Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-04-11
CHAPTER XIX.

wish to bs buried there with his mother
For his family, particularly on the maternal
side, was Of considerable rank, reduced as
the old man had become.
May the aged clerk rest in peace there, in
that vault in the midst Of the clang and hub
bub of the mighty city, which surrounds
him On all sides For his was a good nature;
and from first to last, ne had proved my firm
friend. often imagine him, even now that
time has mellowod down his appearance-I
often imagine him to be again shufling
around-his lips caved in upon a mouth be.
reft Of teeth his white, thin hair, his bent
shoulders, his spectacles, and his dismally
warm clothes. Again l say, may he rest in
peace there in the venerable church-yard
The better feeling of our times has crea-
ted ample and tasteful cemeteries, at a proper
distance from the turmoil of the town; the
elegant and sombre Greenwood, unsurpassed
probably in the world for its chaste and ap-
propriately sober beauty the varied aRd
wooded slopes Of the cemetery of the Ever
greens; and the elevated and classic sim.
plicity Of Cypress Hills. And correct sani-
tary notions have properly made interments
in the city limits illegal, prohibiting them by
fine which is heavy enough to form an ef.
fectual bar, except in cases, as occasionally
happens even yet, Of a strong desire to be
buried in spot hallOwed by past associations
and the presence Of ancestors with an abil-
ity to pay the fine.
Still, the few old grave-yards that lie in
some Of the busiest parts of our city, are not
without their lesson; and a valuable oue.
On the occasion Of the old mans scanty fune-
raj, after the others had departed, and was
left alone, spent the rest of that pleasant,
golden forenoon, one Of the finest days in our
American autumn, wandering slowly through
the Trinity graveyard. felt in the hum0r,
serious without deep sadness, and / went
from spot to spot, and sometimes copied the
inscriptions. Long, rank grass covered my
face. Over me was the verdure, touched
with brown, of trees nourished from the de-
cay CT the bodies of men.
The tombstone nearest me held this in
scription;
" JAMES NJ BALDWIN,
Gagged q years,
WoUaded on Lake ChamyIain."
By the date of the time of his wound, and
ais that of his death, both of which were
given on the stone, knew that the latter
took place about year after the first.
Here, then, lay one of the republics faithful
children-faithful to death. Was it-for
felt in o musing vein-haTd for MIN to die
future Twenty y-tWo: that was my own
age-and, Of Death, shuddered instinct
lively at the thought
For felt that life, matter of fact as it
was and is in reality-I felt that to me it
opened enjoyment and pleasure on every
side. 1 was happy in my friends-happy in
having Ephraim and Violet and Tom and
Martha and Inez-every one of them l
was happy that lived in this glorious New
York, where, if one goes without activity
and enjoyment, it must be his own fault in
the main.
Truly, life is sweet to the young man.
Such bounding and swelling capacities for
Joy reside within him, and such ambitious
yearnings. Health and unfettered spirits
are his staff and mantle. He learns IN
thinkingly to love--that glorious privilege
of youth Out Of tho tiny fractions of his
experience, he builds beautiful imaginings,
and confidently looks for the future to real
ize them. And then he is SO sure Of those
future years.
Was not, probably, such the spirit of the
young man whose grave l now sat on ? The
shroud and the coffin for him Alas, so it
was ordained. For nearly a year, fever
him, and then came the dismissal of obliv-
ion.
In the northern part of the old graveyard
1 found the tombs of father and mother,
natives Of New York, with a numerous fami-
ly of their children HAPPY, the whole of
the chain, unbroken, was there. Various,
as 1 saw by the dates, were the periods Of
their dying, they had all been brought here
at last, some of them, no doubt, from distant
places, and were there mouldering, but to-
gether
Human souls are as the dove, which went
forth from the ark, and wandered far, and
would repose herself at last on no spot save
that whence she started. To what purpose
has nature given men this instinct to die
where they were born Exists there some
subtle sympathy between the thousand men,
tai and physical essences which make up a
human being, and the sources wherefrom
they are derived
Another inscription found in the grave
yard read thus;
edward MARSHALL;
"Died 1904"
The stone was low and uneven. The words
appeared to have been obliterated by time,
and then traced out again by some kindly
hand
1704 at the time when these paragraphs
are being printed, nearly century and a
half ago. Of the generations then upon the
earth, probably not person is living. What
great events have happened too, since that
time! A nation Of freemen has arisen, out
stripping all ever before known in happiness,
good government, and real grandeur. And
even that star of Corsica which fitted like a
glaring phantom across tho world, now lies
in no warmer tomb, splendid as it is in the
gay capital Of France, than the one covered
by that brown and age-decayed slab.
Near the wall that divides the yard from
RectOr-street, I stopped by the grave of a
man, who, in his time, was the sower Of
eeeds that have brought forth good and evil.
The burial stone tells the following story :
"To THE MEMORY OF
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
ssThe Corporation of Trinity Church have erect
ed this Monument in testimony of their respect
for the patriot Of incorruptible integrity, the
soldier Of approved valor, the Statesman of
consummate wisdom, whose talents and virtues
will be admired by a grateful posterity, long
after this marble shall have mouldeTed into
dust"
The circumstances of the death of Hamil-
ton, which took place July 18th, 1904, are
well known. He was forty years old.
On the day of his funeral, the Common
Council, the Militia, the Clergy, the Bar,
and the Society Of the Cincinnati, with
mass Of citizens, convened in Park Place,
and while dire wishes of vengeance ranked
in many bosom, moved in solemn process
sion down Broadway to Trinity Church,
where Governeur Morris mounted stage
erected in the portico, and delivered a fune-
raj grafton. The grief Of Hamiltons fami-
1y, who were present, seemed contagious
every eye was wet with tears. may here
add that have once or twice in my time
met the still living widow Of the dead man
"a lady whose aged form is constantly bu-
sled in works Of kindness and benevolence.
Nearer to Broadway is broad, square,
simply elegant mausoleum, on the slab of
which is graved;
"MY MOTHER
"The trumpet shall sound,
And the dead shall rise"
A sweet epitaph, and the manifestation Of
most sweet motive
In the farther corner of the yard was a
ruined tomb, the bricks fallen down, and
the whole partly covered by 8 rough pine
shed But read the history inscribed upon
it:
SIN memory Of Capt JAMES LAWRENCE, of the
U. S. Navy, who fell on the first day of June
1913, in the 32d year of his age, in the action
between the frigates Chesapeake and Shannon
+ He had distinguished himself on
various occasions, but particularly while com
manding the sloop of war Hornet, by capturing
aod sinking His Brit. Maj sloop of war Pea
cock, after a desperate action Of IA minutes
His bravery in action was only equalled by
his modesty in triumph, and his m gnanimity
to the vanquished. In private life, he was a
gentleman of the most generous and endearing
qualities, and so acknowledged was his publ
worth that the whole nation mourned his loss
and the enemy centended with his country
men who most should do b m honor"
ION the opposite side
'The here whose remains are here deposited,
With his dying breath expressed his devotion
to his country. Neither the fury of bat
tle-the anguish of a mortal Wound-nor the
horrors Of approaching dcath-could subdue
liz a.nII...L LIZ. NJ