The Howard union. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-19
Correspondence OF the New York Observer.
A NEGLECTED. GRAVEYARD.

came by an ancient and apparently forgot
ten graveyard. II was so far from the
sight Of the living, that the thought was
natural "the people are all here" But
somebody must have buried them; and |
soon discovered that it was only mile or
two from the village aud the whole country
side was densely populated with the living,
mony of them doubtless the relatives and
friends of the jewellers in this silent land
But what affected me the most strangely
and sadly was the utter neglect and desc.
lation that reigned among these toinbs. II
was easy to step over the stone wall, and
picked my way around and among the grave
stones, some Of them lying on the ground,
others ready to fall, and most Of them so
hidden by weeds and bushes, it was hard
TO read the Inscriptions, or find the name
they were set up 10 commemorate. Yet on
many OF those | succeeded in reaching and
reading, were words of affection, lines that
told me how tenderly once were loved The
ashes that are now lying here unnolIoed
and perhaps unknown. On some o. The
old headstones The dates could be matSA.sst
that went away back 10 the days Of our
Revolution, aud it is very likely that in this
country, there is TO one now living here
who has the blood or the memory OF these
ancients in his heart. But here are inscrip
tiuns that have been made within the last
twenty or thirty years, and they too seem
10 have been made by hands that are now
cold or to have been prompted by hearts
that have forgotten.
II helps to humble us 10 take a walk in
a neglected graveyard. We think that we
are of some value to our friends, and they
would grieve much if we were taken
away. And we think rightly, But how
very soon after the grave closes over us, is
the place where we sleep suffered to pass
into oblivion! Perhaps stone with a
record of their estimate of our worth is set
mp, but even that is suffered 10 be over
grown with weeds, or to fall to the ground
as we fell but few years before. When
stone is thrown into a lake it makes a
great commotion for moment, but very
soon the water is as placid as if its surface
had not been disturbed at all. And when
a great man dies, or one who was greatly
beloved in the circle Of his acquaintance,
The heart OF the community is stirred. We
talk of the whole people being in tears
b.. few months only and all is as if
ng had happened; and in few years,
,me is rarely mentioned. HIS grave
is 'ected. The places that knew him,
XII lin no more. 1t will be Just so with
us. cannot tell where we shall be
} bur- nd few years after we are buried
} how y few in all the world will know
f or care where we are sleeping! 1t is moi
| Il H. al
view of our future; but if we may Judge by
what we see here and everywhere, thi:
oblivion awaits the most of us.
/; is a mark Of low civilization that the
country graveyard is forlorn and neglec
ted place. Religion and refinement would
both encourage us TO guard it from the in.
truslon of beasts, and also TO make it attrac.
, tive, that The living may be led TO come and
! mediate among its lombs. There is an ex.
cess even of floral ornament that tends tc
destroy the proper effect. l have seer
cemeteries that were rather places of en-
tertainment for the living, than fitting
homes for the dead. This is the tendency
in rural cemeteries near the city, the resort
of visitors who go 10 see how death can BE-
cheated of its terrors, and his field of tri
umph made holiday spectacle. Yet ever
these groves and drives and lakes ant
5 bridges and flowers innumerable and glar
I ing monuments, costly white sepulchres
are more becoming than this desert desc
lation that reigns in many country church
7 yards, and those not hundred miles from
, the city.
We do not have the Yew tree here as il
England. There they grow 10 great size
as in Stoke, where Gray lies buried, in th'
country churchyard. That was the scent
t and theme oil his elegy, a poem that ha
furnished more lines that have become ia
miiar to mankind than any other poem o
equal length. The third stanza is:
"Benoath those rugged elms, that ye,o trees shad
Where heayes the turfi in many Wondering heap
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
= The ude forefathers Of The hamlet sleep"
: The sixth stanza is very fine:
s "For them no more the blazing hearth shall burr
No busy housewife ply her evening care,
! No children run to lisp their sire's return,
4 Or climb his knees the cnvied kiss TO share"
: The last line of the 9lh verse is olte
quoted:
.''The boast of hcraldry, the pomp of power,
= And Ill that beauty, all that wealth ere gave
# Await alike th' inevitable hour:
The path of glory leads but 10 the grave"
&c And as | was walking in that desolat
II rural field Of graves, another stsn4T-'0i thi
elegy seemed very appropriate:
''Perhaps in Ibis neglected spot is laid
1. Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands that The rod Of empire might have swayc
al Or walked 10 ecstasy the living Tyre"
W And then follows the most familiar vers
of quoted by thousands who do not kno
i. whence it comes:
"Full many gem of purest ray serene
ce The dark unflthomed caves Of ocean bear;
d, Full many flower is bora 10 blush unseen,
And waste ITS sweetness on The desert air."
In that country churchynrd which Gra
" calls neglected spot" the poet WI
buried by the side Of his mother, TO who
he had erected monument there. But Il
IL quiet beauty of that long low church in Il
~ midst of those graves has fingered with n
lis these ten years or more, and the signs
l.