USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Guide to Laurel Hill Cemetery near Philadelphia : with a list of lotholders > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Populus Nigra, L. The Black-barked, or Common Black Poplar.
Populus Fastigiata, Desf. The Lombardy Poplar.
Betula Alba, L. The White, or Common Birch.
Betula Pendula. The Weeping Birch.
Betula Papyracea, Ait. The Paper Birch.
Betula Nigra, L. The Black Birch.
Quercus Lucombeana, Swt. The Lucombe Oak.
Quercus Macrocarpa, Willd. The Large-fruited Ameri- can Oak.
Quercus Alba, L. The White Oak.
Quercus Prinos, L. The Chestnut-leaved Oak.
Quercus Rubra, L. The Red, or Champion Oak.
Quercus Coccinea, Willd. The Scarlet Oak.
Quercus Tinctoria, Willd. The Quercitron, or Dyer's Oak.
Quercus Palustris, Willd. The Pin Oak.
Quercus Nigra, Willd. The Black Jack Oak.
Quercus Phellos, L. The Willow Oak.
Quercus Cerris, L. The Turkey Oak. Fagus Sylvatica, L. The Wood, or Common Beech. Castanea Vesca, G. The Eatable Spanish Chestnut. Castanea Americana, Michx. The American Chestnut.
82
LAUREL HILL.
Carpinus Betulus, L. The Birch, or Common Horn- beam.
Carpinus Americana, L. The American Hornbeam.
Corylus Avellana, L. The Hazelnut, several varie- ties.
Platanus Orientalis, L. The Oriental Plane.
Platanus Occidentalis, L. The Western Plane, or But- tonwood.
Liquidambar Styraciflua, L. The Sweet-gum Liquid- ambar.
Taxus Baccata, L. The Berried, or Common Yew.
Taxus Canadensis, Willd. The North American Yew.
Taxus Hibernica, Hook. The Irish Yew.
Salisburia Adiantifolia, Smith. The Gingko Tree.
Pinus Sylvestris, L. The Scotch Fir.
Pinus Pinaster, Ait. The Pinaster, or Cluster Pine. Pinus Pinea, L. The Stone Pine.
Pinus Inops, Ait. The Jersey Pine.
Pinus Resinosa, Ait. The Resinous, or Red Pine ..
Pinus Mitis, Michx. The Yellow Pine.
Pinus Australis, Michx. The Southern Pine.
Pinus Strobus, Lindl. The Weymouth Pine. . Abies Canadensis, Michx. The Hemlock Spruce Fir.
. Abies Excelsa, Dec. The Norway Spruce Fir. Abies Alba, Michx. The White Spruce Fir.
Abies Nigra, Poir. The Black Spruce Fir.
Abies Balsamea. The Balm of Gilead, or American Silver Fir.
Larix Europea, Dec. The European Larch. Larix Americana, Michx. The American Larch.
83
LAUREL HILL.
Cedrus Libani, Barr. The Cedar of Lebanon .* Chryptomeia Japonica. The Japan Chryptomina. Thuja Occidentalis, L. The American Arbor Vitae. Thuja Orientalis, L. The Chinese Arbor Vitæ. Taxodium Distichum, Rich. The Deciduous Cypress. Juniperus Virginiana, L. The Virginian Juniper, or Red Cedar.
Juniperus Communis, L. The Common Juniper. Juniperus Suecica, L. The Swedish Juniper.
Yucca Gloriosa, L. The Glorious Yucca, or Adam's needle.
Yucca Filamentosa. The Thready, or Filamentose Yucca.
Bulbs, &c. Lily of the Valley, Christmas Rose, Monks- hood, Sweet Violets, White Violets, Lilies, Phlox, &c., &c.
* The Cedar of Lebanon is one of the most beautiful trees, rather slow in coming to maturity, but in the dif- ferent stages of its growth is handsome ; its exceedingly" dark foliage, and horizontal branches, extending twenty or forty feet, give it the most imposing appearance for a cemetery. It is quite aristocratical in requiring much room, and repudiating all company, even its own species, which it never permits to approach it without exhibiting how much it has been contaminated. It is perfectly hardy in America, but extremely rare. More than twenty speci- mens have been placed at Laurel Hill.
84
LAUREL HILL.
REMARKS DESIGNED FOR THE INFORMATION OF LOT-HOLDERS ON THE SUBJECT OF PLANTING.
THE first general remark which experience has dictated is, that rose bushes, and most plants of an herbaceous kind, rarely succeed well under the shade of the larger trees, and especially un- der the Pines. Roses require sun and air ; the sub-soil being gravel and loam is admirably adapted to their growth; they are uncommonly successful where they have been properly planted in a suitable exposure. The "daily" roses, and those which bloom throughout the summer and fall months, should be preferred. The new tribe of Remontantes, or Hybrid Perpetual Roses, between the Perpetual and Bourbon, possessing the beauty and fragrance of the former, with the growth and foliage of the latter, and which pro- duce an abundance of flowers from June to November, and are perfectly hardy, are most desirable.
The Noisettes are extremely beautiful. The profusion of their flowers produced in immense
LAUREL HILL. 85
clusters, frequently from fifty to one hundred, makes them superbly ornamental objects. Other kinds might be named, but most gardeners will be able to give a list of such as are hardy, and ornamental, as well as fragrant. Roses, as well as other plants, should always be placed in some good soil.
Lot-holders, who have ground in the shade, will be most successful in planting if they select the following shrubs and bushes :- .
Rhododendron Maximum, or Mountain Laurel.
Rhododendron Ponticum, or Rose Bay.
Rhododendron Catawbiense, or Catawba Rhododendron. Portugal Laurel. Kalmia Latifolia, or Common Laurel.
The above are of slow growth, beautiful in all their : stages, long lived, and flower freely at Laurel Hill, in dense shade.
Gordonia Pubescens, or Franklinia, a superb bush, bear- ing fragrant flowers in the fall ; succeeds under mo- derate shade.
Hedera Helix, or Ivy. The giant Ivy may with care be trained over the marble posts, wire, &c.
Ilex Aquifolium and Opaca, or Prickly-leaved and Opaque-leaved Holly ; very desirable both as single trees and for hedges.
Aucuba Japonica, or Japan Aucuba. This is a rare and most desirable evergreen; its green leaves, va- 8
86
LAUREL HILL.
riegated with angular yellow spots, are beautiful at all seasons.
Jasminum Officinale, or Common Jasmine.
Vinca Major and Minor, or large and small Periwinkle, evergreen, and very suitable for graves.
Buxus, or Box Bushes and Trees-all the varieties. See the list.
Taxus, or Yew Trees, all the varieties-especially to be sought for.
Picea Balsamea, or American Balm of Gilead; very beautiful when young, but frequently when older it loses its under branches.
Thuja Occidentalis, or American Arbor Vitæ; this be- comes a large tree, and may be planted where such are required ; instances of which will be very rare. The Chinese variety is worthless after a few years' growth, except when in a trimmed hedge.
Juniperus Communis, or Common Juniper ; when this is regularly attended to, coned and trimmed, it is very ornamental.
The Lily of the Valley and Phlox, succeed and bloom in almost every situation, as does the Evergreen Ho- neysuckle.
Statues
OF
OLD MORTALITY AND HIS PONY,
AND OF
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
٤
Chapter DJ.
STATUES OF OLD MORTALITY AND HIS PONY, AND OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.
"Why seeks he with unwearied toil Through death's dim walks to urge his way,
Reclaim his long-asserted spoil, And lead oblivion into day?"
LANGHORNE.
ITHE figure of Old Mortality was cut by Mr. - Thom in Scotland, and with its accompanying Pony, and a plaster cast of Sir Walter Scott, was exhibited in Edinburgh, London, and elsewhere. Mr. Thom brought them to this country, where he fixed his residence, and placed them in a room in New York; here a limited number of citizens and strangers enjoyed a view of the group. In removing them to Newark, the Pony 8*
90
LAUREL HILL.
was broken to fragments, and the sculptor des- paired of ever turning his remaining figure to account; but having purchased a quarry in New Jersey, the stone of which was admirably adapted to his chisel, he offered to complete the entire group for Laurel Hill Cemetery, a place which he deemed admirably adapted to their location, and to dispose of his right to the whole. The Cemetery Company acceded to his wishes. The Pony and Sir Walter are therefore the products of Mr. Thom's chisel, from American stone, and are alike creditable to his genius and skill.
How faithfully the sculptor has embodied the description of the author, may best be seen by reference to the introductory chapter of the tale of Old Mortality.
The figure of Sir Walter is pronounced by competent judges an excellent likeness ; the head is after the bust of Chantrey, and the remainder of the figure is taken partly from the best prints, and partly from Mr. Thom's own personal recol- lections,
The Managers of the Cemetery, in placing these figures on the grounds, had in view the possibility of embodying the idea that Laurel Hill is to be permanent; as Old Mortality loved
LAUREL HILL. 91
to repair defaced tombstones, so the originators of the plan of the Cemetery hope it may be the study of their successors to keep the place in per- petual repair, and to transmit it undefaced to a distant date.
The following extract from the National Ga- zette is happily worded. - " The Laurel Hill Cemetery has lately been adorned by two very significant and appropriate statues-one of Sir Walter Scott, represented sitting on a tombstone, talking to Old Mortality, who is engaged in his pious and patriotic occupation of bringing into fresh relief the decayed and dubious inscription on the grave of a Covenanter, happily emblematic of the care bestowed on the enclosures and vaults ; his little pony is also represented. These statues are from the chisel of that ex- quisite genius, the Burns of sculpture, Thom. There sits Sir Walter, in his ordinary dress, and with his stout spiral walking-cane in his hand. The representation is superbly fine ; life, soul, genius-all are embodied. The coat, vest, and neckcloth, are as natural as if they were from the hands of an Edinburgh tailor, and Souter Johnnie could not have made a more natural
.
92
LAUREL HILL.
pair of heavy boots. This is the only statue ex- tant representing Sir Walter in modern costume. Old Mortality has a face of magically real and rich expression ; his position, general appearance, and dress, are of correspondent perfection with those of the author himself. The faithful quad- ruped, except that the sculptor has made him sleek, according to the tasteful license of the art, would pass for the original portrait. All the details of his primitive gear are presented with rare fidelity."
It was the pious enthusiasm of a Scottish pil- grim to revisit the graves of his country's mar- tyrs, and freshen the record of their virtues, their suffering, and glorious deaths. His pilgrimage was from churchyard to churchyard, and when his eye rested on the fading memorials of those who had virtuously lived and bravely died, his humble industry was ready to stop the progress of the decay and trace anew the epitaphs of the dead.
LAUREL HILL.
93
THE PRELIMINARY CHAPTER OF OLD MORTALITY.
" MOST readers," says the manuscript of Mr. Pattieson, "must have witnessed with delight the joyous burst which attends the dismissing of a village-school on a fine summer evening. The buoyant spirit of childhood, repressed with so much difficulty during the tedious hours of dis- cipline, may then be seen to explode, as it were, in shout, and song, and frolic, as the little ur- chins join in groups on their play-ground, and arrange their matches of sport for the evening. But there is one individual who partakes of the relief afforded by the moment of dismission, whose feelings are not so obvious to the eye of the spectator, or so apt to receive his sympathy. I mean the teacher himself, who, stunned with the hum, and suffocated with the closeness of his school-room, has spent the whole day (himself against a host) in controlling petulance, exciting indifference to action, striving to enlighten stu-
94
LAUREL HILL.
pidity, and laboring to soften obstinacy ; and whose very powers of intellect have been con- founded by hearing the same dull lesson repeated a hundred times by rote, and only varied by the various blunders of the reciters. Even the flowers of classic genius, with which his solitary - fancy is most gratified, have been rendered de- graded, in his imagination, by their connexion with tears, with errors, and with punishment; so that the Eclogues of Virgil and Odes of Horace are each inseparably allied in association with the sullen figure or monotonous recitation of some blubbering school-boy. If to these mental distresses are added a delicate frame of body, and a mind ambitious of some higher distinction than that of being the tyrant of childhood, the reader may have some slight conception of the relief which a solitary walk, in the cool of a fine sum- mer evening, affords to the head which has ached, and the nerves which have been shattered, for so many hours, in plying the irksome task of public instruction.
"To me these evening strolls have been the happiest hours of an unhappy life; and if any gentle reader shall find pleasure in perusing these lucubrations, I am not unwilling he should
95
LAUREL HILL.
know, that the plan of them has been usually traced in those moments, when relief from toil and clamor, combined with the quiet scenery around me, has disposed my mind to the task of composition.
" My chief haunt, in these hours of golden leisure, is the banks of the small stream, which, winding through a 'lone vale of green bracken,' passes in front of the village school-house of Gandercleugh. For the first quarter of a mile, perhaps, I may be disturbed from my medita- tions in order to return the scrape, or doffed bonnet, of such stragglers among my pupils as fish for trout and minnows in the little brook, or seek rushes and wild flowers by its margin. But beyond the space I have mentioned, the juvenile anglers do not, after sunset, voluntarily extend their excursions. The cause is, that farther up the narrow valley, and in a recess which seems scooped out of the side of the steep, heathy bank, there is a deserted burial-ground, which the little cowards are fearful of approaching in the twilight. To me, however, the place has an inexpressible charm. . It has long been the favorite termina- tion of my walks, and, if my kind patron forgets not his promise, will (and probably at no very
96
LAUREL HILL.
distant day) be my final resting-place after my mortal pilgrimage .*
"It is a spot which possesses all the solemnity of feeling attached to a burial-ground, without exciting those of a more unpleasant description. Having been very little used for many years, the few hillocks which rise above the level plain are covered with the same short velvet turf. The monuments, of which there are about seven or eight, are half sunk in the ground, and over- grown with moss. No newly-erected tomb dis- turbs the sober serenity of our reflections by re- minding us of recent calamity, and no rank- springing grass forces upon our imagination the remnants of mortality which ferment beneath. The daisy which sprinkles the sod, and the hare- bell which hangs over it, derive their pure nour- ishment from the dew of heaven, and their growth impresses us with no degrading or dis-
* Note by Mr. Jedediah Clieishbotham :- That I kept my plight in this melancholy matter with my deceased and lamented friend, appeareth from a handsome headstone, erected at my proper charges on this spot, bearing the name and calling of Peter Pattieson, with the date of his nativity and sepulture; together also with a testimony of his merits, attested by myself, as his superior and patron .- J. C.
97.
LAUREL HILL.
gusting recollections. Death has indeed been here, and its traces are before us; but they are softened and deprived of their horror by our dis- tance from the period when they have been first impressed. Those who sleep beneath are only connected with us by the reflection that they have once been what we now are, and that, as their relics are now identified with their mother earth, ours shall, at some future period, undergo the same transformation.
"Yet, although the moss has been collected .on the most modern of these humble tombs, during four generations of mankind, the memory of some of those who sleep beneath them is still held in revered remembrance. It is true, that upon the largest, and, to an antiquary, the most interesting monument of the group, which bears the effigies of a doughty knight in his hood of mail, with his shield hanging on his breast, the armorial bearings are defaced by time, and a few worn-out letters may be read at the pleasure of the decipherer, Dns. Johan - - - de - - - Hamel, or Johan - - - de Lamel - - -. And it is also true, that of another tomb, richly sculptured with an ornamental cross, mitre, and pastoral staff, tra- dition can only aver, that a certain nameless 9
98
LAUREL HILL.
bishop lies interred there. But upon other two stones which lie beside, may still be read in rude prose and ruder rhyme, the history of those who sleep beneath them. They belong, we are as- sured by the epitaph, to the class of persecuted Presbyterians who afforded a melancholy subject for history in the time of Charles II., and his successor .* In returning from the battle of Pentland Hills, a party of the insurgents had been attacked in this glen by a small detachment of the king's troops, and three or four either killed in the skirmish, or shot after being made prisoners, as rebels taken with arms in their hands. The peasantry continue to attach to the tombs of those victims of prelacy an honor which they do not render to more splendid mausoleums; and when they point them out to their sons, and narrate the fate of the sufferers, usually conclude, by exhorting them to be ready, should times call for it, to resist to the death in the cause of civil and religious liberty, like their brave forefathers.
* James, Seventh King of Scotland of that name, and Second according to the numeration of the kings of Eng- land .- J. C.
1
LAUREL HILL.
99
" Although I am far from venerating the pecu- liar tenets asserted by those who call themselves the followers of those men, and whose intolerance and narrow-minded bigotry are at least conspi- cuous as their devotional zeal, yet it is without depreciating the memory of those sufferers, many of whom united the independent sentiments of a Hampden with the suffering zeal of a Hooper or a Latimer. On the other hand, it would be un- just to forget, that many even of those who had been most active in crushing what they conceived the rebellious and seditious spirit of those un- happy wanderers, displayed themselves, when called upon to suffer for their political and re- ligious opinions, the same daring and devoted zeal, tinctured in their case, with chivalrous loyalty, as in the former with republican en- thusiasm. It has often been remarked of the Scottish character, that the stubbornness with which it is moulded shows most to advantage in adversity, when it seems akin to the native syca- more of the hills, which scorns to be biassed in its mode of growth, even by the influence of the prevailing wind, but, shooting its branches with equal boldness in every direction, shows no weather-side to the storm, and may be broken,
100
LAUREL HILL.
but can never be bended. It must be under- stood that I speak of my countrymen as they fall under my own observation. When in foreign countries, I have been informed that they are more docile. But it is time to return from this digression.
" One summer evening, as in a stroll, such as I have described, I approached this deserted man- sion of the dead, I was somewhat surprised to hear sounds distinct from those which usually soothe its solitude, the gentle chiding, namely, of the brook, and the sighing of the wind in the boughs of three gigantic ash-trees, which mark the cemetery. The clink of a hammer was, on this occasion, distinctly heard; and I entertained some alarm that a march-dike, long meditated by the two proprietors, whose estates were divided by my favorite brook, was about to be drawn up the glen, in order to substitute its rectilinear deformity for the graceful winding of the natural boundary. As I approached, I was agreeably undeceived. An old man was seated upon the monument of the slaughtered Presbyterians, and busily employed in deepening, with his chisel, the letters of the inscription, which, announcing, in scriptural language, the promised blessings of
LAUREL HILL. 101
futurity to be the lot of the slain, anathematized the murderers with corresponding violence. A blue bonnet of unusual dimensions covered the gray hairs of the pious workman. His dress was a large old-fashioned coat, of coarse cloth called hoddin-gray, usually worn by the elder peasants, with waistcoat and breeches of the same; and the whole suit, though still in decent repair, had obviously seen a train of long service. Strong clouted shoes studded with hob-nails, and gramoches or leggins, made of thick black cloth, completed his equipment. Beside him fed among the graves a pony, the companion of his journey, whose extreme whiteness, as well as its projecting bones and hollow eyes, indicated its antiquity. It was harnessed in the most simple manner, with a pair of branks, a hair tether or halter, and a sunk; or cushion of straw, instead of bridle and saddle. A canvass pouch hung round the neck of the animal, for the purpose, probably, of containing the rider's tools, and any- thing else he might have occasion to carry with him. Although I had never seen the old man before, yet, from the singularity of his employ- ment, and the style of his equipage, I had no difficulty in recognising a religious itinerant 9*
102
LAUREL HILL.
whom I had often heard talked of, and who was known in various parts of Scotland by the title of Old Mortality.
" Where this man was born or what was his real name, I have never been able to learn; nor are the motives which made him desert his home, and adopt the erratic mode of life which he pur- sued, known to me except very generally. Ac- cording to the belief of most people, he was a native of either the county of Dumfries or Gallo- way, and lineally descended from some of those champions of the Covenant, whose deeds and suf- ferings were his favorite theme. He is said to have held, at one period of his life, a small moor- land farm; but whether from pecuniary losses or domestic misfortune, he had long renounced that and every other gainful calling. In the language of Scripture, he left his house, his home, and his kindred, and wandered about until the day of his death, a period of nearly thirty years.
" During this long pilgrimage, the pious en- thusiast regulated his circuit so as. annually to visit the graves of the unfortunate Covenanters who suffered by the sword, or by the executioner, during the reigns of the two last monarchs of the Stuart line. These are the most numerous in
LAUREL HILL.
103
the western districts of Ayr, Galloway, and Dum- fries ; but they are also to be found in other parts of Scotland, wherever the fugitives had fought, or fallen, or suffered by military or civil execu- tion. Their tombs are often apart from all human habitation, in the remote moors and wilds to which the wanderers had fled for concealment. But wherever they existed, Old Mortality was sure to visit them when his annual round brought them within his reach. In the most lonely re- cesses of the mountains, the moorfowl-shooter has been often surprised to find him busied in cleaning the moss from the gray stones, renewing with his chisel the half-defaced inscriptions, and repairing the emblems of death with which these simple monuments are usually adorned. Motives of the most sincere though fanciful devotion in- duced the old man to dedicate so many years of . existence to perform this tribute to the memory of the deceased warriors of the church. He con- sidered himself as fulfilling a sacred duty, while renewing to the eyes of posterity. the decaying emblems of the zeal and sufferings of their fore- fathers, and thereby trimming, as it were, the beacon-light, which was to warn future genera- rations to defend their religion even unto blood.
104
LAUREL HILL.
"In all his wanderings, the old pilgrim never seemed to need, or was known to accept pecu- niary assistance. It is true his wants were very few; for wherever he went, he found ready quar- ters in the house of some Cameronian of his own sect, or of some other religious person. The hospitality which was reverently paid to him he always acknowledged, by repairing the grave- stones (if there existed any) belonging to the family or ancestors of his host. As the wan- derer was usually to be seen bent on his pious task within the precincts of some country church- yard, or reclined on . the solitary tombstone among the heath, disturbing the plover and the black-cock with the clink of his chisel and mal- let, with his old white pony grazing by his side, he acquired from his converse among the dead the popular appellation of Old Mortality.
" The character of such a man could have in it little connexion even with innocent gaiety. Yet, among those of his own religious persuasion he is reported to have been cheerful. The de- scendants of persecutors, or those whom he sup- posed guilty of entertaining similar tenets, and the scoffers at religion by whom he was some- times assailed, he usually termed the generation
LAUREL HILL. 105
of vipers. Conversing with others, he was grave and sententious, not without a cast of severity. But he is said never to have been observed to give way to violent passion excepting upon one occasion, when a mischievous truant-boy defaced with a stone the nose of a cherub's face which the old man was engaged in retouching. I am in general a sparer of the rod, notwithstanding the maxim of Solomon, for which school-boys have little reason to thank his memory ; but on this occasion I deemed it proper to show that I did not hate the child. But I must return to the circumstance attending my first interview with this interesting enthusiast. .
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.