O Nation, collect your compassion. Weep! For one of your shining lights is entombed in darkness. Weep! O ye officers and soldiers, whom he loved and led to military glory. Weep! O ye farmers and ye Poor, for your improver and benefactor has become a prey to worms. Come water his tomb with your tears.

Memorial service for George Washington held in South Farms, Connecticut, (1800-02-22). As quoted in Strong, Barbara Nolen (1976). The Morris Academy: Pioneer in Coeducation. Torrington: Morris Bicentennial Committee. pp. 31.