240 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



conveyed to the Gilham vault in the city cemetery, just 

 opposite the tomb of ''Stonewall" Jackson. This, 

 however, was only a temporary resting-place. When, 

 shortly before his death, his wife had requested of Maury 

 that she be permitted to bury him in Richmond, he had 

 replied, "Very well, my dear; then let my body remain 

 here until the spring, and when you take me through the 

 Goshen Pass you must pluck the rhododendrons and the 

 mountain-ivy and lay them upon me". 



"Home, bear me home, at last", he said, 

 "And lay me where your dead are lying; 



But not while skies are overspread, 

 And mournful wintry winds are sighing ! 



Wait till the royal march of spring 



Carpets the mountain fastness over — 

 Till chattering birds are on the wing, 



And buzzing bees are in the clover. 



Wait till the laurel bursts its buds, 



And creeping ivy flings its graces 

 About the lichened rocks — and floods 



Of sunshine fill the shady places. 



Then, when the sky, the air, the grass, 



Sweet nature all, is glad and tender — 

 Then bear me through the Goshen Pass, 



Amid the hush of May-day splendor".^ 



It was the following autumn, however, before Maury's 

 wishes could be carried out. In bearing his remains to 

 Richmond at that time, the family were escorted as far 

 as the river, about a mile from Lexington, by the corps 

 of cadets, the professors of the Institute, and a great 

 many other friends who thus wished to show their love 

 and respect for the great scientist. Some, among whom 



' The opening stanzas of "Through the Pass" by Margaret J. Preston. 



