USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Forest Hills cemetery: its establishment, progress, scenery, monuments, etc. > Part 4
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Forest Hills cemetery: its establishment, progress, scenery, monuments, etc > Part 4
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The spot is well chosen. It lies apart from the great thoroughfares of the world, and yet near to the dwellings of those multitudes who are one day to occupy its quiet precincts. Nature has done all for it that we could desire, and con- summate science and taste have been displayed, in preparing it for its uses -no, not displayed ;- true science and taste never display themselves in such a scene as this. Their most perfect art consists in hiding themselves and letting nature reveal herself-that all may be of God, and noth- ing of man. Whenever man's work comes to look most conspicuous here, it will argue either some failure in the designing artist, or else some defect in our mental vision. " Temptation here is none to exceed the truth."
Of the many rural cemeteries that have been opened within the last twenty years, in the vicin- ity of our principal cities and large towns, each has its own peculiar felicities of position and scenery. Each has some one charm that dis- tinguishes it from the others. Comparison is rendered as difficult as it is ungracious. Absolute superiority cannot be claimed for any one of them.
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It is not to be claimed for this, which to-day is added to the number of sacred enclosures.
Nature never repeats herself in landscape. She does not use a tithe of her infinite resources to adorn any one spot. A few touches of her plastic moulding and divine pencilling suffice to make a scene as lovely as the human heart can appreciate, with but a small draft upon her endless means. She always reserves herself, never exhausts her- self, never competes with herself, never outdoes herself ; and she is nowhere put to shame except through man's misunderstanding her design, or perverting it by unsuitable use or vicious art.
Certainly the God of nature has lavishly be- stowed here the beauty in which he hath delight. We see not how more or better could well have been crowded within these limits. Whoso asks for more, or different, may well suspect the sensi- bility of his own eye and heart, and might trav- erse the whole green carth unmoved, unsatisfied.
The way of access to these grounds lies along the green aisles of nature, free from the dust of travel and of trafic. The landscape is picturesque. There, in the southeast, the perpetual hills undu- late along the horizon. From yonder cliff may be seen the towers of cities and the spires of country villages. Through the loop-holes of the tree-tops gleams an arm of the sca ; and all F
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around and afar are the fields of rural industry and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
And here, within the enclosure, the heaving surface is pleasantly diversified,
" And mantled o'er with aboriginal turf And everlasting flowers."
Wooded heights and shaded valleys alternate from side to side. There are the grassy slopes ; and here, reposing at our feet, the little lake of living water reflecting the serene heavens. The oak, the walnut and the birch, throw their grate- ful shadows over the paths that wind through the interior ; and the southern border is skirted by a solemn grove of evergreens,
" Where angels, as the high pines wave, Their half heard misereres sing."
These jagged piles of uptossed rocks record a fearful history of old convulsions and a wild war of the elements; and the mosses on their sides and the gnarled trees in their crevices are the emblems of present stability and peace. The chirp of the squirrel, and the song of the more timid species of birds, such as shun the haunts of men, testify of the deep retirement of the place. The fountain which breaks cold and sweet at the foot of yonder precipice, tells us by its beautiful
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inscription, in the words spoken at Sychar of old, of that water, which whosoever drinketh, "it shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever- lasting life."
Thus felicitously has the Creator's hand, sec- onded reverently by an unobtrusive human art, prepared these grounds :
-
" Even as if the spot
Had been from eldest time by wish of ours So placed, to be shut out from all the world ! So lonesome, and so perfectly secure ; Not melancholy - no, for it is green And bright and fertile : - Peace is here, Or nowhere : It could not be more quiet. Retreat within retreat - a sheltering place Within how deep a shelter ! "
It is fit that such a spot be taken for such a purpose. The practice of burying the dead in the heart of cities, and in the midst of dense popula- tions, is one of the barbarisms of modern civiliza- tion, and a decent regard both for the dead and the living requires that it should be discontinued. It is out of keeping with all our affectionate me mories of the departed, and with our ideas of the sacred repose due to their remains, that their tomb-doors should echo the worldly talk and an- gry disputes and light laugh and jest of the thronged street and market-place. A still greater
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outrage it is upon our best feelings, that the bodies of our beloved and revered ones, hallowed temples of their dear spirits, should not be per- mitted to pass back into their native dust, without being the subjects of protests and murmurs, and municipal restrictions and sanitary regulations.
And the practice is not much better, except in so far as usage and old ecclesiastical associations have sanctified it to Christian feeling, of deposit- ing the dead in cells and vaults beneath churches. It is bringing death into proximity with life in an objectionable manner, while at the same time it forbids the sort of nearness that satisfies the heart of the bereaved and appeals to the moral senti- ments of the stranger. None can go there to meditate, none can approach the grave with any offering of affection. The way to its dark cham- bers can only be trod by those who go with a new grief to lay another treasure in its repulsive and gloomy receptacle. Such methods of burial, we cannot but think, will soon be superseded, and a return to more ancient and appropriate modes be universally accomplished.
It is very true, that it matters not to the de- parted what is done with their outward tabernacle when the spirit is flown. We cannot harm them, nor help them, by the manner in which we dispose of their perishing remains. The rites of burial
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concern the living more than the dead. Not for their benefit, but for our own hearts' sakes it is that we gather in funeral companies around their coffined bodies, and call on God in prayer, and reverently lift the pall, and bear them forth in solemn procession, and lay them gently down to their rest. Not for their benefit; yet so long as we are in the flesh ourselves, our love, our sorrow, our respect, our fond recollections cannot be sep- arated from the image of their material form. It
is sacred dust forever to the souls that loved them. Wherever it is laid, our hearts have a property in it that can never be alienated while memory and affection endure. There is a hallowed tie that binds us to the spot with a holy home feel- ing, wander where we may. The soul of the very savage clings to the land where his fathers' bones are laid, and parts from it in anguish, and yearns for it as his only home. And no pitch of civiliza- tion, no influence of philosophy or religion, breaks or ought to break that bond of sacred association, woven by love and grief, between the yet beating heart and that heart and hand and countenance which death has stilled and changed.
It is sacred dust. We would have it shielded from rude intrusion and unseemly neglect. It claims nothing -lying there silent and motionless in its coffin-it claims nothing, needs nothing, but F*
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all the more do our own souls claim for it that it be treated with tenderness and honor, and rever- ent care, -as all that we can do now, or seem to do, -a very little, yet all, -and something which we feel it is a sad privilege to do, and a shame and a wrong to omit.
To meet this want, to satisfy this craving, to furnish increased and convenient opportunity to the living to treat their dead as the heart prompts and demands, these grounds have been provided and prepared.
And now we are gathered together to devote this enclosure to its sacred uses. Henceforth, the place is to be the City of the Dead. Hence- forth, the living shall have no rightful office or duty here, but to pay honor to the dead -to pre- pare and adorn their silent chambers, to watch over and protect their peaceful slumbers, to hold communion with their memories, and with serious mind and tender heart to meditate as beneath the shadows of the portal of the unseen world.
It belongs to the dead. We yield it up this day to them, as they shall come up one after an- other from among the living to claim a resting place within its sanctuary. It shall, henceforth, be no scene of profit, or light amusement, or any worldly passion or purpose. Let ambition enter here only to be chastened and elevated; and love
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only to be refined and sanctified ; and worldliness only to be rebuked and softened; and unkindness only to be east out, and give place to holy charity ; and vice, but to be awed to repentance in the presence of the dread and friendly monitor ; and virtue, but to strengthen its vows and gird up its loins anew ; and sorrow, but to be soothed to re- signation, and to turn its flowing eye to heaven in religious hope and peace.
Let every mark, which the hand of art shall leave within these shades, be a memorial in keep- ing with the purpose which we this day recognize. We charge it upon ourselves and upon those who shall succeed us, to respect the vows of this con- secration hour, and guard the spot from all profane intrusion. And our children's children, musing along these solemn walks over their fathers' ashes, and resting in the cool reeesses of these monumental cliffs, shall respond to the feel- ing of the Christian poct, speaking of his mountain church-yard :
" And in the centre of a world whose soil Is rank with all unkindness, compassed round With such memorials, I have sometimes felt It was no momentary happiness To have one Enclosure where the voice that speaks In envy or detraction is not heard ; Which malice may not enter ; where the traces
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Of evil inclinations are unknown ; Where love and pity tenderly unite With resignation ; and no jarring tone Intrudes, the peaceful concert to disturb."
The lapse of years will produce great changes in the aspect of this scene. To-day the uninform- ed visitor might take it for a secular park and pleasure ground, -but the dead will be coming now, in rapid succession, to take their places here. It will be all dotted over with graves. Then it will have put on its appropriate look. Graves, graves -bencath every tree, at every bend of the paths, and up the slopes of the hills, and hewn out, it may be, as of old, in the face of the living rock -every where graves. They will declare the lesson and the sentiment of the place. Headstones and monuments are not essential. Without these, the eye of love will know where to find its own, and the car will catch the voices that whisper from the dust. They will not be forgotten, nor without influence here, whose rest- ing-place is marked by no sepulchral stone, but who
" trust The lingering gleam of their departed lives To oral record, and the silent heart ; Depositories faithful and more kind Than fondest epitaph."
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But monuments will be appropriate also. The " votive marble and the storied granite " will add much to the solemn and impressive beauty of the consecrated field. Only let them be simple and chaste, however sometimes massive and costly ; not indicating the pride and ostentation of the living, but the worth of the dead, and the reverent regard due to their memory.
And emblematic devices and inscriptions, we would hope, will not go out of use, nor be infre- quent here. Whether from association or from inherent fitness, those appeals, found so often in ancient graveyards, are always welcome, such as " Pause, Traveller," " Siste Viator," and " Memen- to Mori." We reverently recognize the right of the dead to stop us at their graves and to preach thus.
Epitaphs, descriptive of the personal character and social services of those who repose beneath, will be interesting and instructive. Let them be composed with truth and discrimination, and yet with generous allowance for the just influence of death in exalting to the mind and heart of surviv- ors the real virtues of the beloved and lamented. " What purity and brightness is that virtue clothed in, the image of which must no longer bless our living eyes ! The character of a deceased friend or beloved kinsman is not seen, no -nor ought 1
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to be seen, otherwise than as a tree through a tender haze or a luminous mist, that spiritualizes and beautifies it; that take away, indeed, but only to the end that the parts which are not abstract- ed may appear more dignified and lovely ; may impress and affect the more. Let an epitaph be true, yet the truth hallowed by love - the joint offspring of the worth of the dead and the affec- tion of the living." *
With the law of truth thus defined, observed in epitaphs, we should be willing, with the poet, to see
" the ground all paved
With commendations of departed worth ;
Reading, where'er we turn, of innocent lives, Of each domestic charity fulfilled,
And sufferings meekly borne -
Among such fair recitals we should range,
Soothed by the natural spirit which they breathe."
But it is not graves, nor monuments, nor sculp- tured epitaphs, beheld in prospect as part of the scenery of the spot, -it is not these that give the most affecting interest to the solemnities of this hour ; but it is the thought, rising with a fear- ful half consciousness in our minds, and awakening deep awe and tenderness -the thought, whence shall come those, who shall fill these narrow
Wordsworth's Essay.
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chambers and sleep beneath these marble rec- ords ?- From yonder dwellings they will come, from that thick concourse of the living, from the happy homes and joyous circles where we and ours do dwell. They come, a various company, to people these pleasant shades -the sick, who even now await the messenger, "and wrap the drapery of their couch about them" for the jour- ney hither ; and the healthy, for whom to-day love and hope count scores of years on earth; the child, gamboling as a very thing of life in the morning, and stricken from the parental arms at nightfall; the young, cut down in the midst of their bloom and promise; the wise, the strong, pillars in the social fabric, on whom many are leaning now so trustingly ; and the aged, to whom this resting-place is needful and welcome as "the shadow of a rock in a weary land." They will come in quick succession, and in unexpected order, as God shall call them. As we pass out hence to our homes, we may almost expect to meet the bearers at the gate. And we, any of us, frail as the frailest and appointed to die, may go forth from these shades to-day, only to turn back again upon our own footsteps, and re-enter, borne by men's hands, to depart no more. The brightest eye, the strongest arm, the most bounding heart, may come and be quenched and stilled within
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these bowers, e'er one hue in the green roof is changed or one leaf of it has fallen on the sod that shall cover them.
Thus shall they come, they - we-all one mortal dying family,-come to constitute the great city of the dead, and line its silent streets with sepulchral abodes. They come, from amid partings how tender, and griefs how bitter, leav- ing what loneliness and desolation behind ! They come singly, but soon there shall be whole house- holds here. Parents, children, brothers, sisters, who hold living converse together in domestic love beneath one roof-tree yonder, shall quickly be grouped together here, side by side, in the green graves, and one tree of the forest shall over- shadow and shelter them all.
It is anticipatory thoughts such as these, crowd- ing upon us here, that justify and demand the religious character which we have sought to give to these inaugural exercises, -the prayers and hymns and words of Holy Writ, by which we de- vote and yield up these peaceful hills and valleys to the thronging dead.
The desire to invest the place with all religious associations, and to make it in all coming time a holy spot, where Christian faith and feeling shall be nourished in hallowed contemplation, and im- mortal hope replume its upward wings.
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On the entablature of the gateway at the north- ern entrance, we shall hereafter see inscribed in golden letters, those words of the Son of God, - words that have moved the heart of the world, and carried heavenly light into the dark places of mortality and grief, -I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. What words so fit to be graven on the portal of a Christian burial place, as well as on every Christian mourner's heart. He who spake them as the Father gave him to speak, was borne from his cross and laid down in a Garden, the garden of the sepulchre ; or rather would we call it by its greater name, the garden of the Resurrection. All the spiritual charm of this lovely garden where we shall lay our treasures, shall be but a reflection of the beauty of that Garden of the Resurrection in far Jerusalem. The faith and hope and religious peace, that shall divest this place of graves of its mortal horrors, are but amaranthine flowers transplanted from that garden to this -from the grave of the Mas- ter to the grave of the disciple. The angels that watched by that scaled tomb, to the eye of faith shall watch by these also. He who conquered death there, hath abolished it here. That glori- ous promise, " Because I live, ye shall live also," verified and confirmed at that opened and empty sepulchre, shall throw a heavenly radiance over G
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the sepulchres of our righteous dead, proclaim their victory even in the arms of death and the lap of corruption, and reconcile the nearest and most stricken mourner to gentle sorrow and cheerful fortitude and great peace in believing.
The duties of this day are now discharged. Our poor services of dedication draw to their close, and in a few moments the sound thereof shall have died away amid the whispering of the leaves of the trees.
It is not our feeble words and formal rites that shall truly consecrate the place-not these - but the coming in of the mighty hosts of the dead, and the thoughts and feelings that shall come with them, and linger round them in the hearts of the living who shall lay their best beloved here - these shall consecrate it. The tears that shall water its shaded avenues, as the sad processions shall wind slowly round to the opened sepulchres, shall consecrate it. The fond regrets that shall revert hither, every day, from bleeding hearts and bereaved homes, shall consecrate it. The green mounds that cover precious dust, the sombre tomb doors, the monuments gleaming through the wood, the fresh flowers laid upon the new graves, the shrubs planted and tended with trembling hand and tearful eye, these shall be a daily consecra-
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tion. The thoughts that visit the bowed mourn- ers bending over the ashes of their kindred; the emotions, too deep for utterance and too sacred for witnesses, that shall seek indulgence within these forest coverts ; the tender recollections, the gentle consolations, the religious vows, the im- mortal hopes, conceived and nourished in the solemn stillness of the place - these shall be its continuous and ever-heightening and cumulative consecration, to make it holy as old cathedral aisles, or ancient altars at which saints and mar- tyrs have bowed down and died.
Come, then, ye advancing companies of the dying ! Come, children of mortality, and take your allotted places within these peaceful bowers. They shall be sacred forever to your holy claim. We bid you welcome, sent of God, to your grassy couch spread in the gentle lap of nature by na- ture's God and yours. The earth lie light upon you ! Come, and our faithful care shall shield your slumbers. And He who clothes the flowers at your feet with glory, and upholds the sparrow that sings your matin song in the branches above, shall keep you in peace till the day of his appear- ing, when the graves shall be opened and the sea give up its dead. Come, in willing obedience to the summons of your God; and O, be it, through His grace, with the song of the redeemed just
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parted from your marble lips, and the light of faith lingering in your closing eyes, and the seal of the heavenly promise stamped on your tranquil brows! Come, and, till the resurrection morn, rest here in peace,
" And Nature's pleasant robe of green, Humanity's appointed shroud, enwrap Your monuments and your memory."
J. ANDREHAY
THE SOUTHERN GATEWAY.
Scenery and Beauties of Forest hills.
THE approaches to Forest Hills from all sides are through pleasant and quiet roads, by well cultivated lands, delightful rural residences, or by the wilder beauties of unadorned nature. In the season of verdure and flowers few more agreeable drives can be found in the vicinity of Boston than through the streets and avenues that lead to the cemetery. There are beautiful views in every direction from the elevated grounds, and in the valleys or the woods many a nook may be observ- ed where cottages may nestle, while all around are springing up elegant villas, and pleasant grounds mark the progress of taste and refinement. But from no direction is the cemetery noticeable at any distance, except perhaps on the southeastern side. It is shut out from the world, a calm re- treat, though near the rapid tide of life.
The main entrance to the cemetery is reached
G*
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from the highway, Scarborough street, by a broad avenue which curves up a gentle ascent till it reaches the gateway. As it approaches the gate- way, this avenue is divided by a group of trees, but unites again directly in front of the entrance. The gateway at this entrance is of somewhat im- posing dimensions, the whole structure having a front of one hundred and sixty feet. The carriage way is through an Egyptian portico, copied from an ancient portico at Garsery on the upper Nile. It consists of two piers, inside of which are mas- sive columns richly sculptured, all supporting a heavy cap with its concave entablature, which is ornamented on the outer side with a large winged globe. This portico is forty feet in width and twenty-four feet high. On each side, a little re- moved, are smaller gates for pedestrians, and near these are small lodges corresponding with the gateway in style. The gates consist of high pal- ings, which are alternately surmounted with lotus blossoms and lance heads, and similar palings extend from the gate piers to the lodges.
Upon the outer architrave of the gateway are inscribed, in golden letters, the words :
" THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH I WILL FEAR NO EVIL."
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On the interior architrave, in the same kind of letters, are the words :
" I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE."
Consecrated June 28, 1848.
The gateway and lodges are built of wood, paint- ed and sanded in imitation of Jersey sandstone. For wooden structures, they are built in a very thorough and durable manner, but it is hoped that these may, before many years, give place to more enduring structures of stone, as is contemplated by the commissioners.
There is a difference of opinion as to the pro- priety of using, as is much the custom, the Egyp- tian architecture about our burial places. A relic of paganism, it is by some esteemed out of place in a Christian cemetery. But it is essentially the architecture of the grave. Its original examples are the monuments of remote ages, of buried cities, of nations passed away ; marking the burial places of kings, of dynasties and of peoples. Im- posing and sombre in its form and mysterious in its remote origin, it seems peculiarly adapted to the abode of the dead, and its enduring character contrasts strongly and strangely with the brief life of mortals. Nor is it without the symbols of immortality, which the purer faith of the Christian
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can well appropriate and associate with the more sacred and divine promises of the gospel.
There are other entrances on the southern and eastern sides of the cemetery. On the southern side the cemetery grounds do not extend to any public street, but an avenue thirty-three feet wide is laid out from Walk Hill street to the boundary of the cemetery, where there is an entrance through a gate supported by Egyptian piers. This avenue is shaded on each side by thickly- growing evergreens, and from it the visitor enters at once upon one of the most beautiful parts of the cemetery.
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