The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-07-01

out and going to pieces in this way, just |
on account of the Indifference and neg
lect of ones posterity !'-and the poor
ghost grated his teeth in way that
gave me a wrench and a shiver-for the |
effect is nightly increased by the alb:
sence. of mufiling flesh and cuticle. "I |
reside in that old grave yard, and have
for these thirty years; and l tell you
things are changed since first laid this
old tired frame there, and turned over
and stretched out for long sleep, with
a delicious sense upon me ofbeing don @
with bother, and grief, and anxiety,
aud doubt and fear, forever and ever,
and listening with comfortable and in
creasing satisfaction to the sexton's
work, from the startling clatter Of his
first spadeful on my coffin till it dulled
away to the faint pattering that shaped
tho roof of my new home-delicious ?
My wish you could try it tto-nightn'
and out of my reverie deceased fetched
me with rattling slap with a bony
hand.
eyes, sir, thirty years ago l laid me
down there, and was happy. For it
was out in the country, then-out in
the breezy, flowery, grand old woods,
and the lazy winds gossiped with the
leaves, and the squirrels capered over
us and around us, and the creeping
things visited us, and the birds filled
the tranquil solitude with music. All,
it was worth ten years of mans life
to be dead then! Everything was
pleasant. was in good neighborhood
for all the dead people that lived near
me belonged to the best families in the
city. Our posterity appeared to think
the world Of us. They kept our graves
in the very best condition; the fences
were always in faultless repair, head
boards were kept painted or white.
washed, and were replaced with new
ones as soon as they began to look rusty
or decayed; monuments were kept up
right, railings intact and bright, the
trained and free from blemish, the
walks clean and smooth and graveled.
But that day has passed. Our descend
ants have forgotten US. My grandson
lives in a stately mansion built with
money made by these old hands of mine
and sleep in a neglected grave with
invading vermin that gnaw my shroud
to build them nests withal! | and
friends that lie with me founded and
secured the prosperity Of this fine city,
and the stately bantling of our loves
leaves us to rot in dilapidated Come
etery which ncighbors curse and stran-
gers scOff at. See the difference be-
tween the old time and this-for in
stance: Our graves are all caved in,
now; our head boards have rOtted away
and tumbled down; our railing5 reel
this way and that, with ono foot in the
air, after q fashion of unseemly levity;
our monuments lean wearily and our
gravestoncs bow their heads discour-
aged; there be no adornments any
more,-no roses, no shrubs, nor gravelcd
walks, nor anything that is a comfort
to the eye, and even the painless old
board fence that did make a show OF
holding us sacred from companiOnship
with beasts and the defilement of heed
less feet, has tottered till it over
) hangs the street, and only advertiSes
the presence OF our dismal resting place
and invites yet more derisiOn to it. And
: now we cannot hide our poverty and
tattcrs in the friendly woods, for the
city has stretched It's whitening arms
: Lob fol IL, al l,at rfl.
. mains of the cheer of our old homes is
! the cluster of lugubrious forest trees
! that stand, bored and weary of city
b. life, with their feet in our cOfiins, look
5 ing into the hazy distance and not wish,
. ing they were there. tell you it is
: disgraceful
} You begin to comprehension begin
= to see how it is. While our descendants
l are living sumptuously on our money
right around Us in the city, we have tC
| fight hard to keep skull and bones to
gether. Bless you there isn't II grave
t in our cemetery that doesn't leak-no
o one. Every time it rains in the nigh
n we have to climb out and rO0st on tb'
:, trees-and sometimes we are wakenet
e suddenly by the chilly water trichlins
l down the back of our neclis. Then
L tell YOU there is general heaVing III
| of old graves and kicking over of ole
G monuments, and scampering of old
skeletons for the trees Bless me, il
= you had gone along there some night
It after twelve you might. have seen al
| NO of n
p limb, with our joints rafting drearilI
IS and the wind Wheeling through ou
il ribs! Many time we have perche(
there for three or four dreary hours ant
then come down, stiff and chille'
l. through and drowsy and borrowed eacl
others skulls to bail out our grave
y with-if you will glance up in m.
It mouth, now as L tilt my head back,yo
can see that my head.piece is half ful
;. of old dry sediment-hoW top-heav.
}. and stupid il makes me sometimes
II Yes, sir, many time if you had hap
y pened to cone along just before tn
If dawn you'd have caught Us bailing on
l. the graves and hanging cur shrOud5 OF
the fence to dry Why, l had an clC
l CANT shroud stolen from there one mOr
70 ning-think party by the name q
It Smith took it, that resides in II plebia
5, graveyard over yonder--I think SO be
cause the first time | ever saw him h
l. hadn't anything on but check shirt
l. and the last time l saw him he was a
IL a social gathering in the new cemetery
n he was the best dressed corpse in tn
d company-and it is significant fac
~ that he left when he saw lne; and pres
d emily an old woman from here misse
1, her coilin-she generally took it wit
If her when she went anywhere, becaus
At she was liable to take cold and bring o
of the spasmodic rheumatism, that orig
m nally killed her, if she exposed herse