's
tomb, or will strive even to clip off a little shred from one of his
garments, still preserved in the old mansion, to bear home with them as
precious relics.

I have always observed when traveling on the missions up and down the
Potomac, that whenever the steamer came to the point opposite Mount Vernon
the bell was tolled, and every eye was directed toward Washington's grave.

The 22nd of February, Washington's birthday, is kept as a national
holiday, at least in certain portions of the country. I well remember that
formerly military and fire companies paraded the streets, and that
patriotic speeches recounting the heroic deeds of the first President were
delivered, the festivities of the day closing with a social banquet.

As the citizens of the United States manifest in divers ways their
admiration for Washington, so do the citizens of the republic of the
Church love to exhibit in corresponding forms their veneration for the
Mother of Jesus.

Monuments and statues are erected to her. Thrice each day--at morn, noon
and even--the Angelus bells are rung, to recall to our mind the Incarnation
of our Lord, and the participation of Mary in this great mystery of love.

Her shrines are tastefully adorned by pious hands and visited by devoted
children, who wear her relics or any object which bears her image, or
which is associated with her name.

Her natal day and other days of the year, sacred to her memory, are
appropriately commemorated by processions, by participation in the banquet
of the Eucharist, and by sermons enlarging on her virtues and
prerogatives.

As no one was ever suspected of loving his country and her institutions
less because of his revering Washington, so no one can reasonably suppose
that our homage to God is diminished by our fostering reverence for Mary.
As our object in eulogizing Washington is not so much to honor the man as
to vindicate those principles of which he was the champion and exponent,
and to express our gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed on our
country through him, even so our motive in commemorating Mary's name is
not merely to praise her, but still more to keep us in perpetual
remembrance of our Lord's Incarnation, and to show our thankfulness to Him
for the blessings wrought through that great mystery in which she was so
prominent a figure. There is not a grain of incense offered to Mary which
does not ascend to the throne of God Himself.

Experience sufficiently de