[Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams by William H. Seward]@TWC D-Link bookLife and Public Services of John Quincy Adams CHAPTER XV 39/107
But when again shall the tomb of a President of the United States open its doors to receive a son who has filled the same office ?" On the following day, the body, under the charge of the municipal officers of Boston, was conveyed to Quincy.
In the Unitarian church, in the presence of old neighbors and friends, the last funeral exercises were held, and the last sad burial service was performed. By the side of the graves of his fathers, overshadowed by aged trees, which had sheltered his head in the days of boyhood, in a plain tomb, prepared under his own direction, and inscribed simply with his name, sleep the ashes of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. "Let no weak drops Be shed for him.
The virgin in her bloom Cut off, the joyous youth, and darling child, These are the tombs that claim the tender tear And elegiac songs.
But Adams calls For other notes of gratulation high; That now he wanders thro' those endless worlds He here so well descried; and, wondering, talks And hymns their Author with his glad compeers. Columbia's boast! whether with angels thou Sittest in dread discourse, or fellow blest Who joy to see the honor of their kind; Or whether, mounted on cherubic wing, Thy swift career is with the whirling orbs, Comparing things with things, in rapture lost, And grateful adoration for that light So plenteous ray'd into thy mind below From Light himself--oh! look with pity down On human kind, a frail, erroneous race! Exalt the spirit of a downward world! O'er thy dejected country chief preside, And be her Genius called! her studies raise, Correct her manners, and inspire her youth; For, though deprav'd and sunk, she brought thee forth, And glories in thy name.
She points thee out To all her sons, and bids them eye thy star-- Thy star, which, followed steadfastly, shall lead To wisdom, virtue, glory here, and joy Unspeakable in worlds to come." EULOGY.[Footnote: Delivered before the Legislature of New York, by Wm.
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