Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-02-07

Pratt, J. F. Mech, Edwin Mcfarland. Should
tie members of the post again call on the pub.
lie to aid them in any enterprise seeking to swell
their charity fund, they will deserve, and will,
without doubt, receive generous support.
MONTHLY MEETING OF THE SCHOOL BOARD.
The regular monthly meeting of the school
board was held last evenings The attendance
was not so large as to indicate an absorbing in-
terest en- the part of the members in school
matters, only about half the seats being filed
The two members elected at the January meet
in-,-Mr. Draper from ward three and Mr.
Peabody from ward six,-took their seats for
the first time.
The monthly report of the superintendent,
showed no marked change in the usual prosper
Gus condition Of the schools, but especially
praised the evening AMI drawing schools, Which
have a much larger attendance than ever before
The visiting committees reported several schools,
aud in one or two cases mentioned prevalence
of bad air from various causes; and on motion
of Mr. Williams the committee on school houses
were instructed to investigate the matter and
lay it before the city council for remedy.
Mr. Williams presented a petition from Mr.
that certain books be furnished the school house
in his charge; which was referred to the COM
mittce on books and apparatus.
MIR. StUddard moved that $50 copies of the
annual report ofthe nperintendent-which was
accepted-be printed; that the primary schools
be supplied with copies of "The Nursery" and
the secondary schools with copies of Our Young
Folks; and the motion prevailed.
On motion OF Mr.. Jaques, the following rcso.
lation, lail on the table at the January meeting,
was taken up;
Whereas. in December, 1870, subcommittee of
the school board, after careful Investigation made
report wherein they unanimously recommended
the occupation of the old dlsused burylng ground
on Me'nanic street. as an available and suitable site
for a school housei and
Whereas, the said report received the unanimous
endorsement of the three gentlemen then constitu.
grounds, and was also recommended, by Jnaiif.
nous vote of the school board to the favorable
sheraton of the city council; ana
Whereas. it has already been decided to remove
the railway traffic from the vicinity Of this buryhg
ground whereby its occupation for educational pur-
poses becomes much less Objectionable than it was
at the time the said report was made; therefore,
Resolved, that in the opinion of the school COM
mittee the time has now arrived when the recon-
mendations of the aforesaid report shculd be car
ried INTO execution, in order to relieve tie crowded
condition of tae schools on the easterly side OF Main
street. and especially, in order to provide necessary
accommodations for the two or three hundred pu.
pills who after July next, can no longer occupy the
Front street school house.
NJ. Jacques then made the following remarks
in support of the resolution, after which it was
unanimously ADOPTED by the board:
Since this great public improvement, as it
may claim to be, was first preached, in Deem.
Der, 1870, some objections have been raised
against it. Perhaps the most troublesome of
these objections is that which may be called the
sentimental objection. 1t is urged that there
would be so nething of irrcverence toward the
dead, in converting their graves into a play
ground for the living. To this it may be re-
piled, that circumstances alter cases, so that an
objection, which ordinarily would be entitled to
consideration, finds an unanSwerable refutation
in the existing condition OF the old graveyard !
For the last ten or fifteen years, those inferred
in the long dsused old burial place on Mechan-
ic street, have bad an eXperiencc-if decaying
bones can be said to experience nything-quite
unlavorably in the opposite Erection 10 the
proposition in the re5olu ion under considera-
ton. DESPITE the utmost efforts to protect this
last resting place of by gone generations, it has
been iutrudcd upon by cToss-lot pedestrians
it has been profaned by SabhaIh-day gamblers,
and insuted BY midnight debauchees and prosti-
tutes; it has afforded pasturage for fonr-tooIed
hogs also, and a scratching place for hens.
RuflianS have found there a source of brutal
amusement, in pnlling up aud breaking the
humble monuments long ago reared by affec-
tiOnate hands over graves that were then still
wet with the tears of sorrow and bereavement.
Encouraged by all these forms of Dissertation,
haggish old women have thought it not too Sa-
cred place in which to dry their wasnroom
buds; and, lest a moment of<deceBcy or appro-
pirate quiet miaht prevail there ball-players have
invaded il with their boisterouS games of which
gross profanity seems an Indispensable clement.
The iron door of the costly and only tomb in
this sacred enclosure only a few years ago
was wreuched from its hinges, and-but | for
bear TO excite suspicious worse than anything |
have just disclosed. Let it suffice, for the pres
ent occasion, to draw down the curtain over dis
gushing Details here, however the bosom of the
faithful tomb may have been unveiled and in
suited there. | was myself a member of the
commission having the burial place in charge,
for five successive years Immediately preceding
the year 1870, and feel it pertinent to add here,
that all this dissertation and outrage was going
on during the whole of that period, without a
single word of rcmonstrance from any relative
of those inferred there! So true is it, in this
case at least, that "all the dead forgotten lie!'
Now, it may seem very irTeverent, but will here
venture to express the hope that, when ] myself
shall ''seep the sleep that knows no waking,
children will play upon, and birds sing above
my own grave.
Now there arc four courses of procedure
from which the municipal government may
choose its policy in regard 10 what is, to-day, a
disgrace and shame TO the city,
OF these, the let-alone policy is altogether the
easiest, since it requires only the maintenance oil
the tight board fence rs it now stands, serving
IFS double purpose, as heretofore, keeping the
lazer miScreantS out, il is true, but aifordin9 at
tine same lime an almost perfect screen Tor law
less wretches who find some strange almost
tiendish, amusement in perpeiraiing outrages,
in this burial place, such as an American savage
would not dare to commit against the dead OF
his own tribe!
One or two policemen, on duty here day and
night, wouI1 remedy this, Of course; but many
of our citizens, thinking this over in their quiet
homes, would hardly find pleasant food for
reflection in the fact that the grave ITSELF unless
under guard, is no longer safe from molcsta-
ton, even when lying almost within the shadow
of Il score of churchesl
third plan would be to remove and renter
all the bodies, perhaps 1000 in number;
then to Grade down the ground TO the Level
OF the streets already made or to he made, aud
then to sell the land for business purposes. TO
this plan strong objection may be raised, that
it will cost nearly one-lourth OF what the land
is worth; that it would create great excitement,
and mint ouse fierce and unre asonable oppo
sition and be attended by many veXatous diff
cultes. Admitting 1t to be tue most desirable
method for relieving the city of the ignominy
WHICH 10 IIHcNb1l mum ludb 1uotluS siaIl
upon our map, still, thirty years hence, when
the proposed school house shall have become
old, this plan can be carried into execution
much more easily than it could be now.
The fourth project is the one that would re
specially advocate. In the first place, this plan
is well sanctioned by precedent. The Thomas
street schools and the Front-street schools to-day
make use of secuarized gravc-yaids, as play
grounds; ami the ast-Worcester schools, some.
times when the gate is broken open, use, for the
same purpose, graveyard that has not been
seculalizedl
More than this,-In that fashionable, or, il
YOU please in kthat arlsocratic place of sepul.
ture, the Rural Cemetery, you may, any pleas
ant day see children playing over the grave of a
brother or sister, or of a parent, when the
surviving parent stands not unapprovngly look
ing on! But the Mechanic street Burying
Ground is too old for this. No children, very
lew grandchildren can find the graves of par
ents or grandparents there!
> Again, this burial place is quite large enough
and not too large for school purposes. 1t lies
Just where there is need Of n school bouse. fol
the reception OF the Front street scholars. and
Others Ii is very central. Tho citv already
owns it as part of the lands reserved two nm.
drcd years ago, for the support OF eve minister
| OF the infant settlement There Is no grading
| none at ALTO be done. No graves arc 10 he
| disturbed, except TO put in the foundations of
the school house. With all the railways and
| machine shops and divers traffic around this
ground it lis less noisy today, than is the site OF
the Salem street, or that of the Front street, or