Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-08-13

our country that render Lafayette this
honor. Indeed he gained for himself a,
wider popularity in America than he
won in his native France.
After the victory of Yorktown, in
1881, Lafayette returned to France,
loaded with eulogies from Washington
and from Congress His reception in
France was as warm as the farewell he
received in America The French king
offered him the rank of field mar
shall and other honors clustered thick
ly about him, but Lafayette had not
put love of George Washington and
America out of mind After Fastening
to Madrid, in 1884, to reconcile diff
ference between that country and ours,
he felt once more an eagerness to see
his old military chief, and returned To
this country.
No sooner had Lafayette landed than
every American city of Importance
pressed him with official invitations
and loaded him with every mark of
respect. But his first errand was to
see George Washington, and within
eleven days after his landing he was at
Mt. Vernon in Washington's warm en-
brace. Arriving late in the summer
of 1884, on August AZ, he stayed there
for approximatety~rwo weeks as Wash
ingtons guest
What passed between the two men
must be left to the imagination A
Washington diary for 1884 is missing,
and no account of this meeting with
Lafayette has been preserved. 1t was
one Of those moments of history destin-
ed never in any case to be disclosed
to others But what it meant to them
is readily conjectured.
The two were united by ties of the
strongest personal affection, bonded to-
gether by common experience in
great conflict for human advancement.
They had fought shoulder to shoulder
under fire, had endured and rejoiced
together, had slept under the same
cloak on the battlefield of Monmouth.
Now they stood side by side again, able
to look about on victorious cause and
a people enabled to grow and prosper
under new political freedom.
After visiting his old battle-fields
and receiving an impressive farewell
from Congress, Lafayette sailed again
to France But after his return he
continued as ever to labor for Ameri-
cas- interest and welfare and on
visit to Prussia in 1885, he had the
pleasure Of listening to eulogy Of his
beloved George Washington from the
lips Of Frederick the Great.
Lafayette's part in the French Revo-
luton is matter of history but one
of its high lights is an act reflecting his
undying love of Washington. The Bas-
tile having fallen, Lafayette sent to
Washington the key to the ancient
prison The identity of this relic may
be questioned, but no visitor to Mt
Vernon has failed to note it with in
terest
In his later years Lafayette's heart
again yearned toward America, and
in 1924, at the age of 81, he paid his
final visit. Everywhere his reception
was a march of triumph, one of the
most remarkable events of its kind in
the history of the world. Perhaps no
man has ever received such gratitude
and popular affection from another
people. One of his last official acts
was to lay the cornerstone of Bunker
Hill Monument. But to Lafayette the
important GRAND Of his coming was
visit to Washington's tomb at Mt
Vernon
Cannon saluted hi. pn his arrival
there, but he wished no one to witness
his emotion on first entering the vault.
What he thought as he knelt there is
another Of the secrets Of the dead, but
he came from the tomb with his face
covered with tears. Ten years later,
aged n, he joined his old chief in the
endless union Of death.
Scratch made tx IL a. Ua-ta~r