The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-11-22
Dedication Of Cypress Hill Cemetery.


dead.
There were about one thousand persons present,
and the ceremonies were performed under an extern
sive pavilion, near the gate fronting on the ia
maca turnpike road. The dedicatory prayer was
offered by the Rev. DR.. Peck, after which the Rev.
Dr. Dowlng delivered an address. He spoke of the
quiet IT sting of the dead, and made beautiful
quotation from Xix White. He said that only
few evenings since, he was speaking with his
daughter on the subject of the grave, when he
ask ed her where she would most wish TO rest
whether in the city graveyard, or IN the rural &C.
meteIy. In shorttlme, she replied as follows:-
oh make not my grave where LIES busy
Would ever above me SWELL
Or the noisy shout OF the crowd ring out
Where silence and sleep should dwell
For true hearts will yearn DER my funeral urn,
And scafdipR drops be wrung
But they could not brook that the strangers look
On their sacred grief be flung.
I'd lay nee down where the spring may crown
My tomb with it's earliest flowers
the eyp}s.s sl bowers
Where mourners may tgh, sor the stranSerseye
Rudely gaze on the heart chord riyen;
Where alone they may pray DER my couch OF clay,
For glory and union in heaven.
The dedlcatory address was delivered by G.
Edwards Lester, Esq. He said
on there Cypress Hills dedicate to the repose
Of the grave and the hopes Of Immortality this new
thsnatopsis We halt an hour In our march over the
Of time, and leave the spot where We stood So
| cred for ever.
It is grand and . solemn occasion. Here, mid
way between the creation Of man and the great day of
the returrec tion we are to prepare tomb of
pose for an hundred generations. We are rescung
from the turmoil and the strife 81 cray world one
over tenderly by the guardian angels Of those who
will sleep here, and on which the eye that never
slumbers will loo with obatonfor in the touch
ing language Of the Bible we become coworkers with
Him in preserving the forms of earth's children,
whom he will one day clothe with immortality.
we are performing an act too, which the spirits OF
all the gifted of the ancient world are contemplating
with satisfaction there be one outlook OK IRON the
time drama they once moved in. can imagine who
make up this glorious company indeed their spirits
That ethereal train would be led by the great
and father of the world Heaven itself became
his bograrher and inspiration the historian Of the
first rural cemetery ever founded" And Sarah died
| In Hebron, and Abraham came to mourn and weep
fer her And Abraham stood up from before his dead
| and tpake unto the sons of Heth-I am stranger
a buryins. place with you that ! may bury my
choice Of our tepulohres bury thy dead-none Of US
shall withhold from thee his sepulchre. And Abraham
stood up and showed himself 70 the children Of Hsn
your mind that should bury my dead, hear me-
ard entreat for me to Ephron, the SON Of Zohar
is by the end of his field for Is much money as it
is worth, he shall give it me for possession of
lord, hear me- The neld give ! thee, and the cave
that is therein; give 1t thee in the presence Of
thy Of
ssid-I pray thee hear me; will give thee money for
the 6eld-take it of me and will bury my dead there
and Ephron answered-the land lie worth 400 shekels
Of sver-what is that betwixt me and thee? Bury,
therefore, thy dead And Abraham weighed to Ephron
chants and he purchased the field and the cave and
all the trees that in the feld that in all the
borders round about were made sure unto Abraham
for possession for buryipg place"
Such Is the touching story OF the rural
sublime and tender feeling thousand stricken hearts
among all nations have consecrated and adorned the
places where they have laid their loved ones to rest
The feelings Of the patriarch spring up unbiddsn In
every humsn bosom '~4 +-H''+s s-r
No nation on earth but our own has ever buried It's
dead amidst the habitations of the living. We have
done it, from motive that win not be readily un-
felt by our children indeed they felt by
eelves. Already the growth OF our large towns and
tine ass OF OF cam
longer find the memorial 1t placed over the object
Its love, when it comes on distant pilgrimage to the
grave Of the lost and the monument, which was be-
eyed to be the herald of virtue to future age has
been torn down by the ruthless hand of public
To escape these vandal invasions and leave the
weary updstur the founders Of this Cemetery have
the turmoil 81 our to the shs ss s
entrusted to their charge, till they shall wake to sum-
Der NO more!
We know Of no reseon why the rural cemetery
should not made cheerful for sthe living well o,
sacred to the dead-a spot to which genius and GEN.
time msy for lessons Of art virtue and wisdom
Such was the idea Of the ancents who regarded
death as an honorable termination to life Of toll and
heIorm-an nd hence the burial places Of the Greeks
associated with the images Of taste, cheerfulness,
art and refinement. Such vas the idea OF the He
brewe who copeecrsted their most beautiful grounds
for the sepuchres Of their fathers, and embelshed
them with the richest adornments Christianity too,
which eeyates every noble principle Of mans nature.
end repes Lis purest feelings has sanctifed the tomb
| Of the Christian. 1t becomes something more than
r.. These
form sleeping that will one day put on Immortality
The early Christians appe:r to have had none OF
those revolving ideas about the grave with which mo-
derps have frequently associated 1t, and many of
the most picturesque spots in the Orient chosen
.olenn shadows they laid their departed to rest.
There thoufaDd slightly hills along the shores of
the Mediterranean, where the grey towers Of early
| Christian churches and converts still relieved
eesiptt the sky, and these consecrated places are
marked by tall expresses that cast their sembre shades
| To this day the Moravians, who preserve many Of
those touching prmeva customs that had their orr
gin in the puIer days Of Chri:toDity regard their
They never use the word death-they speak Of their
ost only as the departed They educate their chill
drsn to visit the graves of their faith with cheerful
ness and pleasure, to pursue their studies and take
their walks OF relaxation there enlivenipg their
nents Of toll by tnb!ems Of Immortality.
The Greeks called their cemeteries by the touching
and beautiful anne, gardens Of the reposng. Where
did our cold revolving, forbiddng and disgusting no,
tons Of grave yard GENE from? Not from the old
Egyptians, Ph@nicisns, Romans or Greeks; not from
ths elegant nations Of modern Europe and they GER
ahy never came from the 'epulehre Of the Christian
With the desire Of combining in the grounds Of the
Cypress Hills all that ie touching, picturesque, and
beautiful that be borrowed from the classic and
the Christian world, and with wish to all classes
Of fellow citizens able to participate In the tender
Interests associations and advantages Of such spot
We have established this cemetery We feel that death
levels all distinctions among men; the prince and the
btegar the same, and they should appear the
In Gods ten pie and in the grave There be no
real distinctions in DEATH and there should appear
none. II there be blessing in wealth which should
make 1t desired by all 1t Is that it may exempt
wasting and toll on earth, and give honored
grave VIXEN die, embelished by taste, where afec-
tier may come to rear Its monument and plant its
flowers IT, then taste, genius, and wealth have adorn-
district why should not its advantages be open all!
The fortunate and the learned may come to these
grounds and they ebaI find their purest tastes for
Landscape and artistic beauty gratined-but will
.tefp Wit dialit nd hoh hard