People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1894 — TO A NOBLE MATRON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TO A NOBLE MATRON.

Patriotic Women Pay Tribute to Washington’s Mother. Interesting Ceremonies at Fredericksburg, V»—Eloquent Addresses Delivered by President Cleveland and Senator DanicL THE DEDICATION. Fredericksburg, Va., May 12. —The monument to Mary Washington, mother of the first president, was unveiled here Thursday. The procession to the monument included various patriotic societies and benevolent orders, companies of the state militia, the governor’s staff, and representative ladies on horseback. The Ceremonies, Ceremonies began with prayer by Rev. James P, Smith, followed by a brief address by A. P. Rowe, mayor of Fredericksburg. Gov. O’Ferrall followed with an impassioned address of welcome on the part of the state of Virginia, and in an eloquent peroration presented the president of the United States. For several minutes the enthusiasm which greeted the president was without bounds. President Cleveland Speaks. When the cheering finally subsided President Cleveland said: “Nothing can be more important to those who have assumed the responsibility of selfgovernment than the cultivation and stimulation among themselves of sentiments which

ennoble and elevate and strengthen humanity. As a clear and wholesome stream must have Its flow from a pure fountain head, so must a clean and beneficent popular government have Its source In pure and morally healthy men. This purity and this moral health are In nothing better exemplified than in a love and reverence for motherhood. The man who said he cared not who made a people's laws if he could write their songs, might have said with more truth that he could gauge the strength and honor of a people, and their fitness for self-government, if he knew the-depths and steadfastness of their love for their mothers. I believe that he who thinks It brave and manly to outgrow his earlier devotion to hts mother is, more than he who has no music in himself, fltfor treason, stratagems and spoils,and should not he trusted. Let us recall to-day as conclusive proof .of the close relation between American greatness aud a lasting love and reverence for our mothers the proud declaration of George Washington: ‘All I am I owe to my mother:’ and let us not forget that when his glory was greatest and when the plaudits of his countrymen were loudest, ho valued more than these the blessing and approval of his aged mother. "While these exercises cannot fail to inspire us anew with reverence for American motherhood, we will remember that we are here to do honor to the woman who gave to our nation its greatest and best citizen, and that we have the privilege of participating in the dedication of a monument erected by the women of our land in loving and enduring testimony to the virtues of the mother of Washington. Let us be proud to-day that the nobility of this woman exacted from a distinguished torelgner the admission: ‘lf such are the matrons of America, she may well boast of llusirious sons;' and that Lafayette, who had fought with her son for American independence, declared after he had received her blessing: ‘I have seen the only Roman matron living at this day.’ "Remembering these things let us leave this place with our love of country strengthened, with a higher estimate of the value of American oitizenship, and with a prayer to God that our people may hold fast to the sentiment that grows out of a love and reverence for American motherhood. ” An address in behalf of the descendants of the immortal George was delivered by Lawrence Washington. As the American flag which has veiled the monument was drawn aside, disclosing the shaft to view, the Marine band from Washington rendered the “Star Spangled Banner” and the spectators cheered for several minutes.

It appears that when the Meeks family and the persons accompanying them reached a point near the schoolbouse in Lynn county, a short distance east of Browning, they were met by two other men who were lying in wait. Gc.b Meeksw as first shot and Mrs. Meeks jumped. She also was killed. The murderers then took stones and beat the brains out of the two children and left the other for dead. The murderers then, it is supposed, loaded the whole family into the wagon and hauled them nearly 2 miles to the Taylor farm, where they were buried under a strawstack.

MONUMENT TO MART WASHINGTON.