Where Potomac's stream is flowing
Virginia's border through,
Where the white-sailed ships are going
Sailing to the ocean blue;
Hushed the sound of mirth and singing,
Silent every one!
While the solemn bells are ringing
By the tomb of Washington.
Tolling and knelling,
With a sad, sweet sound,
O'er the waves the tones are swelling
By Mount Vernon's sacred ground.
Long ago the warrior slumbered--
Our country's father slept;
Long among the angels numbered
They the hero soul have kept.
But the children's children love him,
And his name revere,
So where willows wave above him,
Sweetly still his knell you hear.
Sail, oh ships, across the billows,
And bear the story far;
How he sleeps beneath the willows,--
"First in peace and first in war,"
Tell while sweet adieus are swelling,
Till you come again,
He within the hearts is dwelling,
Of his loving countrymen.
_M.B.C. Slade._