USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Guide to Laurel Hill Cemetery near Philadelphia : with a list of lotholders > Part 6
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
129
LAUREL HILL.
the romantic river; embellished in a manner most creditable to the taste and liberality of spirit of the respectable individuals under whose management it has been projected and carried into successful execution,-it is indeed a hal- lowed place, where affection may delight to de- posit the remains of those on whom it has doated,-
" A port of rest from troublous toyle,
The worlde's sweet In, from pains and wearisome turmoyle."
MEMORIALS OF THE DEAD.
ONE of the most simple, yet beautiful and affecting customs of antiquity which has de- scended to modern times, is the decorating with flowers the graves of those we respected and loved. Accustomed as moderns are to term the ages and usages that are past, barbarous and un- civilized, we cannot but think, that the little regard paid in our days to the memory of the departed, is a sad proof that advancement in literature and the sciences, is unfavorable to the cultivation and growth of some of the finest,
130
LAUREL HILL.
sweetest, and holiest emotions of which the heart is susceptible. We have no desire to be ranked among the ultra sensitive : but certainly with us, this is no theme for unbecoming levity. There is a deep-toned voice in the care and respect which every age and nation of antiquity has shown to the memory of the dead,-there is a divinity that speaks in the lessons from the grave, which cannot be misunderstood, and which finds a response in every soul not utterly callous and insensible to its noble destinies.
In the unfading green of the cypress and ivy, the ancients found an emblem of the immortal vigor of the mind; and in the annual renewal of the rose, and fresh blossoms of spring, a proof that man too after the winter of death and the grave be past, is destined to flourish in renovated beauty and splendor. Those important truths made known to us by revelation, they en- deavored to read in the widespread volume of nature, and the result was such as may well make us blush at the arrogance of our preten- sions.
Notwithstanding the disuse and neglect into which this remnant of the fine feeling of the an- cients has fallen, among the greater part of the
P
LAUREL HILL. 131
nations of Christendom, still there are places where it is preserved in its primitive hallowed purity. A traveller assures us, that after the desperate struggle between the French armies and the Tyrolese peasantry, when the former were defeated in their murderous attempts to penetrate the mountain fastnesses of the south of Austria, not one of the Tyrolese who fell was buried on the field, but after the strife of death was over, was borne by his friends to his own native village, in the churchyard of which, the little green mounds, planted with flowers, and freed from weeds by the pious care of survivors, will show the number of those that perished in that conflict for liberty. In the Crimea, in Niphon, in the southern shores of the Mediterra- nean, among the Moors, and in China, is still observed the beautiful custom of planting and strewing flowers over the dead; a custom so affecting, and so full of refined taste, that it ought never to be suffered to fall into oblivion by those who make the slightest pretences to civilization. In Wales, when a young woman dies, she is attended to the grave by her virgin companions, each one bearing flowers, which, after she is deposited in her last abode, are
132
LAUREL HILL.
sprinkled over the coffin. Over the monument of Klopstock, the impassioned author of the " Messiah," flowers are yearly strewn, and a lime tree there ever waves its spreading branches. In that populous city of the dead, the Pere La Chaise of the French capital, the cypress, the rose, and the willow are beautifully blended ; and on All-souls Day, those who have friends buried there are in the custom of visiting the place, bearing garlands of wild flowers and evergreens intermingled, to place upon the graves. The epitaph of the founder of Grecian Tragedy, the celebrated Sophocles, written by Simonides, proves that such a custom of honoring the illus- trious dead, then existed :
"Wind, gentle evergreen, to form a shade, Around the tomb where Sophocles is laid. Sweet ivy, wind thy boughs and intertwine With blushing roses, and the clustering vine ; So shall thy lasting leaves, with beauty hung, Prove a fit emblem of the lays he sung."
There can scarcely be imagined a more de- lightful place, than that valley of unfading green, and everlasting flowers, where Sadi, the royal Persian poet, is entombed. Hafiz, of the same
-
1
LAUREL HILL. 133
nation, and scarcely less renowned as a poet, planted with his own hands the cypress under which he directed his body to be entombed, and over which, for ages, his enthusiastic admirers and countrymen scattered roses, and hung chap- lets of flowers.
There is no place that awakens more deep and sadly pleasing emotions, than to tread the ground where those we once loved, rest from their sor- rows and their cares. Everything disagreeable and repulsive, in such a quiet scene ought to be carefully avoided; and everything should be in- troduced which can have a tendency to soften the passions, and soothe and tranquillize the feel- ings. Yet how often do we in the sleeping-place of the dead, in the churchyards of both city and country, find the graves trampled upon by brutes; a cold stone, perhaps, to tell who sleeps below; but no flowers are seen to picture by their renewal, the cheering hope of a resurrec- tion; no evergreen to shadow forth the immor- tality of the dead.
To the contemplative mind, there is something pleasing in the idea of sleeping the dreamless sleep, surrounded by those whom we loved while living, and beneath turf made radiant by the 12
1
134
LAUREL HILL.
unsullied blossoms of Spring. To us, there is another interesting view of this subject, and which is so quaintly and beautifully expressed by Osborne :- " He that lieth under the herse of heavenne, is convertible into swete herbes and flowers, that maye rest in bosoms that wolde shrink from the ugly bugs which may be found crawling in the magnificent tombs of Henry the VII." The same thought occurs in an "Ad- dress to the Mummy," by a later author :
"Oh, not like thee would I remain But o'er the earth my ashes strew ; And in some rising bud regain The freshness that my childhood knew !"
For ourselves, much rather had we sleep where the moonbeams would convert into diamonds the dew-drops gathering on the rose-buds, than to lie beneath the dome of St. Peter's; and rest where the soft south wind would wake the fra- grance of blossoms which affectionate hands had planted, than to moulder in the undiscovered chambers of the eternal pyramids .- Pennsylva- nian.
LAUREL HILL.
135
From the Public Ledger.
HONOR be to those who have improved the public taste of our city, by opening gardens like that at Laurel Hill, where dust to its narrow house may peacefully retire, and the winds of heaven may pour through the branching trees solemn music for its requiem.
Oh ! lay me not within the grave That bricks and stones enclose ; O'er which no shadowy. branches wave, To guard my last repose. Oh ! lay me 'neath some ancient tree, That spreads its shade afar ;
Where my lone grave may smiled on be By many a silent star.
Where flow'rets deck the emerald sod, And with their fragrant breath, Whisper sweet tales of peace and God, And life, and love, and death.
ANTHRAX.
1
136
LAUREL HILL.
Communicated by the late A. J. Downing, Esq., author of Downing's Landscape Gardening.
LAUREL HILL, about three miles from the city, is the pride of the Philadelphians. Instead of having been formed upon a picturesque natural surface, covered with natural forest trees, this cemetery was formerly an elegant country resi- dence, bordering on the Schuylkill River, and displaying a gardenesque beauty in the trees, shrubs, &c. Since the grounds have been ap- plied to the purpose of burial, a pretty entrance- gate and cottage for the superintendent, and also a neat Gothic chapel, have been built. There are innumerable monuments tastefully disposed in various parts of the place, and many of the small enclosures surrounding these are filled with the most beautiful flowering shrubs and plants. The variety of roses in particular is very great ; and these, as many rare exotics, are trained and kept with the greatest care.
Beside the three principal cemeteries of Bos- ton, New York, and Philadelphia, there are at least a dozen others in progress in the neighbor- hood of other cities. It is remarkable that these cemeteries are the first really elegant public
LAUREL HILL. 137
gardens or promenades formed in this country. In point of design, keeping, and in so far as re- spects the variety of rare flowering shrubs and trees introduced, they are much superior to the majority of country residences here, and may therefore be considered as likely to affect in a very considerable degree, the general taste for laying out and embellishing grounds. Hundreds of the citizens who ramble through them, form, perhaps, their first acquaintance with many spe- cies of plants there, and apply the taste thus ac- quired to the improvement of their own gardens. -Loudon's Gardener's Magazine, London.
Extracted from "A l'abri, or the Tent Pitched," by N. P. Willis.
LAUREL HILL CEMETERY.
I DETERMINED to come home by Wyoming, after you left us, and took the boat to Philadel- phia accordingly. We passed two or three days in that clean and pleasant city, and among other things made an excursion to Laurel Hill, cer- tainly the most beautiful cemetery in the world, after the Necropolis of Scutari. It seems as if 12*
138
LAUREL HILL.
it were intended to associate the visits of the de- parted more with our pleasures than our duties. The Cemetery occupies a lofty promontory above the Schuylkill, possessing the inequality of sur- face so favorable to the object, and shaded with pines, and other ornamental trees, of great age and beauty. The views down upon the river, and through the sombre glades and alleys of the burial-ground, are unsurpassed for sweetness and repose. The elegance which marks everything Philadelphian, is shown already in the monu- ments erected. An imposing gateway leads you in from the high-road, and a freestone group, large as life, representing Old Mortality at work on an inscription, and Scott leaning upon a tombstone to watch his toil, faces the entrance. I noticed the area of one tomb, enclosed by a chain of hearts, cast beautifully in iron. The whole was laid out in gravel walks, and there was no grave without its flowers. I confess the spirit of this sweet spot affected me deeply, and I look upon this and Mount Auburn, at Cambridge, as delightful indications of a purer growth in our national character than politics and money-mak- ing. It is real-life poetry, which reflects as much glory upon the age as the birth of a Homer.
LAUREL HILL.
139
From the London Quarterly Review, for March, 1844.
CHRISTIAN BURIAL.
THOSE who are fond of tracing every abuse in Christian practice to a pagan origin, will find little to help out their theory in respect of the practice of interment within the church. The evil is entirely of modern growth, and could only have occurred under a faith which, while it re- cognized the sanctity of places set apart for holy worship, rejected all notion of pollution from the dead. Burial in heathen temples was utterly unknown, and scarcely ever allowed within the precincts of the city. The well-known heading of "SISTE VIATOR" on ancient tombs-justly ridiculed in modern inscriptions by Dr. Johnson, and by Sir Thomas Brown before him-signifi- cantly remarks the wayside locality of the Roman burial-grounds. Many Greek and Latin words relating to burial, literally signifying "carrying out," point to the same custom. And the son of the Widow of Nain, who was met by our Lord "nigh. to the gate of the city," when he was being "carried out," may serve to confirm the
3
140
LAUREL HILL.
fact of the Jewish burial-grounds being without the walls.
The earliest Christians conformed to the same practice ; and it is a very credible tradition that the proto-martyr St. Stephen was buried where he was stoned, "out of the city." Persecution forced the believers to a secret celebration of their common worship; and where would those who held a "Communion of Saints," living and departed, so likely betake themselves for prayer and praise to the great Head of their Church, as to the tombs of those who had died in defence of the truths that He taught ? Hence the extra- mural catacombs and crypts-the sepulchres of the martyrs-became the first Christian churches, a practice to be afterwards abused by making their churches their sepulchres. For when per- secutions relaxed, and Christian temples began to rise in the light of day in the midst of the cities, the tomb-altars and relics of the martyrs, if not enclosed by a sanctuary on the spot, were removed from their original position and en- shrined in the new buildings-the fruitful source of many subsequent deflections from the primitive faith-and the origin of the coveted privilege of not being divided in death from those remains
LAUREL HILL. 141
which the pious when alive had held in so much honor, that haply, like the man cast into the sepulchre of Elisha, they might partake of a greater portion of life by touching a good man's bones. However such might have been the popular current of feeling among the more en- thusiastic and unlearned, the church authorita- tively ever set her face against the innovation of burial within the churches or even within the city. Indeed those who died in the greatest odor of sanctity were not at first allowed ap- proximation to the outside of the church. The first encroachment on the building itself was made in favor of Constantine, who was yet not deemed worthy to approach nearer than the outer court or porch of the Church of the Apostles, which he is supposed to have founded: his son -Constantius deeming it, as St. Chrysostom de- clares, sufficient honor if he might lay his father's bones even in the Porch of the Fisher- men. The first step, however, was now taken; and thenceforward to this hour there has been a continual struggle between the claims of rank, and power, and wealth, and superstition, and self- interest, and covetousness, mingled with feelings of saintly and domestic piety.
-
142
LAUREL HILL.
Between all these potent motives, and the sin- cere honor of God's house, need we say which has prevailed ? Yet there is an unbroken chain of authority against the usage. We question if there is any one other custom that has been so steadily condemned, and so continually persisted in, as that of burial within cities and churches. , The two practices scarcely require a separate con- sideration, for though in some points of view the arguments against church-yard burial may be ' argued a fortiori against church burial; yet the actual state of our church-yards has now ren- dered interment in them the greater evil of the two.
When Allan Cunningham was offered by Chantrey a place in his new elaborate mauso- leum, Allan answered like a man and a poet, "No, no, I'll not be built over when I am dead ; I'll lie where the wind shall blow and the daisy grow upon my grave." His wish was granted : he was laid in the lap of his mother earth, under a simple sod ; and, according to a brother poet's prayer,-
"The evening sun
Shines sweetly on his grave."
LAUREL
HILL.
143
*
We can have no difficulty, and we think the nation will go along with us, in coming to the same main conclusion with Mr. Chadwick, in his report to Parliament: "That on the several spe- cial grounds, moral, religious, and physical, and in conformity to the best usages and authorities of primitive Christianity, and the general. prac- tice of the most civilized modern nations, the practice of interments in towns in burial-places amidst the habitations of the living, and the practice of interment in churches, ought for the future, and without any exception of places, or acceptation of persons, to be entirely prohibited." -Sup. Rep. § 249.
-
٠٫٠٠
A
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.