the great elm. From the windows of this house the spectators saw the
ceremony to good advantage, and one of them, styled, in 1848, the
"venerable Mrs. Moore," lived to point out the tree, and describe the
glories of the occasion, seventy-five years afterward. Fathers, who were
eyewitnesses standing beneath 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
distinguished 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, overflowing the Common, converted
Cambridge 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