Old Cemetery Restoration is Pushed

The white stones soon grew yellow with neglect. Jails and almshouses moved in as neighbors. As a part of official Washington the Congressional Cemetery passed out of public thought. But the names on many of its forgotten headstones are those of men who played big roles in the development of this country.

"There, for instance, lies Tobias Lear. Tobias was buried on the hillside by the Anacostia River after he killed himself in his garden pavilion. Tobias, so the words on his tombstone say, 'was the private secretary and familiar friend of the illustrious Washington.' . . . The inscriptions on the old tombstones are fascinating reading . . . On the monument of Vice President Elbridge Gerry, who died suddenly in his carriage on his way to ---"

Essary Was Pioneer

Back in February, Helen Essary, whose column appears daily in The Washington Times as one of its most widely followed features, sat down and wrote about Congressional Cemetery, of the existence of which few contemporary members of Congress had ever even heard.

She told how Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, had introduced a bill in the House to provide for its maintenance.

Meanwhile on the hill above the sleepy river the grass grew long above the graves, the tombstones crumbled and wore smooth in the rains of many years, and there were few to know or care, as a restless age and a careless Government passed it by for problems of greater urgency or more imminent interest.

Mrs. Essary's article attracted attention at the Capitol. It was reprinted in the Congressional Record. Mrs. Rogers read it to the members of the House. Senator Theodore Green (D), of Rhode Island, introduced a companion bill in the Senate to restore the historical burial plot and maintain it as a national shrine.

Rider on War Bill

And today Mrs. Rogers called Mrs. Essary to tell her the measure had been attached as a rider to a War Department Appropriation bill, carrying with it the money necessary to enable the department to keep up the cemetery as it does Arlington.

Mrs. Essary called The Times to ask that Mrs. Rogers particularly be given credit for her good work in persuading Congress to look after its own.

Mrs. Rogers, for her part, wants Mrs. Essary to be given credit for stirring up the subject and presenting it in pictorial language which helped make it possible for her to persuade her fellow legislators to do something about it.

Both seemed to think that Senator Green, being a man, could look after himself, and see that he gets a bit of credit too.

Published by: The Washington Daily News

Publishing date: July 17, 1937