USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > The Monument Cemetery of Philadelphia (late Pere la chaise) : containing several scientific essays on the subject of rural cemeteries with a lithographic plan > Part 3
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No. 20.
From the Portsmouth Journal of August 17.
The following eloquent remarks on Mount Auburn, near Boston, are alike applicable to the Monument Cemetery near Philadelphia.
MOUNT AUBURN.
There is a sanctity associated with the grave. As we enter the last abode of mortal clay, the exercise of those boisterous passions which create the tempests of life, is subdued ; we feel treading upon holy ground-and as but just without the thin veil which separates the mysteries of the eternal world from mortal vision. If devout feelings and holy contemplation can be excited as we enter the church yard where the plain plat is laid out with a regular line of uniform grave stones, how much can they be extended and exalted when we enter the solemnly melodious shades of such a spot as Mount Auburn.
When we visited the sacred retreat, nature had dressed the beautiful spot in her richest attire. The trees were in their darkest green and fullest leaf-the gravelly walks were snugly trimmed to the turf edging-and the margins of the ponds were regularly lined with flowers in the richest bloom. Its hundred acres are so undulating, and so variable the surface, that in scarcely any spot can an unobstructed view of an acre be commanded .-- As we pass on through the various avenues, here a monument meets the eye -. there an enclosure with perhaps a single stone erected-and in another direction the side of the hill presents beneath a green mound, the freestone or marble front of a mansion for the dead. As we advance, an oblong pool, mirroring in its unruffled bosom the flowers and trees on its banks, and the cerulean face of the sky, rivets the eye for a moment as by a spell of enchantment, in con- templation of the beauty of the magnificent scene.
A little distance yonder stands the first monument which was reared in the enclosure-it bears the name of a female of which Massachusetts may feel proud. HANNAH ADAMS was in life one of the gems in the garden of literature, and it is meet that her monument should be conspicuous in such a place as Mount Auburn, where if the departed souls are suffered occasionally to linger around the clay they once inhabited, she may find so many spirits
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congenial with her own. How simple are the inscriptions ; in most instances the name, date, and age are all the chisseled words. Occasionally however we meet with some striking inscription as "She is not here, but risen :""-or see the representation of the butterfly, escaping from the chrysalis and soaring in mid air, which strikingly impresses on the beholder the idea of the untrammelled spirit soaring to its native skies.
It is in such a place as this that the mind is led to contemplate its future destiny. and hold converse with the things to come. He who has purchased his own burial spot has been led to think of death,-and he, who with his family can spend occasional leisure hours in nursing the flower-bed (which gives an interest and variety to almost every little square), is literally strewing his path to the tomb with flowers, and preparing with composure to enter the " dark valley," with the hope of meeting beyond the portal the joys of a better and more enduring existence.
If the stranger who visits Boston, has but a short time to examine the various attractions which the city and its environs present, let him be sure, if it be the season when nature is attired in her attractive garb, to pay a visit to Mount Auburn.
No. 21.
From Dr. Dunglison's Medical Library and Intelligencer, of Sept. 1837.
RURAL CEMETERIES.
Whatever truth there may be in the opinion, that animal putre- faction does not produce malarious disease or any wide-spreading pestilence, there can be little doubt that air, charged with putrid miasmata, or with products of animal decomposition arising from bodies confined in a small space, as in the case of private vaults when first opened, may, especially in impressible individuals, so powerfully affect the nervous system as to produce high nervous disorder, and that when such miasmata are absorbed by the lungs in a concentrated state, they may excite putrid disorders or dispose the frame to unhealthy exanthematous affections. Experiment seems to have shown, that when putrid substances are injected into the blood they are extremely deleterious, and that when exhaled from the dead body, they have occasionally excited serious mischief
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in those exposed to their action. According to Baron Percy-one of the eminent army surgeons of France, during the domination of Napoleon-a Dr. Chambon was required by the Dean of the Faculté de Médecine of Paris to demonstrate the liver and its appendages before the Faculté, on applying for his license. The decomposition of the subject, given him for demonstration, was, however, so far advanced, that Chambon drew the attention of the Dean to it, but he was commanded to go on. One of the four candidates, Corion, struck by the emanations from the body as soon as it was opened, fainted, was carried home, and died in seventy hours ; another, the celebrated Fourcroy, was attacked with a burning exanthema ; and two others, Luguerenne and Dufresnoy, remained a long time feeble, and the latter never completely recovered.
The possibility of such evils is highly favourable to the view- now every where prevalent-that the cemeteries of large towns, should be at some distance from the inhabited portions. Even were we to set aside hygienic considerations, there are others which come home forcibly to the minds of all. In every age it has been the custom, with mankind generally, to regard the depositories of the dead as objects of veneration. In ancient Rome, the place was held religious where a dead body or any portion of it had been buried, and the violation of the tombs was punished by fine, the loss of a hand, working in the mines, banishment, or death. Even in the savage Tonga Islands, the cemeteries are accounted so sacred, that if the deadliest enemies should meet there, they must refrain from attacks of hostility. Yet, occasionally, in a civilized age, and in countries unquestionably enlightened, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, the sanctuary of the grave is needlessly violated, and political anarchy, religious bigotry, infidelity, or what is esteemed the spirit of improvement, but which is too often the thirst after lucre, have subverted sensibilities which are ordinarily held sacred. How often has it happened, in the progress of our own city to its present population, that places of worship have been disposed of, their cemeteries desecrated, and ashes, which, at the period when they were deposited there, it was presumed, would ever remain free from violation, been exhumed and scattered to the winds. These and other considerations have given rise to the beautiful Cemeteries of Pere la Chaise, near Paris, of Mount Auburn near Boston, and of Laurel Hill near this city. The preceding remarks
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have, indeed, been suggested by a recent visit to the last of these. Situated at a convenient distance from the city of Philadelphia, yet so far from it as to almost preclude the possibility of future moles- tation in the progressive improvement of the city or from other causes ; on a sylvan eminence immediately skirting the Schuylkill, and commanding a beautiful view of that 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 hallowed place, where affection may delight to deposit the remains of those on whom it has doated,-
- " a port of rest from troublous toyle, The world's sweet in from paine and wearisome turmoyle."
No. 22.
From the Philadelphia Saturday Chronicle of October 29, 1837.
MONUMENT CEMETERY.
Among the multitude of improvements that distinguish Philadel- phia at the present moment, we are much disposed to be pleased with and commend those intended to make a better provision for the dead. In the bustle and turmoil of the world-while the glittering pageantry and splendour of wealth so dazzle the eyes that every thing else is almost entirely overlooked-the resting place for the body, after " life's fitful fever" is over, has been sadly forgotten. It was enough if beauty and ornaments decorated the dwellings of the living-the dead might repose in " cold obstruction," amid the crowded and busy haunts of men, though still in a more utter deso- lation than if surrounded only by the temples of nature, the silence of which was never interrupted except by the melancholy whispers of the sighing wind.
In those cities in which a grave-yard is crowded into nearly every corner-where you walk as it were, in the midst of the tombs- and where there is as much the appearance of a city of the dead, as a congregation of the living,-the pious affection of friends becomes chilled by such unsightly familiarity with the grave, and the holy feelings and solemn thoughts that such objects are calculated to
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inspire, are seldom experienced after the first gush of grief has subsided.
The primitive Christians, warmed with a fervent zeal for every thing in which the affections were at all concerned, so far from leaving the last sad remains of mortality to moulder among the throngs of men, regarded it as almost a religious duty to convey them to a quiet receptacle in the country, where earth could mingle with its mother earth, free from the danger of being disturbed by the sordid hands that would deprive the dead of the few feet of ground that are allotted to all, or by the crowds of others who had ended the troubled dream of their existence, and had gone to claim their share of man's last inheritance.
Various, indeed, are the reasons why a city is an unsuitable place for a Cemetery, and we are rejoiced to perceive that they are ope- rating with proper force upon the minds of many people of Phila- delphia. The Monument Cemetery, of which a Lithographic plan has just been executed, by Lehman & Duvall, is one that in our opinion, combines every thing in a natural point of view, which could possibly be desired. Its distance from the city is sufficiently remote to prevent the apprehension that it may ever be encroached upon by our growing population ; while, at the same time, it is at so convenient a proximity as to be easily reached by the pedestrian, without experiencing a sense of fatigue. So, also, in conveying the dead to their place of destination, you go completely beyond the prospective suburbs of the town, but not so far as to make the mourners feel they are performing a lengthened journey. In addi- tion to this, it is so situated as to be readily approached at all times and under all circumstances, with the utmost ease and comfort.
These, however, we do not consider the only advantages pos- sessed by the site selected. The soil, which is not the least im- portant among many considerations, is of the very best character for the purposes of interment. Being beyond the tenacious clay of the city, the upper stratum of earth is a mixture of loam and sand, that lies from two to four feet thick-after this, a sub-stratum is found, composed entirely of a fine red gravel, than which no ground, certainly, could be m re suitable for graves. Through such a soil, the water percollates almost as rapidly as through a sieve, and it must therefore, always be as dry as could ever be desired. It is also easily excavated, and tombs may be made with the greatest facility ; for it is entirely free from the rocks and large stones,
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which in many situations the spade of the sexton is liable to en- counter. From this fact, it will be at once perceived, with how little difficulty vaults may be constructed at the least possible ex- pense, by those who may wish to have family tombs, in which the deceased may be visited by disconsolate friends. In conjunction with all these advantages of locality, it is situated upon an eminence attained by a rise scarcely perceptible, that completely overlooks the city, and all the country around, and affords to the eye a pros- pect, whichever way it stretches, at once the most picturesque and beautiful.
Of the manner in which it has been laid out, it is enough to say that it is done in a way that must add embellishments to a situation which has been furnished altogether lovely from the hands of nature. The walks and alleys intersect each other at right angles, and the design is to line them with trees, shrubbery, and flowers. Statues of Washington and Lafayette are to be raised in a reserved plot, that will be highly ornamented, and become a kind of focus to the whole enclosure. The other suitable buildings, such as a chapel, &c., have all been properly taken into the account. We cannot but believe, that this Cemetery will soon be one of the choice spots in the vicinity of our city, to which the stranger will direct his way with as much eagerness as to the famous Pere la Chaise of Paris, or the wonderful Scutari near Constantinople.
Here, surely, is a place that Friendship may visit with a righteous tribute, without the fear of being disturbed. Here may bloom in meekness, the flowers planted by affection, and watered by the tears of memory. Here may we commune with the depart- ed, and moralize profitably upon the uncertainties of life ; and here, while we look with decent curiosity upon the storied monuments of those who have gone before us to an "untried being," may we calmly anticipate the period when we shall ourselves lie down in death by the side of those we have loved ; and when others will stand musing over our graves, and in like manner perform those kind and gentle offices for us, which are at the same moment, a panegyric upon both the dead and the living. L. V. N.
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No. 23.
From the Inquirer of November 1.
THE MONUMENT CEMETERY.
A second burial took place in this new Cemetery on Sunday last. The deceased was a daughter of Mr. Joseph Loveridge, whose body was the first deposited within the limits of this place of rest. The father died on the 26th of September-the daughter on the 29th of October. The Rev. Mr. Gerry made some appropriate remarks on the occasion. They were listened to by a large concourse of the friends and relatives of the deceased. The arrangements connected with converting this large extent of ground into a Cemetery, are rapidly progressing. The lots have already been marked out, and in some instances, corner stones, chains and other fences have been put up. A receiving vault has been commenced, and will be completed in the course of a few days. This is intended as a temporary depository for the dead, until the arrangements for permament burial are more fully completed. The success of this enterprise being now placed beyond a doubt, those who are anxious to obtain lots, cannot make too early an application.
No. 24.
From the Philadelphia Gazette, of November 8.
THE MONUMENT CEMETERY.
It is with extreme pleasure we learn, that the success of the proposed Monument Cemetery is now placed beyond the possibility of doubt. The public at large have a deep interest in the encour- agement and support of this and similar rural cemeteries ; and we trust, that the time is near at hand when they will completely supercede our present city charnel houses.
The practice of burying the dead in the midst of a populous city is certainly as repugnant to good taste as it is adverse to ancient usage. Writers on medical police have long urged upon all municipal authorities its entire prohibition, and have shown by
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incontestible facts, that the inhumation of a large number of dead bodies in the immediate vicinity of churches, where crowds weekly assemble for public worship, is decidedly injurious to health. The mephitic exhalations from grave-yards must be considered as one of the many causes which tend to deteriorate the atmosphere of a populous city.
Dr. Franklin early pointed out the evils that would necessarily result, as population increased, from the crowded grave-yards in the very heart of our metropolis ; and recommended strongly the purchase of tracts of land remote from the city limits, to be reserved exclusively and forever as places of interment ; where each family might have its own Cemetery, while sufficient space was appropriated for strangers. The hint of these rural places of sepulture, was no doubt derived from the burial places of the ancient cities, most of which were either groves or fields, situated invariably without, and often, at a distance from the city walls.
The suggestion, like many others, that owe their origin to the good sense and forethought which distinguished the mind of Franklin, was neglected at the time, and entirely lost sight of, but being recently revived by those who were ignorant probably that it had ever before been made, it has been favourably received by the community at large ; and we have now the beautiful rural Cemetery of Laurel Hill, as well as the one to which we particularly referred in the commencement of the present article, for the establishment and plan of which, we are indebted to our public spirited and enterprising fellow-citizen, Dr. Elkinton. Others will no doubt be formed as soon as those now in existence shall be found inadequate for the wants of the community ; for we prophecy, that very shortly, the interment of the dead within the city, will be as rare as it has heretofore been customary.
It is not our intention to say any thing in reference to the peculiar adaptation of the Monument Cemetery as a place of sepulture for the families of our citizens, in consequence of its location, the nature and elevation of its soil, and its ample dimensions ; but we must be permitted to offer a word or two upon the name by which it is designated.
We were gratified at the prompt rejection by the Board of Managers of the name originally proposed. " The American Pere la Chaise Cemetery," as an appellation at once foreign and
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unmeaning. Father la Chaise's Cemetery may be very appropriate when applied to the one in the vicinity of Paris, but what connexion could it have with a Cemetery that the good father confessor never saw, nor even dreamed of ? But we very much doubt whether the name selected by the managers is, in any degree, more correct or appropriate. The Cemetery, notwithstanding the monuments it is to contain, is not itself a " monument" to preserve the memory of any thing, unless indeed it be the good sense and enterprise of its original projector ; hence we say the name is neither expressive, nor appropriate, and we regret that it was adopted.
Had we any voice in the naming of this Cemetery, we should denominate it either the Franklin or the Rush Cemetery, inasmuch as those individuals may be considered among the very first who in this country set forth the advantages which these rural burial grounds possess over our present civic places of interment. We would even hope that it is not yet too late to induce the Board of Managers to change the name they have adopted, which to say nothing of other objections, is scarcely good English, for either of those here suggested. Many persons may think there is but little importance in a mere name; this may be so, but we nevertheless consider that even in this trifling matter appropriateness as well as accuracy should invariably be observed. D. F. C.
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