Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-06-06

The APPEAL OF Sunday last announced
the gratifying fact that the misunderstand-
ing between the Board of Trustees of Elm
wood Cemetery and all who have friends and
relations buried in the single-grave sections in
this consecrated spot had been satisfactorily
adjusted. We congratulate the public on this
suspicious termination of a sad discussion,
for there is nothing more unseemly than
bitter squabble over graveyard and the
ashes of the sacred dead. We must confess
that we have not Endorsed the tone of some
OF the communications published in the Ar
PEAL on this subject, as they did great in
justice to the trustees In attributing to them
a cruel and unfeeling vandalism in the
change they proposed, when they were actu-
ated solely and entirely by the hope and ex-
psetation of making still more attractive the
cemetery which they have already made beau
tiful. For twenty-five years Captain Joseph
Lenow has been president of the organiza-
tion in charge of Elmwood, and during that
period only one ambition has filled his heart
and brain, and that was to make this Gene
terry so beautiful that il would divest death
OF many of its terrors. Advanced age and
declining health admonish him that he must
soon pass beyond the vicissitudes of human
affairs, but in his untiring labors on Elm
wood he has built to his memory an imper-
ishable monument. Jealous, liberal, and
accommodating, ss he has been, he feels
keenly the criticisms which have been made
upon himself and the trustees; but he is
eonsoled by the reflection that he was in
faenced alone by what he thought best for
all concerned, and nothing can shake his de-
votion to the spot around which his affections
have so long clustered. There was no "sav-
sgery," brutality" or vandalism" in the
change that the president and trustees of Elm
wood Cemetery proposed as the lawn plan has
been adopted by many of the most beautiful
cemeteries in America and Europe. 1t was
simply question of taste, and now that the
proposed innovation has been abandoned,
there will no doubt be in the future that
harmony between the trustees and friends
and relatives so essential, and without which
there can be no general plan of identifying
and adjoining this silent city of the dead.
Both the managers and the friends
Of those buried in Z mwood are mu-
tually interested, and both parties should
be consulted as to the general work of max
ing the spot most attractive. The condition
of our grave-yards-the respect paid the
dead-is sure indication as to the
refinement and intellectual advancement.
of the living. When the grave
yard of a village or city is neglected, by
moldering and messy headstOnes leaning
like the decayed oak over the murky stream,
it is natural to suppose that the people are
selfish, heartless, wanting in refinement,
hate ornament and reject the inspiration of
beauty. 1t was believed in the Middle Ages,
and even two centuries ago, that after death
the spirit lowered about the dust it once an
imated-that the soul remained near where
the body rested, and food and drink were
placed convenient for the departed spirits.
Such notion seems 10 have presented itself
to the mind of Gray when he composed his
AElegy.p 1t Is clearly expressed IN the fol-