California!




VI

TRIBUTES


MEMORIALS OF WASHINGTON[19]

BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON

Modern history, oratory, and poetry are so replete with tributes to the
memory of Washington, that the entire progress of the civilized world
for more than a century has been shaped by the influence of his life and
precepts. The memorial shaft at the national capital, which is the
loftiest of human structures, and is inner-faced by typical expressions
of honor from nearly all nations, is a fit type of his surmounting
merit. The ceremonies which attended the cornerstone consecration and
signalized its completion are no less an honor to the distinguished
historian and statesman who voiced the acclamations of the American
people than a perpetual testimonial worthy of the subject honored by the
occasion and by the monument. When the world pays willing tribute, and
the most ambitious monarch on earth would covet no higher plaudit than
that he served his people as faithfully as Washington served America, it
is difficult to fathom the depths of memorial sentiment and place in
public view those which are the most worthy of study and appreciative
respect. The national life itself throbs through his transmitted life,