about as I was, and I grant you he will give up the point.

Our party jogged along. At last the old gates were in sight, and the
ragged little negroes stood ready to open them. Here we should begin to be
patriotic, but do not fear being troubled with a dissertation on this
worn-out subject. I will not even observe that by the very gate that was
opened for the Westons did the Father of his country enter; for it would be
a reflection on the memory of that great and good man to suppose that he
would have put his horse to the useless trouble of jumping the fence, when
there was such a natural and easy way of accomplishing his entrance. Ellen,
however, declared "that she firmly believed those remarkable-looking
children that opened the gates, were the same that opened them for
Washington; at any rate, their clothes were cut after the same pattern, if
they were not the identical suits themselves."

There was a gentleman from the North on the premises when they arrived. He
joined the party, introduced himself, and gave information that he was
taking, in plaster, the house, the tomb, and other objects of interest
about the place, for the purpose of exhibiting them. He made himself both
useful and agreeable, as he knew it was the best way of getting along
without trouble, and he was very talkative and goodnatured. But some, as
they approached the grave, observed that Mr. Weston, and one or two others,
seemed to wish a certain quietness of deportment to evince respect for the
hallowed spot, and the jest and noisy laugh were suddenly subdued. Had it
been a magnificent building, whose proportions they were to admire and
discuss; had a gate of fair marble stood open to admit the visitor; had
even the flag of his country waved where he slept, they could not have felt
so solemnized--but to stand before this simple building, that shelters his
sarcophagus from the elements; to lean upon unadorned iron gates, which
guarded the sacred spot from intrusion; to look up and count the little
birds' nests in the plastered roof, and the numberless hornets that have
made their homes there too; to pluck the tendrils of the wild grapes that
cluster here--this simple grandeur affected each one. He was again in life
before them, steadily pursuing the great work for which he was sent, and
now, reposing from his labor.

And then they passed on to the old, empty grave. It was decaying away,
yawning with its open mouth as if asking for its honored tenem