Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834 -- Juvenile literature
Syracuse was the next stopping-place. The carriage in which Lafayette
traveled into that City of Sixty Hills was kept for many decades as a
precious treasure. Not many years ago it was in a barn back of one of
the houses on James Street in that city. Now, however, after wandering
from place to place and taking part in various pageants, it may be
seen in the celebrated village of Cooperstown, where the young folks,
when they attire themselves in Revolutionary costume, may ride as
bride or coachman, as shown in the picture.
Lafayette reached the "Village of Syracuse" at six o'clock in the
morning. The people had been watching all night for the arrival of the
illustrious guest and were still watching when the colors of the
illuminations were melting into those of sunrise. The guest of honor
had been in his carriage all night and must have been weary, but he
gayly asserted that the splendid supper that had been prepared the
night before made an excellent breakfast, and he spent the three
hours allotted to that "village" in shaking hands with the hundreds of
people whose desire to see him had kept them waiting all night.
At nine o'clock he bade good-by to his friends of a day and embarked
upon the packet boat of the canal, while the air resounded with good
wishes for his voyage. Through Rome they passed by night in an
illumination that turned darkness into daylight, and at every place
they received deputations from the city just ahead of the one where
they were. There were cannon to welcome and cannon to bid farewell. At
Utica three Oneida chiefs demanded an interview on the score of having
been Lafayette's helpers in 1778. They were very old but still
remarkably energetic. Lafayette begged them to accept certain gifts of
silver, and they went away happy.
The traveling was now hastened in order that General Lafayette might
reach Boston by the Fourth of July, 1825, and take part in laying the
corner stone of Bunker Hill Monument. This event in our national
history has been described by Josiah Quincy in his "Figures of the
Past" and by many others. It was a great national celebration, and a
general meeting of Revolutionary comrades, one of whom wore the same
coat he had worn at the battle of Bunker Hill, almost half a century
before, and could point to nine bullet-holes in its texture. Daniel
Webster delivered his grand oration. All Boston was on the alert.
There were a thousand tents on the Common, and a dinner to which
twelve hundred persons sat down. General Lafayette gave a reception to
the ladies of the city. Then there was a ball--with the usual honor
bestowed. Everybody was proud and happy to have General Lafayette as a
national guest on that great day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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