city. which shall befittingly commemorate
the genius and fame of the poet Long
fellow
President Mckinley, accompanied by Mr.
Cortelyou, 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-
zens. drawn thither by their interest in
the poet of the people.
Scented on the stage was Rev. Alexander
Mackay- Smith. d. D., President of the
Longfell0w Memorial Association. who
presided Senator Chsuncey NJ Depew,
Hon. John ID. Long. Secretary of the Navy:
and Rear Admiral Edward Stewart, U. S.
y. On either side sat members of the
association, among whom were Gen. A. W
Greedy d. Ii. Warner, and Ainsworth r.
Spofford 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
Msckay- 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
ington to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Mr.. Smith explained that the object COM
mended 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 Longfellow leafiet. 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 LongfelIow Memorial Association.
Or. Smith then introduced zitlsala Sa, a
Siou2 Indian girl who reeited with fine ef-
feet The Famine" from Longfellow' 5
'.Hiswstha." 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 NJ Depew was then
announced. DR.. Smith modestly declaring
that e was impossible for obscurity to iu
troduee eminence. Mr. Depew said that he
considered it a privilege to be present and
to cooperate in the purposes for which
thu meeting had been called The Senator
then referred TO Washington, whose birth
day had recently been SO widely and en-
thlsiasi icaIly celebrated. He showed with
wha; wise foresight Washington had To-
cdted the Capital City, not in any State or
city of State, but on territory which be-
lenged to the United States. thereby setting
apart the Capital of the nation forever to
Federal uses. Mr.. Depew thgl referred to
the wisdom OF the first President in en-
pIoying the French engineer, lEnfant. to
lay out the city practically as it is today.
Snd he did not think Washington was
, eoyed by too much self esteem in drawing
a little circle at one of the intersections
Of avenues and in writing on the map
Here will be placed a monument to 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-
noWn on the field Of battle or in naval
warfare. The Senator thought it unf1r-
uunate that monument building had been
pushed Sc far in this one direction. 1t had
resulted in startling multiplicity of the
man on horseback, nearly all OF the public
monuments being of that type.
Il was also remarked that in the effort TO
immortalize military heroes some statues
are here of men whose names are prac-
tically forgotten. Mr. Depew humorously
referred 10 his asking a negro on one occa-
sion who the man was whose statue stood
before them. The negro didn't quite know
and was equally ignorant as to what the
man had done, but he believed that he was
a general and had fit somewhere"
This ennobling of short-lived heroes Mr..
Depew deplOred. There was only one man
TO represent the Revolution, and that was
Washington, just there was only one
Andrew Jackson-whose fame had come to
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. he
thought was the tendency, and as time
progresses the Senator hoped that the
Capital City would be our Westminster
Abbey our Valhalla, and our Panthe on
He thought 1t fortunate that the temple of
the truly great should be vaulted by The
stars aud confined only by the limits of this
beautiful city.
To this end Senator Depew suggested
that law be enacted by Congress estab-
fishing a bureau in one Of the departments
or in the Smithsonian institution, to make
i choice OF subjects for statues in this ma
tional Nslhalla- He would have il pro-
vided. also, that no monument should be
erected to any man who had not been dead
twenty-five years 1t was explained that
a quarter of a century eliminated the ten
dency of the American people 10 gush and
would save the Capital City from statues
that would be nameless in fifty years.
LenSf.iIOw Memorial Appropriate.
Turning from the man on horseback
Senator Depew thought that no name in
American history was more fit for a me
mortal in Washington than that OF Long
fellow, so far as the literature Of the coun-
try was concerned. He was the peoples