Mrs. Cox engaged in no battle, but instead of sharing the privations and dangers of her husband at one battle she followed him through the entire war of four years, and was voted the honor of a Confederate veteran after the war by the veterans themselves. It is doubtful whether in all the past a similar instance can be found.
A REMARKABLE GRAVE-STONE.
There is to be found in the burial ground of St. George’s church, at the east end of the Mission House, a grave-stone that has puzzled all antiquarians who have examined it and which has never yet been satisfactorily explained, and perhaps never will be. The inscription is as follows: “Charles M. Rothrock, departed this life Sept. 29, 1084, aged three years.” The figures that make these dates are well preserved, much better than on many slabs and headstones in the same burial ground, which do not date back a century and a half, yet on this slab the figures are quite legibly cut in the sandstone, and there can be no doubt that the year is 1084. It has been considered such a mystery and of such importance that a photograph of the stone was taken and an engraving made for this publication.
THE LIBERTY BELL.
The very name—Liberty Bell—is music to our ears, and the mention of it should fill the breast of every true American with patriotic enthusiasm. That bell hung over a hall in Philadelphia in 1776, in which the Continental Congress had met to consider the momentous question that was then stirring every patriotic heart—American freedom. Virginia was represented in that Congress by George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee and Carter Braxton.
That body of patriots prepared, considered and adopted the Declaration of Independence, and as they finished signing their names to the instrument, on the fourth day of July, this bell rang out the thrilling news that Americans were freemen. Since that stirring event—that memorable day—that hall has been known as Independence Hall, and the bell that hung over it as the Liberty Bell.
On the 4th of October, 1895, the old Liberty Bell passed through Fredericksburg on its way from Philadelphia to Atlanta, Georgia, where it was to be exhibited at the great exhibition in that city. Prior to its coming Mayor Rowe had been notified when it would arrive and how long it would remain for inspection. The City Council was called together and steps were taken to give the old bell a grand reception and cordial welcome. A set of patriotic resolutions was adopted, extolling the events that brought the bell into such popular favor, recounting the part taken in those events by Virginians and the precious legacy left to us by our self-sacrificing forefathers, until a patriotic fervor pervaded the town.
The bell was accompanied by Hon. Charles F. Warwick, Mayor of Philadelphia; Wencel Harman, President of the Common Council, and thirteen members of that body; Charles K. Smith, Chairman of the Select Council, and thirteen members of that body; twelve officials of the city of Philadelphia, including S. A. Eisenhower, Chief of Bureau of City Property, and Custodian of the State House and Bell, with a guard of honor, consisting of four of the reserve police of Philadelphia.
A party, including a committee from the City Council—Messrs. John T. Knight, E. D. Cole and J. Stansbury Wallace—met the bell at Quantico, where Judge James B. Sener, who had accompanied the party from Washington, delivered an appropriate address of welcome on the part of the State of Virginia. The party arrived in Fredericksburg on time, and found at the depot a vast concourse of people and a procession headed by Bowering’s Band and the Washington Guards, consisting of the Mayor, ex-Mayors, Common Council, Sons of Confederate Veterans, school children and citizens generally.
