| Show burial urial in royal tomb not ot for old hickory IN ashington possesses the tomb of a poman oman emperor the strange box like stone ture on the lawn of the arts and in dus destries trIes building of the national museum which visitors usually pass without noticing was the occasion of a dramatic incident 90 years ago when it was first brought to nv V ash ington the tomb was secured by commodore jesse R alliott commander of the frigate constitution which was the flagship of the united states squadron in athe mediterranean in 1839 from a hillside behind the city of beirut syria although the evi dence was not such as would satisfy an archeologist elliott believed it was the tomb of the roman cm em geror alexander severus he ile brought it back to washington with him A few years later andrew jach jack son was reported dying at the her milage near nashville Isah ville elliott had the happy or unhappy inspiration to offer the tomb to old IlIc dickery kery as a last resting place jackcon jack sons s reply Is one of the classics of american literature although laboring under great debility and affliction from a severe attack from which I 1 may not er the dying man wrote the navy officer I 1 raise my pen and endeavor to reply the steadiness of my nerves may mav perhaps leal you to con elude my strength Is not as great as I 1 ere express strange as it may appear my nerves are as steady as they were 40 years gone by whilst from debility and affliction I 1 am gasping for breath 1 I cannot consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a depository prepared for an emperor or a king my republican feedings and pies ples forbid it the cimpl city of our system of government foibles it ivery monument erected to ate the memory of our heroes and statesmen ta ought to bear evidence of the economy and simplicity of our republican and the plainness of our republican citizens who are the bove sovereigns reIgns of our florl ous union and whose virtue Is toper it true virtue cannot exist where pomp and parade ire the gov arning passions it can only dwell with the people the great laboring and producing classes the form the bone and sinew of our confederacy I 1 cannot permit my remains to be the first in these un ted states tf to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an emperor or king I 1 have prepared a humble depository for my mortal body beside that wherein lies iles my beloved wife where with out ans pomp or parade I 1 have requested when god calls me to sleep with my fathers to be laid for both of us to remain until the last trumpet sounds to cill the dead to judgment when we me I 1 hope shall rise together clothed with the beav only enly body promised to all TV mho ho believe in our glorious redeemer who died for us that we might live and by whose atonement I 1 hope for a blessed immortality perhaps alexander severus I 1 Is 8 just as well satisfied that the school children of a democratic land troop past his empty tomb without anotle ing it emperor of rome from to A D successor to the degenerate Hello gabalus who had himself off dally created a god he might have appreciated andrew jackson jacksons s emo lional outburst lie ile appears to have been somewhat of a skeptic regard ing the divinity of emperors and an open minded boy despite his en viron Niron ment of degeneracy ills brief reign Is chiefly distin gulshen for his feeble efforts to bet ter er the hard lot of the common peo pie he established government loan offices where they could borrow at low interest to get them out of the clutches of the bankers he ile did much to improve the status of the common soldier of the roman legions christianity was making headway in rome the emperor was mas not a convert but he neglected no chances to improve his fate hereafter lie ile I 1 ept a private chapel with s statues of orpheus abraham apollo and jesus and paid equal homage to all of them washington star |
