The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for IndependenceLossing, Benson John
History
The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 1 (of 2): or, Illustrations, by Pen And Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence
Lossing, Benson John
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
The next morning dawned calm and beautiful. The wind was hushed, and the
loveliness of repose was upon the village, lake, and country. It was our
second Sabbath from home, and never was its rest more welcome and
suggestive of gratitude, for the preceding week had been to me one of
unceasing toil, yet a toil commingled with the most exalted pleasure. I
had been among scenes associated with the noblest sentiments of an
American's heart; and when, mingling with the worshipers in St. Paul's
Church, the clear voice of Bishop Hopkins repeated the divine
annunciation, "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the
same, my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord," I felt
that our own country, so late a wilderness and abiding-place for pagans,
but now blooming under the beneficent culture of free institutions that
were born amid the labor-throes of the Revolution, was a special
illustration of that glorious declaration.
Early on Monday morning we procured saddle horses and rode out to the
resting-place of General Ethan Allen, a burial-ground embowered in
shrubbery, lying upon the brow of the hill overlooking the Winooski, and
within sound of its cascades. It is on the south side of the road
leading east from Burlington, nearly half a mile from the University of
Vermont, that stands upon the summit of the hill, upon the western slope
of which is the village. Allen's monument is a plain marble slab,
resting upon a granite foundation, and bears the following inscription:
THE
CORPOREAL PART OF
General Ethan Allen
RESTS BENEATH THIS STONE,
the 12th day of Feb., 1789,
AGED 50 YEARS.
his spirit tried the mercies of his God,
IN WHOM ALONE HE BELIEVED AND STRONGLY TRUSTED.
Near his are the graves of his brother Ira * and several other
relatives. The whole are inclosed within a square defined by a chain
supported by small granite obelisks. A willow drooped over the tombs of
the patriot dead, and rose-bushes clustered around the storm-worn
monuments. The dew was yet upon the grass, and its fragrant exhalations
filled the air with such grateful incense, that we were loth to leave
the spot. We galloped our horses back to the village in time for
breakfast, delighted and profited by our morning's ride. Halt-
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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