The Washington times., 1937-03-29
NOW
A Shrine Here
For Presidents
IS PRACTICAL
BY HELEN EssARY

who used to be q synonym AOh PAOS
perity has been brought to me by
4 gad.about friend lately returned
from MassachusettS-the State
which gave us Calvin Coolidge,
though Vermont was the native
State of the thirtieth President.
The melancholy story is about
Mr.. Coolidge. When the executive
of the boom days died, shortly be-
fore the first Roosevelt inaugura-
ton, Massachusetts yielded him to
his native Vermont. His family
buried him on a rocky hillside just
outside Plymouth and in sight Of
the Colonel John Coolidge home
stead where the President.to-be
spent his boyhood.
It was a modest grave in which
Calvin Coolidge was laid to rest.
A simple headstone now marks the
spot. The remains Of the other
Coolidges lie near him. Perhaps all
this is fitting, but somehow I have
my doubt. had them at the time
Of the funeral. Those doubts are
deeper, now.
For last years storms swept over
the Plymouth graveyard with deV'
astating force. Rains beat relent'
lessly upon the hillside cemetery.
They washed down the thin soil.
Somehow it seemed that the tor
rent damaged Calvin Coolidge's s
grave more than any other. In
fact, the grave was almost washed
away!
OF course, tender hands have
since restored the mound. The
earth has been replaced. Sod has
been planted. 1t will grow green
once more. But perhaps in long
years to come there will not be
the same tender solicitude for the
grave even of a President Of the
United States. Who knows? All
we can be sure of is that there Will
be other storms.
Which induces me to ask, why
should there not be a Valhalla-a
Pantheon-in washington for our
presidential dead?
A burial ground where these
chosen few might lie without be-
ing subject to the violence OF
weather, the whims Of generations
of descendants or the neglect OF
once prideful neighbors?
Exactly three Of our Presidents
of the United States lie buried
around Washington. George Wash
ington at Mt. Vernon; woodrow
Wilson in a crypt of the Washing
ton Cathedral, and William H
Taft in Arlington.
It would bring pain to many
thousands of people, of course, tc
suggest the removal of the remains
of other dead Presidents to the
Capital. New York would never
consent to the abandonment Of
Grants Tomb. Springfield would
rebel at the thought Of bringing
the remains of Lincoln to this city.
And Marion would shout its diSap
proval if it were deprived OF the
Harding Memorial.
And it is easy to imagine the
resentment of the Virginians If
one should seriously propose the
removal of jefferson from Monti-
cello. Or Tyler and Monroe from
HOLLYWOOD in Richmond, where
those two Presidents sleep near the
remains Of jefferson Davis, presi-
dent Of the Confederacy.
There should be no such resent
ment, however, against removing
Madison to washington. The re-
mains Of the fourth President lie
buried in the family graveyard on
the Montpelier estate near Orange,
Va. The mansion has been care
fully restored but not the grave.
yard.
Not long ago I visited old Mont
pelier which Madison built, was
taken to the family cemetery, a
plot of ground surrounded by 4
low. hroken-down wall. The-grave.
yard itself was overgrown with
native bushes, some Of them 20
feet in height.
YGG DSuSdGu bLlC O1lLCA uA1OCE'
growth was the grave Of a really
great President. And beside it,
with headstone leaning perilouSly.
lay Dolly Madison. one of the few
famous women in American his
tory.
The present owners Of Mont
pelier have no legal obligation to
ward the graveyard. This plot OF
ground remains in possession OF
the Madison family. Title to it did
not pass with that of the mansion
and the remainder Of the estate.
Perhaps there are other Madi
sons among the Presidential dead
who might be gathered in an ap
propriate burial ground in Wash
ington in an American Westmin
ster Abbey.
Even if we cannot go far back
in bringing together the remains
of Presidents who have come and
gone, we might at least look for
ward to the future. If no crypt
for future Presidents is ever de
signed in the Capitol, as one was
designed there for George Wash
ington, Arlington surely would be
a IaaoJ1fif111 aort111Vy TaaCkiSaa, Sa1oaa