[!-- Marker --] LESSON XCVIII.
LUX U' RI ANT, rich; plentiful.
UN OS TEN TA' TIOUS, plain; not showy.
RE VER EN' TIAL, deeply respectful.
RE CEP' TA CLE, place of reception.
SEM' I CIR CLE, half-circle.
REC OG NI' TION, act of knowing.
AG RI CUL' TUR AL, relating to farming.
BEN E DIC' TION, blessing.
DI' A RY, note-book; journal.
SO JOURN' ED, resided for a while.
AC CLA MA' TIONS, shouts.
TRI UMPH' AL, relating to victory.
GRAT U LA' TION, rejoicing.
IN AUG U RA' TION, act of investing with office.
EN FRAN' CHIS ED, freed; liberated.
[Headnote 1: SAR COPH' A GUS, (SARCO, flesh; and PHAGUS, that which eats or devours,) is made up of two Greek words, signifying together flesh-eating, and was applied by the ancients to a species of stone, used for making coffins. Hence, sarcophagus came to signify a stone-coffin. The form of the plural in Latin, is sarcophagi.]
[Headnote 2: BAS' TILE, (bas' teel,) an old state prison in Paris, built in 1369, and destroyed by a mob in 1789.]
VISIT TO MOUNT VERNON.
A.C. RITCHIE.
1. At this moment, we drew near the rude wharf at Mount Vernon; the boat stopped, and the crowd of passengers landed. By a narrow pathway we ascended a majestic hill thickly draped with trees. The sun scarcely found its way through the luxuriant foliage. We mounted slowly, but had only spent a few minutes in ascending, when we came suddenly upon a picturesque nook, where a cluster of unostentatious, white marble shafts, shot from the greenly sodded earth, inclosed by iron railings. Those unpretending monuments mark the localities where repose the mortal remains of Washington's kindred.
2. Just beyond stands a square brick building. In the center you see an iron gate. Here the crowd pauses in reverential silence. Men lift their hats and women bow their heads. You behold within, two sarcophagi.[Headnote 1] In those moldering tombs lie the ashes of the great Washington and his wife. Not a word is uttered as the crowd stand gazing on this lowly receptacle of the dust of America's mighty dead.
3. Are there any in that group who can say, "this was our country's father'?" If there be, can they stand pilgrims at that grave without Washington's examples, his counsels, his words, heretofore, it may be, half-forgotten, stealing back into their minds, until the sense of reverence and gratitude is deepened almost to awe? Do they not feel that Washington's spirit is abroad in the world, filling the souls of a heaven-favored people with the love of freedom and of country, though his ashes are gathered here'?