Page:The Ladies of the White House.djvu/100

84 freeze every thought of life and beauty, and the mind dwelt upon the rust of decay.

Lafayette stopped at Mount Vernon when about to return to France after his visit to this country, in 1826, havinor reserved for the last his visit to Washington's Tomb, and the scene is thus described by Mr. Seward in his Life of John Quincy Adams:

"When the boat came opposite the tomb of Washington, at Mount Vernon, it paused in its progress. Lafayette arose. The wonders which he had performed for a man of his age, in successfully accomplishing labors enough to have tested his meridian vigor, whose animation rather resembled the spring than the winter of life, now seemed unequal to the task he was about to perform—to take a last look at 'The Tomb of Washington!'

"He advanced to the effort. A silence the most impressive reigned around, till the strains of sweet and plaintive music completed the grandeur and sacred