USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Forest Hills cemetery: its establishment, progress, scenery, monuments, etc. > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Forest Hills cemetery: its establishment, progress, scenery, monuments, etc > Part 9
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Lo ! the clouds have gathered more darkly, and
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the bleak wind swiftly drives the white snow- flakes. The sun goes down behind its mourning weeds, and darkness gathers over the earth- darkness and the fast-falling snow. Every where it is spread, even on the new-made grave, cover- ing it with a pure mantle of charity.
" Speak low !- the place is holy to the breath Of awful harmonies, of whispered prayer; Tread lightly, for the sanctity of death Broods with a voiceless influence on the air: Stern, yet serene, - a reconciling spell Each troubled billow of the soul to quell."
Divers are the visitors to the garden cemetery, coming with various feelings, and with hearts sus- ceptible to different influences from the beauty and solemnity of the place. Some come flitting through its shady avenues with no thought save of the great living world without, its fashion and folly, its ceaseless commotion and its frivolous pursuits. The stillness to which all that world must come, - the silent tenants here, once and so little time ago, active and restless in that tide of life, these are uncared for and unthought of. Others come, weary from the toil and anxieties of the daily routine, to relieve the mind and the body here where the dwellers toil not nor grow tired, yet
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with thoughts of recreation and pleasure only to fill the little gap between the hours of money- getting or household cares. But not always do even such visitors depart without some lesson.
A few-nay, not a few, coming with light thoughts or crusted hearts, delaying their steps awhile by the flowery grave or the beautiful mon- ument, are touched by better feelings, purer thoughts and higher hopes, and carry home with them lessons which may, perhaps, be sometimes forgotten in the noise of the world, but which will never be effaced. And some come hither seeking the sacred influence of the place - those with hearts saddened by the sufferings of the world, or mourners who have laid here the be- loved dead. And there is peace here for them, peace and serene hope, aspirations and prayer.
A band of children seeking sport and flowers, full of young life and innocent gaiety, have enter- ed the sacred enclosure, wandering awhile from their play. Their musical voices are softened, their joyous laugh is hushed as they move by the resting-places of the dead. They gaze on the clustering flowers and up into the shadowy foliage in silence, and admire the sculptured stones half in fear. They read the epitaphs, and breathing almost whispered inquiries, gaze with large eyes
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into each other's faces. And so they pass slowly on, silenced and awed, for the place to them is sacred and solemn, but not terrible.
And now, behold, they all pause and gather about the beautiful sculpture over a child's grave, -a child like them, who was called away from spring-time skies and flowers to the endless bloom of a brighter world. Silently they gaze upon the truthful marble, or turn their lustrous eyes, where tears are springing, towards each other, their hearts full of feelings that they cannot utter. And then they drop their gathered flowers upon that little grave, a tribute of unaffected innocence, and depart with saddened step and slow from the spot that has left impressions, O, how deep ! upon their young hearts. The world, indeed, shall rub away even the remembrance of those emotions in some, but in some the plastic mind shall become firm, with the impressions ineffaceable.
One in the pride of beautiful womanhood comes by, lovely in form, and with a beaming eye which reveals a spirit brilliant and gay. But pleasure and fashion have hung their chains upon her, and as her eye flashes her lip curls, and the smile that lights up her face is without warmth, and proud. The beauty of the garden cemetery impresses her mind, for it is formed to appreciate the loveliness
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of nature; but the hallowed associations of the place find no acknowledgment there. She passes on, without sympathy for those who have reared these monuments or planted these flowers over the beloved dead, and the touching epitaph reaches only her eye or her lips, or at best her intellect, which can criticise its propriety and style. She passes on as in the living world,-as if there were no influence in these shades, about these graves, on these votive stones, which can touch the heart of one so beautiful and admired.
But see, she pauses now, and her cheek is pale, her eye grows dim, she trembles, she-weeps. She has come to the grave of one who was as beautiful as she ; as beautiful, and of more lovely and gentle spirit, who was the companion of her girlhood, but who in the first bloom of womanhood passed onward to another world. How the thoughts of the past rush thickly on the mind of the beautiful worldling as she bends over that grave !- the memory of hopes they had cherished together, of pleasures they had enjoyed, now gone forever. The proud heart is touched now, for death has come near to it. Parted in the current of life, it is now for the first time that this loss of one so dear has come home to her. She weeps for the lost friend,-for the smothered gentleness and better nature of her own soul. She looks
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inward, standing here at the beautiful and solemn portal of the unknown world, and reads her own life. And from this hour shall she look upward with purer purposes and higher hopes.
Hither comes one who wears a look of gloom deeper than sadness. Not yet arrived at man's middle age, he has found dark ways in his journey through life, and the sunshine of friends has long since departed. He has met with the evil spirits that look out too often from men's souls in the place of goodness, and love, and charity. His expe- rience has not wholly hardened his own heart, but it has hung a thick veil of doubt and despondency over it, through which even the beautiful appears to him dark and gloomy. He is here, not to see the bright flowers or the rich sculpture, or the pleasant scenery ; nor to commune with the spirits of the sleepers here; nor to feel the gentler in- fluences of these peaceful shades. He has come because the gloomy silence of the grave is more congenial than the bitter struggles and sharp con- flicts of the world; because there is here a dark aspect which suits the darkness of his thoughts.
He flings himself down in the deepest shadows to indulge his moody dreams. And as he rests, a quiet steals forth from the trees and flowers and gleaming marble even into his troubled heart.
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There is peace here ; he feels it, he longs for it,-
" for in the grave there is no work And no device,"
no selfish, heartless struggle, nor scorn, nor hate, nor anguish. A rest from these he desires ; and to the grave as a final goal, the end of storms, an eternal sleep, he fain would come, without thought or care or dread or hope of the mystery beyond. There is peace at length for all, when all shall lie down silent, still and equal, harmless and un- troubled. With this dark trust he goes forth to life's struggle with more endurance. He has found a morbid gratification in these shades, and so shall he come again, -again and again, until a brighter hope breaks on his shadowed soul.
Through the avenues slowly comes a carriage from which looks out an aged man, whose face bears the stamp of many years and pressing cares. With unquiet gaze his eye wanders from place to place, a stranger to the scene, as the mind within is a stranger to the thoughts that here arise. He has achieved wealth. For half a century, per- chance, he has been toiling with unremitting labor and ever anxious thought to increase his worldly goods, too careless of the better treasure which in these many years his soul might have gathered
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in. Nor yet is he satisfied; the goal towards which he toils is far in the distance, unattainable, - receding still as with his increasing burden he approaches. Failing strength, silver hairs and wrinkled brow warn him that his toil is well nigh ended; but none the less strong are his desires for treasure -earthly treasure - dross. Up from the weight of wealth has his better nature some- times striven, but yielded again, too weary in the contest with avarice and long-fixed habit. But now again it struggles, here, where the sacred garden with its solemn beauty aids.
With trembling step he descends from the carriage to enter on one of the paths. He ap- proaches a monument and pauses to read the inscription. Are his eyes dim, that he tarries so long over that stone ? Ay, they are dim now with unaccustomed visitants, tears. The simple story on that unpretending stone has moved the depths of his soul. He has gone back in his thoughts to other years, and is thinking now of that young brother who long ago
" By the way-side fell and perished, Weary with the march of life,"-
of that beloved daughter, gentle and pure, who in the midst of his earnest worldly toil was laid at rest far away,-and of her, too, the companion
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of many years, who left his hearth-stone desolate. The strong tide of memories overwhelms all other thoughts, and his possessions on earth are forgot- ten in these his dearer treasures in heaven. Go with him, holy thoughts ! and kindle those blessed hopes that shall light his few remaining days.
What varied pages have been written in the book of life by the sleepers here ! Ah, could we turn the leaves and read the record, how would its lessons come home to the heart! The brief story of childhood's innocence glows on many a page. Virtue and deep religious faith shine forth in golden words; enduring strength and triumph- ant hope crown the chapters of a few. Suffering and sorrow have been inscribed by many ; misery and despair have too often told their story. There too, haply, may be written cold avarice, wrong, and cruelty, the vices of the world, and its crimes, -but " nil de mortuis nisi bonum."
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The rose light has faded in the west; the dells have grown dark, and the shadows steal over the plains and the hills. In the stillness of the night the winds and the leaves sing requiems for the
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dead, and the stars come out to watch the silent graves. And so we leave these crumbling bodies wrapt in endless sleep, and their spirits, as we trust, like stars in Heaven.
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APPENDIX.
1.
The following communication was presented by the Mayor, John J. Clarke, Esq., to the City Council, Oct. 5, 1846 :
GENTLEMEN, - I desire to call your attention to the Burial-grounds at the corner of Washington and Eustis streets and on Warren street. Both of these grounds are in a dilapidated condition, and need attention ; and at present reflect no honor upon the proprietors. The oldest of the two has long been filled, and no bodies arc depos- ited there except in some old family tomb, and the other is nearly filled.
At a time not very remote, it will become ne- cessary to procure other places of sepulture for those that shall die in the city. Mount Auburn is too distant, and but comparatively few feel able to procure lots there. I would therefore invite you to consider the expediency of purchasing a tract of land, (if one can be procured well adapt- ed,) and laying it out in a proper manner, and appropriating it to the purposes of a cemetery for
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the use of all the inhabitants of the city, on such terms and conditions as shall be thought best; and also to take measures to make the existing cemeteries more respectable.
· The communication was referred to a joint spe- cial committee, who reported, Nov. 16, in favor of repairing the old cemeteries ; and, subsequently, that they could find no suitable tract for a new cemetery ; and the subject was then referred to the succeeding City Council.
[The petition of Gen. Dearborn and others was for further regulation of burial-grounds, and the establishment of a rural cemetery beyond the more densely inhabited parts of the city. It is not to be found on the city files.]
2.
CITY COUNCIL, SEPTEMBER 6, 1847.
The Joint Standing Committee on Burial Grounds, respect- fully submit the following
REPORT:
From the very limited extent of the several Burial Grounds in Roxbury, and the rapid increase of inhabitants, it has become necessary that a tract of land should be procured, in as nearly a central position of the city, as is practicable, for a public Cemetery, and of a sufficient size to meet the pro- spective requirements of a population which must be vastly augmented within less than thirty years.
Confined places of sepulchre, of the character of which now exist, in the midst of a large and dense population, are not only considered deleterious in their effects upon the public health, but incompat-
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ible with a proper respect for the dead, as well as unpleasant and objectionable appendages to the habitations of the living.
While modern nations have rivalled those of antiquity, that were most distinguished for their advancement in letters, science and the arts, in intelligence, enterprise and grandeur ; and far surpassed them in the establishment of numerous important institutions for ameliorating the condi- tion, elevating the character, improving the morals and extending the advantages of instruction and refinement to all classes of the people ; and not- withstanding the immense benefits which have been derived from the glorious revelations of the Messiah, as contrasted with the infinitely various mythologies of antecedent ages, for a more per- fect development of the affections of the heart, the guidance of enlightened reason, and a knowl- edge of the higher duties incumbent upon the faithful disciples of the Sacred Messenger of Om- nipotence ; still have they remained far in the rear of Pagan empires, in appropriate manifesta- tions of respect for the memory of deceased rela- tives and friends, and the names, characters, and services of their illustrious benefactors in peace and war.
The ancients not considering it either decorous or reverential to the dead, to deposit their re- mains in the midst of the living, while a proper regard to sanatory principles rendered such a custom highly objectionable ; therefore, they were induced to locate their sepulchres beyond the walls of the cities.
The cemeteries of the ever memorable city of Thebes were excavated in the distant mountains ;
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and that of Memphis, the last regal capital of the Pharaohs of Egypt, was on the borders of lake Meoris. There expensive catacombs were cut in the solid rock, and richly embellished with sculp- tures, paintings and inscriptions, illustrative of the rank and memorable events in the lives of the individuals whose remains were there deposited, after having been embalmed in such a perfect manner as to yet exist in an undecayed condition, after the lapse of more than three thousand years.
The chief burial places of Jerusalem were in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and in the sides of the adjacent hills. There the "Potters Field " was located, which was purchased by the priests with the returned "pieces of silver" which the com- punctious and repentant Judas had received as " the price of blood;" and on the borders of Mount Calvary was the "new sepulchre " of Jo- seph of Arimathea, in which the body of the cru- cified Saviour of the world was laid.
The Cemetery of Athens was in the Ceramicus, which extended from the gate opposite the Fo- rum to the garden of the Academy, and included the residence and school of Plato. Within that spacious area were not only interred the citizens of the most superb city of Greece, but the ashes of every officer, soldier, and mariner, who fell in battle in distant regions, were brought back, and there deposited. Processions, formed by each of the ten tribes to which they belonged, accompa- nied the funeral car. Orators were appointed to deliver eulogiums, and richly-sculptured cenotaphs were erected at the public expense, to commemo- rate their names and gallant deeds in defence of the rights and honor of their country.
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APPENDIX.
The Greeks, instead of desecrating their splen- did temples, as we do our churches, by the inhu- mation of dead bodies within their hallowed walls, allowed no tomb to be made within sight of the magnificent national temple of Apollo at Delos, or even within sight of the island, which had been solemnly dedicated to that divinity.
The Romans were prohibited, by the twelve tables of the laws, from burying, or burning any person upon the funeral pile, within the walls of their cities. The funereal monuments of the most distinguished civil and military officers and noble and wealthy citizens were reared on the borders of the Appian, Claudian, Flaminian, and the other great highways which connected the Imperial city with distant parts of the empire; and many of them still remain as imperishable memorials of the veneration of the people for their eminent men, and of parental and filial affection. The beautiful marble sarcophagus of Scipio Africanus was removed from the majestic mausoleum of that eminent family, by one of the modern pontiffs, and is still to be seen in the Vatican, and has been often copied, as a sepulchral monument, in the cemeteries of Europe and this country. That of Spurzheim, near the gateway of Mount Auburn, is an example.
Even the Turks have imitated the example of the Israelites, whose God and religion is so far acknowledged as to form the basis of Mahomet's Koran, and have established their cemetery for Constantinople on the Asiatic shore of the Bos- phorus of Thrace; and from the universal custom of planting trees at each end of the graves by the surviving relatives, the extensive grove which has
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thus been formed in the burial-place of Scutari, during the five centuries which have passed since the banner of the crescent was planted upon the Imperial palace of the last of the Cæsars, forms one of the most interesting and picturesque feat- ures in the scenery of the Ottoman capital, and is a favorite place of visitation by all ranks of the people during the sultry months of summer.
During the age of the Patriarchs, groves, hills, valleys and other umbrageous situations, were selected as the most appropriate localities for sepulchres. When Sarah died, Abraham purchas- ed " the field of Ephron, in Machpelah, with all the trees that were therein and the borders round about, as a burying-place," and there he deposited the remains of his wife, and "there they buried Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah; " and when Jacob had blessed his sons, "he said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron." Eleazer was buried "in a hill that per- tained to Phineas;" Deborah "beneath Bethel under an oak ;" Saul and his sons " under a tree ;" and Manasseh and Ammon "in the garden of Uzza."
So general was the practice of all nations, both ancient and modern, to exclude cemeteries from cities, that no adverse example was presented in any portion of Europe, until the reign of Pope Gregory the Great, in the sixth century, when he allowed vaults to be constructed under the churches of Rome, and that unfortunate precedent was gradually followed by all Christian nations, with the addition of permitting inhumations with- in the enclosures of cathedrals, churches, and chapels.
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At last, after the experience of twelve centu- ries, the same prudential considerations for the preservation of the public health, and a returning recognition of that pious and respectful regard for the ashes and memory of the dead, which in- duced the Orientals to locate their cemeteries at a proper distance from their cities, combined with the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiently spacious tract of land within the limits of the thronged capital of the French empire, to meet the increas- ing demand for a place of interment, compelled the municipal government to seek an eligible site in the country ; and in 1804 the extensive park of Pere la Chaise was purchased for that purpose. The grounds were laid out by Broguiart, a cele- brated artist, under the superintendence of Count Chrobrol de Valvie, Prefect of the Department of the Seine.
Causes adverse to the indulgence of agreeable recollections of departed friends, were combined in such a revolting manner in Paris, as to preclude the indulgence of a disposition to recur to the sad event of their dissolution. The places of in- humation were in confined, fœtid and horrible situations, where the rays of the sun scarcely appeared, and in which broad, deep and dark pits were daily opened, into which the dead bodies were thrown that were removed from the houses in the night, unaccompanied by any one save the undertakers. The dead were not even enclosed in the meanest coffins, and often stript of all their vestments before the last act of the terrible rite was completed ; while against the high, damp and moss-covered walls of the general enclosure, were promiscuously piled up the bones of thousands of
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men, women and children, which had been annu- ally removed from the re-opened vaults to make room for the remains of other unfortunate beings, who were doomed to the same horrible exit from the midst of their relatives and friends. Like fearful charnel-houses existed in Rome, and many other European cities, and the humid, dreary, and inappropriate arches formed under the sanctuaries of religion, as well as the usual church-yards of all Christian countries, were but little less forbidding in their appearance and associations; and conse- quently, so far from inviting frequent visits of friends to the "narrow houses" of their deceased companions, such was the deplorable array of de- lapidated monuments, nearly obscured by rank and noxious weeds, and the lugrubrious aspect of the whole scene, that they were avoided with a kind of horror, approaching to a superstitious dread of the apprehended consequences of an attempt to identify the position where reposed the ashes of parents or children. To forget that they have thus been separated from the living and consigned to utter oblivion, was the awful alternative that devolved upon the bereaved relatives.
But the establishment of the rural cemetery of Pere la Chaise had a powerful influence upon the whole people. Long-suppressed sympathies have been resuscitated, devotion has been roused, and a generous interest experienced for the remains of departed kindred, and thus rendered often-re- peated visits to the graves of those who had been loved and revered, sources of sad yet instructive meditation, of reminiscences that are "pleasant, but mournful to the soul." It is in such conse- crated grounds, - those umbrageous, picturesque
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and silent "Gardens of the Dead," that picty is excited, patriotism exalted, and the affections de- veloped in such an emphatic manner as to invest funereal rites with sanctity, refine the morals of society, dignify humanity, and add lustre to the character of nations.
But such a great and novel change in the estab- lished customs of nations, and especially among the luxurious and pleasure-seeking people of the European capital, required the potent influence of cultivated reason, the sanction of imposing exam- ple, the embellishments of the arts, -the exciting effects of civil and military processions, -the requiems of "peace-parted souls," the far-resound- ing beat of the muffled drum, the occasional blasts of the war-trumpet, the drooping banner of many a stricken field, the pomp of mustered legions bronzed in the smoke of battle, contrasted with the sad drapery of the grief-bowed and heart- stricken members of the mourning household, the thrilling appeals of eloquence, the munificence of the affluent, and the extended patronage of gov- ernment, to render the long-required experiment as successful in its moralizing effects, as it was honorable and sublime in conception.
Public opinion had not included in the number of essential virtues, a holy respect for the ashes and memory of relatives and friends. All melan- choly reflections had been so long uniformly repulsed by the chilling influence of precedent, and whatever might cause reflection upon the instability of human happiness and the fragility of existence was studiously excluded from the mind, from the lamentable indifference which prevailed in relation to those unavoidable and unceasing
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daily calamities, to which all are liable and must ultimately submit; but could not anticipate their realization by a single prospective glance, in the full enjoyment of health, prosperity, and the per- petual festivities of the community by which they were surrounded, from which grief and sorrow were conventionally excluded, as incompatible with the spirit and manners of the age.
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