Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-06-21

now under advisement of the Court
CEMETERIES, MONUMENTS, AND THE CON-
GREssIoNAL BURYING-GROUND.
recent visit to the Congressional Burying-
Ground, by disappointing just expectation, has led
to few reflections, which are here presented in
the hope of inducing some efforts for the extension
and improvement Of this too-neglected spot.
AS christians and as men of sense, it is alike our
privilege and duty to strip Death of those habii-
ments Of horror in which it has been clothed by antique bar
barsm and the icy dogmatism Of scholastic theology The
death hesd and bones the ostentaous skeletons old
Time with his glass and cyhe Death the pale horse and
as king Of error and the whole legion ofsymbos drawn BY
wayward Fancy from her Of phanasy and darkness
are but the psrsphenaa in which weak Faith, BY
light from Heaven has invested the great transition Of our
spirits. The Egyptians, in that deahbroodng vein which
was their characteristic, wont to introduce into their
fsass one silent guest-a skeleton but even they were
forced veil from sight, Let not emulate them in The
bodness of bad It is w,ess arocy to outrage the
souls finest sensbities, by accunua.ng horrors around
DEATH and by industrious ostentaon OF the barbara re-
gala Of the grave. 4..a
Genuine christianity, replete with real faith in great fu-
ture full of hope aud trust in Gods goodness On the
grave plants flowers for it there is no death, but only
change, translation progression, and shining ~ the
great drama Of eternal life j. graves indeed conse
Grated ground but not homes Of the dpartedthese 1--we IN
other Spheres to- the heart purified by christian motives and
exalted by divine philosophy, the grave Of friend is but
the place towards which all pleasant memories Of the departed
cenrsz his body but the ground and cannot
for its sake, be dear either the soul "gone before
ourselves the body but matter, which, having done its
appointed service the becomes again what
before-a few pounds Of nitrogen and water and phos-
phate of lime, scattered wide manifold ministries.
Graves are consecrated to memories and medatons We
60 there revive ecoecons of loved ones gone before
We go there think and his destiny the mean
ing and purpose of his existence and e his hopes and
prospects in that mysterious future towards which we are T
resistiby borne go there to mount of vson that
may life whole, and purge our minds from those
perspective e1aggeraons and s6caons which originate in
our low everyday point of vision, whence life limited
by yesterday and We 60 there to learn the in
significance of those vaultng ambitions which uthessy
crush our better in their mpetuous march In ne
60 there be wise, for is never SO wise when
standing on the graves Of those like himself Indeed
how can our daily oles survive when thus witness in the
grave the end-a" Of worldly distinctions and the apothe
osis Of spiritual greatness
These remarks shadow forth the high influences actually
e1eed by places of burial conceived and arranged in spirit
Of exalted art Their mission is to the living heart OF man,
which their mute eloquence softly steals reaching and
purifying the very welsprng Of his deeds But alas how
rarely permitted this noble art thus to triumph No
structures need higher than the monumental and in no
department of architecture failures and monsters
merous and amentabe. Our still abound in the
devices Of heathendom but without the attic grace Of pro-
portion and management. Too often they rude, gro
esque Masses graceless in FORM unmeanng in expression,
and transient himself Unlike houses which, how
ugly, may be habitabe and Of which
speak to the soul utterly worthless Better leave the
dead uncommemoraed than to nrude graceess incongu
ous soulraping forms distract memories and
our meditations ..
The Congressional Buingground is far from being what
could be desired. Its natural location is particularly beau
full and Fortunate but art has not seconded this first essential
One great defect the of its space Gods acre.
the house, mans six feet of earth, almost
have been taken literally. Its limits to have been fixed
according to old churchyard notions, and not at all in
formity with the liberal artistic conceptions to which Green
wood, Mount Auburn Forest Hills, Laurel Hill and Mount
Hope their dimensions and arrangements At present,
it is quite small permit it's being made metropolis
worthy its intended To strangers eye it would seem
practicable still to effect large extension Of its limits, par
tcuay towards the northeast There should be no delay
in adding what adjacent ground obtansbe. The dead
already packed away if warebousng system what,
then, will be the condition Of the cemetery after hundred
years .-
Another great defect is in the MATERIAL stye and charac
ter Of the existing monuments. .s....
The of Aqua Creek sandstone is almost satire
which is to survive longer than Of this
material is indeed writ in water" Let lovers be
recorded this, but not destined 10 solid fame.
Italian marble is almost the only material fit for this apPca
on There peculiar tupitude Of taste displayed in the
stones 1t is like whtewashing radically base mans cha
racer Having the bad stone hand, it may be
indispensable to hide what cannot be cured.
The style Of monument is, in the next place, what
stamps its value worhessness It is essential to its good
effect that the design shall be such please the we'll
trained eye There must be unity Of design and harmony Of
proportions The component forms must be such their
oa place. will make congruous and pleasing picture
In judging Of this there is need of cultivated The
Congressional monuments are scarcely better in style than
material There is nothing TO commend the particular form
used rather than any other lacks unity Of design The
top block s but parasite, put without ideal connexon
besides being ugly form 10 ITSELF This lacks,
also, harmony Of proportion. In character it
deficient it really nothing whatever monument
which is to be applied indiscriminaiey to hundred
could not be expected to much for its meaning would
Of course be mainly nsapplied From all known of
"damnable iteration, this routine reproduction hundred
times over, Of the Insignificant form stands out
" bad eminence" There is why hundred bricks
barrels should be alike but you might we'll paint den-
tica portraits of vescore members give them all identical