Page:George Washington National Monument.djvu/11

7 Third Division, Wm. H. Gunnel, Marshal, vice Blake, sick. Citizens not delegates from States. Carriage containing the venerable Mrs. Hamilton, her daughter, Mrs. Holly, G. W. P. Custis, Esq., and General Walter Jones.

Carriage containing the Speaker of the House of Representatives, orator of the day,

Carriage containing the Architect of the Monument, having in charge the books and other articles to be deposited in the corner-stone.

The Monument Society.

The Masonic Fraternity, in full costume, headed by their marshal, J. B. Thomas.

The weather was singularly propitious. A fine rain had fallen the previous day, which had cooled the air and laid the dust, and the Beneficent Deity seemed to smile auspiciously on the interesting and imposing ceremonies of the day. May it be an omen of the success of the great enterprise! The procession, which was decidedly the most splendid ever witnessed in Washington, was about an hour in reaching the site of the monument, where everything was in readiness to lay the stone, which forms the commencement of a structure, which, it is hoped, will endure till time shall be no more. During its advance the bells of the city continued to toll solemnly. In the procession were delegations of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Sawbridge Indians, who brought with them silver medals, struck in 1786, representing Washington in the act of shaking hands with the red man, and under whose administration their forefathers made some of the earliest treaties of peace. To these Indians were assigned seats on the platform near the orator, to whom they listened with profound attention, as did the immense assembly he addressed. After the procession had reached the ground, the ceremonies commenced with an appropriate prayer to the Throne of Grace, by the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, the Rev. Mr. McJ, which was succeeded by a psalm, to the tune of "Old Hundred," sung by the assembled multitude, with due solemnity and feeling. The Hon. R. C. , orator of the day. then arose and delivered an address, which in purity of diction, beauty of style and sentiment, and genuine eloquence, has, perhaps, never been surpassed—and which was received with universal and merited applause. When Mr.  had concluded, Mr. B. B. F, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, delivered an appropriate address, after which he descended from the platform on which he had stood to the corner-stone, and proceeded to deposit the articles selected to be placed in the cavity, and to perform the usual appropriate Masonic ceremonies of laying it. A patriotic song was then sung by Mr. Eddy, and the benediction pronounced; and thus terminated these interesting and solemn ceremonies.

Such had been the interest felt by all in this noble enterprise, that it was found difficult to preserve the marble chips, taken from the cavity of the corner-stone, which were eagerly seized upon by visitors, to be kept as mementos of the event. The Board ordered square pieces of the stone to be wrought, labeled,and presented to the several State delegations, to be deposited in the Library or Museum of each State and Territory. They bore the following inscription:—"To the State of this piece of the corner-stone of the Washington National Monument, laid July 4, 1848, is presented by the Board of Managers."

After the ceremonies attendant upon laying the corner-stone were ended, the