Show SPLENDID PLACE OF REPOSE FOR PATRIOTIC DEAD great arlington cemetery dear to the hearts of all americans since the burial of william jennings cryan bryan at arlington a new public interest has been awakened in that famous national cemetery the pathfinder magazine says it has received hundreds of questions respecting arlington and its history the answers to which may well be repeated arlington was originally the estate of john parke custis tho the only son of martha washington when john custis died soon after tho the capture of yorktown washington adopted two oil ot his four chIldr children cn george washington 1 parko parke custis and elizabeth who Is known in history as nellie custis it was george austig who built thel the present house known as arlington IT 4 1 4 t 4 ir an unusual adew lew of the great amphitheater at arlina on national cemetery looking toward the central plat form where here president coolidge delivers his memorial day address louse on the estate inherited brott ills his fattier the mans mansion foll stands on the virginia side of the potomac river directly opposite washington and commands one of the finest views ob tai of that mat magnificent city when the house was built it was in the district of columbia but the virginia ginia portion of the district was receded to the stele in 1810 1840 when george custis died in ill 1857 till the estate passed to ills his only daughter the wife of col robert II 11 lee nho left the place never to return when ho he took command of the virginia troops in soon after the lees left federr 4 troops tool took possession and inverted the estate into a camp using the mansion as headquarters later a hospital wet wes established nt at Arling arlington torL upon the suggestion of quartermaster general meggs the place was vas finally converted into it a national military cenie cemetery tery the first grave prepared being tor for a confederate Gon feder soldier who had lied died in the hospital in 1877 george Wes washington hington custis lee heir under the custis will legal title to the property the claim was finally adjusted when the government paid the heirs alto OW for the estate near the front entrance of the amphitheater Is the tomb of the unknown soldier the memorial amphitheater was built under the lie ru I 1 of the gra grand ad army of the republic its double purpose wr wes s to commemorate our an sol dier blead and nt at the same time provide a fitting assembly place for the thousands who attend services at the cemetery on decoration day it has a normal seating capacity of 0 f there Is room for a couple of tilou thousand moro more in the colonnades which makes the total capacity am inside the amphitheater just above the speakers platform Is an inscription which has attracted much attrition among visitors at arlington it reads when we assumed the soldier we did not lay side eside E the citizen tills this sentence was taken from a speech made by george washington on june ac 20 1775 in reply to an address to him from the provincial assembly of new york ue ile meant of course that in becoming soldiers the american patriots had not forgotten their duties and obligations as citizens at the end of august 1925 there were persons burled buried at arlington this includes everybody burled buried in the cemetery the geert majority of them are the dead of the civil war although the number includes a few revolutionary soldiers and many of the mexican spanish american and world wars one section of the cemetery Is 13 called the post section it Is the see section where men stationed at an army post are burled buried the regular rules do not apply to then they anro bah glien ghen a lot on which all members of their families may bu bl burled buried in separate graies graces of the nui her ber another section of the cemetery at arlington Is iet i et alde for co colori 10 enlisted men the graves of colored off officers leers and white officers are not segregated re |