Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-01-19
GARFIELD'S GRAVE.
Something About the People Who
Visit Lake view---Beautiful Floral
Decorations

Something About the People Who
Visit Lake view---Beautiful Floral
Decorations.
Cleveland Herald
More than three months have passed
since the burial ofthe martyT-president,
and still his grave is the Mecca of
many devoted hearts. Pilgrimages of
affectionate love are daily made by
scores of visitors to the city, who think
they have missed the grandest sight in
Cleveland if they fail to look upon the
casket that contains the remains of
Garfield.
Despite the inclement weather OF
the past few days, the Lake View cars
seldom made a trip without carrying
some who were bent on satisfying a
long treasured curiosity. Overheard
snatches of conversation reveals the
fact that most Of these visitors are
from a distance, and that many of them
have stopped off for day in Cleveland
for the sole purpose of standing for a
moment near the grave of the man
they loved.
While the pail of winter has touch
ed but lightly upon Lake View cemete-
~, yet the surroundings are dreary
and uninviting. The recent rains
have furrowed the walks and drive
ways, and swollen the cascades and
artificial lakes to an unnatural fullness,
dark and murky. The giant trees with
their bare arms, the cold shafts of
granite and marble on the hill tops,
seem leaning against the leaden sky;
everything bespeaks the voiceless ST.
lence of the dead. Naught is heard
save the tireless tramp of the sentinel
as he walks to and fro on his beat be-
fore the beautiful Scofield vault, the
custodian of the sleeping dust. The
precision with which these regulars
march is evidenced by the foot at each
end of the plank which has been laid
to keep them from the dampness of
the ground, their feet have burrowed
deep holes in solid wood, in their right
about face.
The loving hands of Mrs. Garfield
and those of her friends, the Rockwells,
made gift to the dead on Christmas
day of many choice floral decorations,
so that the vault is now specially at
tractive. Behind the coffin, in the
rear of the vault, is a magnificent
anchor of cut flowers. Surrounding
the bier on which the handsome bronze
casket rests is perfect wilderness of
flowers, arranged in all conceivable
designs. Distance lends enchantment,
and as the visitor stands outside the
wire screen looking through the grated
door into the somber darkness of the
vault, and gives full play to his own
feelings, the sight is one that will repay
for miles of travel, and will not soon
be forgotten.
All classes Of people visit the tomb
of Garfield. Thoughtless, impulsive
youth pauses moment, admires the
beautiful flowers and rich casket, and
with jest and laughter passes on. Man
hood pauses, and with bowed head
thinks of the man inside the casket,
and Of the qualities that made him
great, and with a deep resolve passes
on to better manhood. Old age, with
barred brow, tottering on staff, stands
long before the grated door, peeriDg in
to the solitude until the eyes are filled
with tears, and with silent prayer
passes on in sobs. The kid-gloved mil
lionaire and the hard handed son of
toll alike pay affectionate respect to
the memory OF the departed, leaving
sigh and tear at the door of his
tomb.
The sentinel will continue his cease
less tramp until the nation shall have
builded its sarcophagus on the hill
facing the blue lake that Garfield
loved; then, in some strong vault,
secure from ghouls and thieves, the
casket and its precious dust will be de-
posted, and the soldiers will return to
camp. This consummated, then Cleve-
land will become center of the worlds
affectionate thought; Lake View will
be mentioned in the same breath with
Mount Vernon and Oak Ridge, and for
centuries to come will be visited by the
patriots of every Cline"