The Bells Of Mt. Vernon Are Ringing Today...Happy Birthday Mr. President!

The bells of Mount Vernon are ringing to-day,

And what say their melodious numbers

To the flag blooming air?  List, what do they say?

"The fame of the hero ne'er slumbers!"

Mt. Vernon Estate

Home of George Washington

1st President of the United States of America

The world's monument stands the Potomac beside,

And what says shaft to the river?

"When the hero has lived for his country and died,

Death crowns him a hero forever."

The bards crown heroes and children rehearse

The songs that give heroes to story,

And what say the bards to the children? "No verse

Can yet measure Washington's glory."

"For Freedom outlives the old crowns of earth,

And Freedom shall triumph forever,

And Time must long wait the true song of his birth

Who sleeps by the beautiful river."

"Washington's Birthday"

Hezekiah Butterworth

(1839-1905)

American hymnist and poet

George Washington

(Lansdowne Portrait 1796)

Gilbert Stuart