Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1852-03-25
Ibf Dailp Spy.
THURSDAY MARCH rs, 1852.
The New Pubic Cemetery.


By reference to our report Of the proceedings
the Board Of Mayor and Aldermen, on Monday eve
ming, 22d inst, it will be seen that that body has,
motion Of Aid. Davis, ordered that $500 only
shall be expended in grading the new Cemetery,
thai no moaey shall be expended in the erection
receiving tomband that the,wbole question, wheth
erhe grounds at New Worcester, shall be adapted to
the uses ct Cemetery, or whether some other dis
position shall be made Of them, has been referred to
select committee. 1854
We confess our surprise at the action Of the Board.
We are surprised at the niggardly insuficiency Of
the appropriation, and we are doubly surprised at
the reactive tendendency manifested ia the whole
matter. Ills notorious fact, that there is not
Cemetery in this city in which respectable poor
er citizens can, with any feeling Of satisfaction to
themselves, deposit the remains of their departed
relatives and friends. There are the burial grounds
on Mechanic ST., at Pine Meadow, and at South
Worcester, it is true but all of them have been SO
reIugnas.- p the feelings of our people, that those
who could afford to do SO, have purchased loie in
the private Cemetery on Grove ST., on which
they have expended thousands OF dollars. They did
so in obedience to that general feeling of respect for
the dead, which the rich and poor feel equally with
each other, and they did so because they wae able
60 do sn, distinction which The Board of Mayor
and Aldermen does not seem, this instance TO have
appreciated. viii any ofthe rich men in this city,
bury their beloved relatives remains in Pine Mead
o~. in Mechanic ST., or in the damp clay of South
Worcester? We know they will not, because they
have otherwise provided, at large expense; and
set $500 have been refused by the city government,
20 opena decent place ofsepulture for those whose
labor has made the rich men of Worcester richer,
and to whom the city owes all that she is.
aaThe city government purchased last year, at New
Worcester IS acres Of ground, at $35 an acre,
which was to be devoted for public Cemetery. A
certain portion Of this was to be set apart for pr
Vate purchase, not in lots at minimum rate Of $50
a lot, as in the Cemetery which our more wealthy
citizens have purchased, and which amounts to a
total exclusion Of large proportion of our mechan-
ics and laborers, bat ia lots that poor man might
buy without oppression TO himself The revenue
thus derived might then be appropriated to grading
and improving the whole Of those most beautifully
situated and noble grounds.
There is not parcel of land anywhere better tied
for the purpose for which it was purchased. The
soil is open and gravely, surface well wooded, retir-
ed ID position, undalating and capable Of being made
equal to any Cemetery 10 the world for grandeur o
scenic effect. Besides, from the hills with which
the lot is diversified, the eye commands the most
noble landscape view in the county.
Even il the city were to expend several thou
sands Of dollars on this Cemetery, the money would
be well expended, and the outlay would meet the
cordial approval of the majority of Industrious,
respectable mechanics and artizans, who feel the
want Of suitable spot in which to lay those, over
whose silent biers they would sometimes wish to
meditats and weep. The private Cemetery at Grove
St.possesses all those charmsof retirement aud uraI
beauty, which position, and the shadows othe trees
give it. There can our favored citizens walk in
mediiahons quiet shade near their dear departed
kindred, and there can they borrow the feelings of
the past FROM the fountains Of memory. The whole
aspect Of the place is an invitation to communion
with their beloved dead, but is there any such priv
iiege for the poorer Of our citzens2 We might APP
peal to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for an
answer. Pine Meadow and Mechanic st. would
not for moment be thought Of, and the South Wor-
ces'er ground, bare, cod melancholy, fiat and tree
less, is about as repulsive as they. A
we repeat there is a necessity for the public Gem
etery at New Worcester Our citizens want IL: not
our rich citizens il is true, but our mechanics and
iaborers, and it is the duty Of the city government
TO see that the work is quickly accomplished. At
this present moment we can draw strong cont,as
between the positions Of the rich and poor, in rea
tion to their ability to perform, according to their
wishes, the last sad Offices to the dead. The rich
can do as they wsh,k poor cannot. But the city
government can remove this disabity,by opienngEbe
grounds at New Worcester Immediately land we trust