been made. The worn and decayed parts of the buildings have been renewed; the grounds are being made more beautiful every year. Mr. Lossing has dedicated his book entitled "The Home of Washington": TO HIS PATRIOTIC COUNTRYWOMEN, BY WHOSE EFFORTS THE HOME AND TOMB OF WASHINGTON HAVE BEEN RESCUED FROM DECAY. The tomb of Washington is in a quiet, secluded place, but a short distance from the mansion. It is made of brick according to his will, though it was not made till thirty-eight years after his death. Till then his body rested in the old tomb. The new tomb is in a small ravine coming down from a well-wooded hillside. The place abounds with sweet-briar, trailing arbutus and other flowers. The front of the tomb is plain, with wide, arching gateway and double iron gates, above which, upon a plain marble slab, is this inscription: WITHIN THIS ENCLOSURE REST THE REMAINS OF General George Washington. The ante-room in which are the sarcaphagi, which hold the remains of George and Martha Washington, is about twelve feet square. Behind this room is the vault in which repose the remains of about thirty members of the family. For a time, through fear of disturbance, the sarcophagi were kept in the vault; but on the seventh of October, 1837, they were placed where they now rest, in the ante-room, the vault closed and locked and the key thrown into the river. The right-hand sarcaphagus, as seen from the gate, holds the remains of the "Father of his Country"; the one on the left, those of his wife. On a tablet over the door of the tomb, are these words of the Great Teacher: "I am the resurrection and the life. though he were dead, yet shall he live." The sarcophagus of Mrs. Washington is without ornament or symbol; and has on it these words: Martha, CONSORT OF WASHINGTON, DIED MAY 21ST, 1801; AGED 71 YEARS. The sarcophagus of Washington is ornamented with the United States coat of arms upon a draped flag. It has this one word on it: Washington. Near the entrance to the vault are four white marble monu ments with inscriptions commemorating the lives and deaths of the members of the family whose forms rest there. Everything is being done, and will continue to be done, to make Mount Vernon and its sacred tomb one of the most marked and hallowed mausoleums in the world. Its great sleeper there is a mighty magnet drawing all the world reverently to his resting place. In 1833, Dr. Andrew Reed, an English philanthropist, wrote at the grave of Washington, this tribute to his memory, and left it in the family: In Disaster, Calm; in Success, Moderate; in All, Himself; WASHINGTON, The Hero, the Patriot, the Christian; The Father of Nations, the Friend of Mankind; |