It was the ladies of Fredericksburg, Virginians, who inaugurated the move, and carried it on to complete success, to raise a monument to a woman, the tallest and most imposing of its kind that is to be found on this continent. It towers over fifty feet high, the shaft is solid granite, and it marks the grave of the greatest of American women--Mary, the mother of Washington. It is true, that after the work was commenced, the plans laid, and some money raised, the ladies were assisted by the National Mary Washington Monument Association, which did good service, but even that association, brought into being through the local association at Fredericksburg, was made more active and efficient by the energy and persistence of the pioneers in the movement. That monument is grand and beautiful, and reaches high into the heavens, and while it marks the last resting place of that sainted woman, it reflects great honor upon all the ladies who assisted in its erection. [Illustration: Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury, the "Path Finder of the Seas." (See page 315)] These are some of the things in which Virginians took the lead and which were accomplished by them. There may be omissions of noble acts and brave deeds that might have been mentioned of whose existence we are in ignorance, but these we have mentioned will suffice to show that they were the leading spirits in throwing off the British yoke of oppression, in uniting the colonies for common defence, in proclaiming to the world our grievances and declaring for freedom, in waging a long and bloody war and securing independence, in forming and conducting the government from its infancy through its experimental period, in extending its territorial limits and in contributing to its national greatness. If for all this--if for what has been achieved by their ancestors in field and forum, on land and sea, an honest pride should well up in the breast of the Virginians of the living present, that should find expression in words, where is the individual that can rise up and charge them with vain boasting? CHAPTER XXII _Fredericksburg at Present--The Health of the City--Its Financial Solidity--Its Commercial Prosperity--Its Lines of Transportation--Its Water Power--Its Official Calendar--List of Mayors, &c._ We now come to the closing words of the history of our venerable city, and what we shall add in closing will be of Fredericksburg as it is at present, without going into tiresome details, but before proceeding with that interesting topic we must turn aside to mention some useful and honored organizations of the ladies of the town, which failed to receive attention in a former chapter, after which our subject. "Fredericksburg at Present," will be resumed. DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.[91]