The Washington herald., 1911-05-23

fdent Taft-that one was the planning of
the Federal city.
what that plan is everybody knows.
Each of the speakers of to-day lives in
streets marked on rEnfants maps. and
SO do all the persons present at this
meeting who do not inhabit the suburbs.
what might be called Greater Washing
ton. The original of the map is pre-
served in the Library OF Congress. and
any one can verify the truth Of what i
say.
But more striking than the merits of
this plan. unanimously praised, SO soon
at least as its adaptation TO the great
nation that was to be came to be under
stood is the date at which IEnfant con-
Ceived 1t.
Long was the delay, bitter the irony.
century. half the years the city now
counts, no traveller visited the city
named after the founder of the coun-
try that did not deride in his notes
that city of magnificent distances that
town of streets without houses and
houses without streets. 1t seems. says
1S5D, as If the author Of the plan had
dreamed Of city of 100000 inhaoi-
tants.
City Meant for Us.
'L'Enfant had not dreamed of that
He had foreseen that, and much more.
The city he planned was meant not for
the men of his day. but for those of
ours. and when the time shall come
that people will wonder at our own
wonder at the rapid expansion Of this
country, when the hundred million in
habitants OF to-day will look a petty
number. Still rEnfant's plan will hold
good, and for our successors, as for US,
he might be able to say: For you 1t
was that 1 worked
Great. therefore, as is the honor now
bestowed on him. when such men as
Root. have come to render homage to
his memory. when the Commissioners
of the District-those of yesterday and
those of to-day-acting in accord with
the chief historical and artistic society
of the city, have united their efforts to
have his services duly recognized, great
as are such tributes, it cannot be said
wounded soldier of Savannah. the de-
signer of the Cincinnati badge, the
builder of Forts Miffiin, and Washing
ton. the author of the plan of the Fed
eral city sleeps his last sleep. And 1t
was in the fitness of things that the
monument for man born in the man
ufaCtory of the Gobelins be designed by
a pupil of the BeauX Arts
"On this hill, from which is discovered
one of the finest sights IN the world, the
city of beautiful buildings and shady ave-
nues that he knew would rise one day,
q great city for q great nation, rEnfant
now rests among his peers. He fought
for American independence, he believed
in the future OF the country. Well may
he rest in the midst OF that army of the
dead, who in their lifetime, at the sad
hour of another great struggle, saved
the Union
Relative of Benefactor.
Miss Eleanor Carroll Morgan is a great
granddaughter OF William Dudley Digges,
the wealthy Maryland farmer, who, when
Maj. rEnfant dropped from the rolls of
the army he had honored, was in dis
tress and poverty IN the city he had
founded, offered him asylum. It was to
the Digges farm that the old engineer
repaired in the days Of his adversity
Here, on June IA, 1895, at the age of sew
enty-one, he died. On June IA. the anni-
versary Of the day that the flag he had
fought for and lived for and honored was
first flung to the breeze, the man who
had created Washington passed on, an
object of charity and a pensioner upon
the bounty Of friend.
In April, 1909, backed with a Congress
sional appropriation Of 81, 900, the citizens
Of Washington disinterred the body of
Maj. rEnfant from the grave in the
Digges farm cemetery. at Chilham
Manor. Prince George County. Nd, and
conveyed II in a new casket to Arling-
ton. Yesterdays ceremony marks the
concluding chapter in the effort of the
nation to properly and adequately do
honor to the memory Of its earliest mod
ern city maker.
The design Of the new sarcophagus pro-
serves the colonial design In all its de-
tails. 1t is built of Knoxville gray stone.
The base stone is eleven feet long by
seven feet six inches in width-a single
block. Carved upon the surface Of the
upper face of the sarcophagus is a sword
Of the colonial period In high relief.
About IT is entwined a wreath Of laurel.
Upon the capstone OF the monument Is re-
produced rEnfant's FIRST map Of WASH
ington. So close to the present plan OF the
city il this reproduction that only an ex-
pert can dissect the difference.
Designed the Memorial.
The monument was designed by w. W.
Bosworth and the stone work was done
by NJ. J. Falvey, Of this city. Mr.. Fall
vey also built pedestals for the monu-
ments to Baron Won steuben and Gen.
Kosciusko In Lafayette Square.
Owing to the unavoidable absence from
the city Of Cardinal Gibbons, the invo-