New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-08-09
OLD COLONY LETTERS.
rp,,r ppoM AN OLD TREE.

PLYMOUTH YIILAGB-DOwh-EAsr uha, 800,
avn roMB-sTONES-BURYING HlbL-fohh-
p.rupps, MoNUMFNT-PILGBIM HAbL-hEL-
r"s or THE COLONIsTs-GOY' BRADfofDo
JOURNAL. , ~ r,, rp,p,;,p
lpROM An OCCASIONAL C0RRBSPOhphNi VI M ~,
p,vvouru. Aug. I'm letters from this
reo,on have written OF tho coast the "oou7' on" '
,ors toeIipg that such things never grow oid' anu
,bat in Summer time their counterfeit presen''o"'
-, ho admitted 10 The columns, even. OF daiy news
Dor They sbould at least, have an antaclo en'cS
rnon the bilious humOrs Of dogday pohlicai canpbn
utbcrto I have said little OF Plymouth llseh win
ta reIcs and landmarks OF tho Pilgrimsi ana
90 for tho Rock considered respectfully or otherWhe'
n certainly il as widely known az the equator ana OF as
u,tIe imnortauce TO a perpatetc journalist. Few
sroncers however, wander in these remote beginnings
Of our country which the name and station are muoh
better known than their actual appearance ono cannot
Int feel n dreamy, Hawthorneish interest walking IN
little streets that run precisely the cOonIsts first laid
out the paths of their stockade. so few changes have
been made that the eye readily transform the
quaint narrow stores upon them INTO the log nuts OF
Carver Brewster and Wlnslow the same hils ana val
leys about you, and the wilderness stu presses 80
closely upon the that you would not DO surprised
should Massasoyet from the woods in full costume
OF paint and feathers proGeTng welcome aud the sym
bolic maize.
"Buryng Hill is place to climb and lnger upon
rather for It's superb outlook than from any uncommon
antiquity in its memorials. Genealogical societies ana
magazines, though not entirely foreign to Virginia.
Maryland and those Middle States whose history runs
back TO
"Good old Colony times -
When were under the KING,
find in New England their most unailng supply OF tho
moldy worm-holcd pabuum essential 10 ther iunsO'
vitality In every old Yankee town much OF the in''c7
cepters around the graveyard not the abyrinthhe Oe
etervon which the landscape gardener has put iorth
all his art TO mako the relics OF mod
crn geNeration smell sweet and blossom III
the dust, and which Is the Deauty-spo'
of many prosperous village; but the ancient Oyhb-
ground where urchns play untouched NJ tag anu 'a"
where nettes burdoc and ccua flourish the more Wig
orosIy for Yearly moving; whose frOstheaved stones
are "a much in neod of a resurrection are the bones
they cover and which, the more ancient 1t may De Is so
much the more likely TO be found upon Vhe oeahe'e
barrenest portion Of the settlement our ioreatnerS
hanged witches and pirates, pillored esSpassefs ana
coers and buried their dead apon the htops, IN sight
| NJ oil tbe world and ground covered with an inch OF
loan was too scarce and valuable for either OF these
| uses.
! A boyhood passed in one Of NewEngland's ancient
country villages and familiarity with several character
isto graveyards have taught me the rudments OF our
ortuary architecture. Skilled in this, Is easy TO dis
tnguish between the primitive, secondary ana tertiary
STYLES of what may denominae the Blue-stone Order
Of tombstones and can tell at glance in what period
fine dust which soddens beneath any visible slab must
| have been to dust committed and weighted with the
stony witness TO the common lot Of man. The Colonial
Order prevailed from tho settlement Of the country
| until half century ago, when marble ne
gan TO be used by our stone-cutters and may be
divided if you choose follows 1. The Deaths-Head,
or Geometrc STYLE expressive OF the physical terrors OF
mortality and easily recognized by the skull which
makes hdeous the summit Of the stone OF by tho cices
containing arcs, which the compass and chlse Oh the
primitive artists have cut either corner . The Bot
| tomless Angel stye-stones headed with mooniaced
with ~ IN
ones spanking propensities" This lasted until the
Revolution and was followed by-3 The Weepng-Wllow
STYLE extending with urna and other variations. down
TO the obels cross, STAR aud arch reinements OF our
| own composite age.
Whatever may have been the practice Of their de-
scendants, that the Pilgrim Fathers selected
Buryng Hill tho resting-pace OF their dead from no
sordd motiyesfor the world all before them where
TO choOse-but for its proximity to their Westinghouse,
| and its lofty and beautiful elevation, overlooking
leagues of land and In five minutes one can reach
summit from the center Of the present town. and en-
| Joy such prospect modern cemetery commands.
Here might repOse the pous Pilgrim his staff and seal
opshel s AK and musket, If you cho0se) laid by for
ever wives and children about him. But here the
| visitor, naturally expecting to find tho Oldest
graves in New-England, looks in vain for the
tombstanes original Brewster, Winslow, Carver,
Alden, and the rest and discovers that few OF the
most ancient slabs ante-dae the wingedcherub period
Of last century Although the yard incoses but III
tie space, old Plymouth families still find room In 1t to
bury their dead and, until drove by the beautiful
modern cemetery the road to Ellington Sea- judged
that the early colonial Sickness which cut of onehal OF
the gna centurion band had since been compensated
for by miraculous exemption in this region from the
visits OF the grim destroyer. The Oldest tombstone
could lind Buryng Hill bears the date OF 1851 not an
original memorial of all those who came on the May
flower In 1920 the Fortune, In 1921, or
ON the Ann and Little James, in 1923, is here
| Nnuv in pI1 puip own
| settled 40 years after Plymouth, remember many
stones dated from 1901 Thomas Cushman Of the
Fortune and Thomas Clark Of the Ann, certainly were
buried on h and their tablets formerly were here.
| Over the grave OF Elder Cushman and few other
worthless the tradition of whose restingpaces still re-
MAINS modern memorials have been ereced-a shaft in
honor of Gov. William Bradford and large slab re-
eordng the life and services OF John Rowland but the
Cushman monument magnificent granite obeisk, is the
most conspicuous and costly OF all Erected by wealthy
descendants, It in honorng the virtues Of the
Elder 20 bear witness that substantial blessing has
followed his children beyond the third and fourth gem
erations Fifty OF the May over baud, who died in the
"6rst sickness" were buried as obscurely possible
| and their graves sowed with grain, that knowledge
OF the coOnys weakness might be hid from the Indians
As it is written Of Noses the places Of their burial no
| man knoweth TO this day. Many were inferred upon
Coles HILL portion Of which been incosed by the
| Pilgrim Society as halowed ground.
1t was upon Burying Hill that the settlers built their
wooden fort mounting six pateeroS the roof, that
their prayers for protection from ye savages might bo
more eiectual witha The lower portion OF this edhee
was their meeting house. whittier they MARCHED OF sun
days. Boughton has painted them, In armed process
sion Close under the hill stands the First Congre
gatona Church in America But the Pilgrims laid the
foundations of true religious liberty, in spite OF them
selves. For directly across the little square is a
Unitarian Church, and wandering down old Leyden-st.,
on tbe very site OF the first eOckade IL seems queer