Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/383

 Historic Trees.

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��Moore," lived to point out the tree, and describe the glories of the occasion, seventy-five years afterward. Fathers, who were eyewitnesses standing be- neath this tree, have told the story to their sons, and those sons have not yet passed away. There is no possibility that we are paying our vows at a counterfeit shrine.

Great events which mark epochs in history, bestow an imperishable dignity even upon the meanest objects with which they are associated. When Washington drew his sword beneath the branches, the great .elm, thus dis- tinguished above its fellows, passed at once into history, henceforward to be known as the Washington Elm.

" Under the brave old tree Our fathers gathered in arms, and swore They would follow the sign their banners bore, And fight till the land was free." — Holmes.

The elm was often honored by the presence of Washington, who, it is said, had a platform built among the branches, where, we may suppose, he used to ponder over the plans of the campaign. The Continental army, born within the shade of the old tree, over- flowing the Common, converted Cam- bridge into a fortified camp. Here, too, the flag of thirteen stripes for the first time swung to the breeze.

These were the palmy days of the elm. When the tide of war set away from New England, the Washington Elm fell into unmerited neglect. The struggling patriots had no time for sentiment ; and when the war came to an end they were too busy in shaping the conduct of the government, and in repairing their shattered fortunes, to pay much attention to trees. It was not until the great actors in those days were rapidly passing away, that their descendants turned with an affectionate

��regard to the enduring monuments in- separably associated with the fathers. Among these, the Washington Elm deservedly holds a high rank.

On the third of July, 1875, the citizens of Cambridge celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of Washing- ton's assuming the command of the army. The old tree was the central figure of the occasion. The American flag floated above the topmost branches, and a profusion of smaller flags waved amid the foliage. Never tree received a more enthusiastic ovation.

It is enclosed by a circular iron fence erected by the Reverend Daniel Austin. Outside the fence, but vmder the branches, stands a granite tablet erected by the city of Cambridge, upon which is cut an inscription written by Longfellow : —

UNDER THIS TREE

WASHINGTON

FIRST TOOK COMMAND

OF THE

AMERICAN ARMY, 'JULY 3D, 1775.

In 1850, it still retained its graceful proportions ; its great limbs were in- tact, and it showed few traces of age. Within the past twenty-five years, it has been gradually breaking up.

In 1S44, its girth, three feet from the ground, where its circumference is least, was twelve feet two and a half inches. In 1884, at the same point, it measures fourteen feet one inch ; a gain so slight that the rings of annual growth must be difiicult to trace — an evidence of wan- ing vital force. The grand subdivisions of the trunk are all sadly crippled ; unsightly bandages of zinc mask the progress of decay ; the symptoms of approaching dissolution are painfully evident, especially in the winter season. In summer, the remaining vitality ex-

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