The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-06-16
EPITAPHS.

Some Quaint and Curious Inscriptions on
TOmbstOnesiu OId EnR1ish aud AmeIi-
can Churchyards,
In wandering through the various
resting places of the dead one might
well exclaim: Where are the sinners
buriedP" Surely their graves are not
here; tn subscriptions on marble, shaft
or slab indicate the resting places of the
good alone. But in going here and
! there through old cemeteries, especially
in England, one often comes across in
scriptions STRANGELY unlike those of the
! present day. Let us pass by the ordi-
nary ones, and read some of the extra.
ordinary.
The two wives of Thomas Sexton are
buried in n churchyard near Newman
ket. Upon the stone over the grave of
the first one is the following:
Here lies the body OF Sarah Sexton
! She was wife that never vexed one.
| can't say so much for the one at the next
stone.
In the cemetery of the Old Gray
Friars, Edinburg, we find:
Here snug in the grave my wife doth lie;
Now she's at rest, and so am l.
Here is another:
Here lies my dear wife, a sad slattern and
shrew;
II said [ regretted her 1 should lie, too.
On a tombstone in Oxford:
Here, deep in the dust,
the old mnldy crust
Uf Nell Bachelor lately shoven;
Who was skilled in the arts
OF pies, puddings and tarts,
And knew every use OF the oven.
When she had lived long enough
She made her last puff
A puff by her husband much praised
Now here she doth lie
And makes dirt pie,
In hopes that her crust may be raised.
But these are rather unjust toward
the fair sex. Let US look for something
more truthful. We find il in St.
Michaers ohurchyard, Coventry:
She was
But words are wanting
To say what.
Look what wife should be.
And she was that
In memory of Katherine Gray, who
kept pottery shop at Chester:
Beneath this stone lies old Katherine Gray,
Changed from q busy lie to llieless clay;
By earth and clay she got her peli,
But now is turned to earth herself
Ye weeping friends, let me advise,
Abate your grief and dry your eyes,
For what avails flood of Tears
Who knows but in a run of years,
In some tall pitcher or broad pan
She i'll her shop may be again?
Upon the tomb of Martha Wells,
wife of John Wells, in Yolkstone, we
read:
We lar from here did come
Each other tor to join,
In peace with all men here we lived,
And did in love combine.
But oh, remark the strange,
Yet heavens wise decree
Pm lodged within the silent grave,
He's rolling in the sea.
In wandering through the old Sleepy
Hollow cemetery | paused before an
old mossy tombstone. STOPPING down
and brushing away the moss / re the
following:
Pause, relder, pause as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was L;
AS am now so you will be,
Prepare for death and dfollow me.
And near by read:
Afniction sore long time bore,
Physicians were in vain;
Till death did seize and God did please
To ease me OF my pain.
But enough for the fair sex. Let us
see If the sterner sex can boast of any,
thing better. We will begin with the
lawyers In the churchyard at Norfolk
we find:
God works a wonder now and then;
He, though lawyer, was an honest man.
And in Stepney churchYard, London,
upon a lawyer named Strange:
Here lies an honest lawyer-that's Strange!
Upon the tombstone of Stephen Bum
bold at Brightwell:
He lived one hundred and five,
Sangu ne and strong;
An hundred To five
Yuu live not so long
Which is probably true concerning the
most oil US. In Walton churchyard we
read upon the tomb OF George Miles,
blacksmith:
My sledge and hammer lie reclined,
My bellows also lost their wind;
My fires extinct, my Jorge decayed,
My vice / the dust my trends have laid,
My Goals are spent, my irons go Q,
My nails are drove, my work is done.
And upon a collier:
Here lies the collier, John OF Nashes,
By whom death nothing gained, he swore;
For, living, he was dust and ashes
And beng dead, ? is no more.
Here is one which fear the majority
of the male sex will never deserve. /
will not vouch for the truth of it:
An honest fellow here is laid