Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-07
The Old BurytnR Ground,


 To the Editor of thsJoURNAL AND COURIER
 The old burying ground of New Haven is not to many now living the original plot set apart for burial purposes on the Green, but that known to most persons now as the ''Grove street cemetery''-a level tract of land near the center of the town, enclosed by high stone wall on three sides, and iron fence on the front, through which the white stones seem always making a silent protest against the hurrying steps of passers by. Within are no winding walks, no flowing streams no undulations of surface, no at tempts at disgusting it's reason for being. The roads are straight, bordered with turf, some of them shaded by trees either within or just outside the burial plots others bare and sunny. An attempt to follow modern fashions in naming them fancifully Cypress, Magnolia, etc, seems not to have been very successful, since there is nothing to indicate why they were so cal led The place has nothing of the modern cemetery about it. It is and must always be simply ''The Old Burying Ground" :" Neither, on the other hand, is there anything repelling in it's presence so near our busy streets Step within the gateway and at once you feel the quiet influence of the place and think of the Peace that passeth all understanding" You wander from lot to lot; if you are town born" you find yourself at every step going back in your life's journey. Familiar scenes are all about you An inscription here and there recalls some well known trait; family
 histories unroll before you; beauty, worth, genius, success greet you on the one hand; sorrow, disappointment, misery on the other. You see numberless evidences of loving remembrance in costly monuments fresh strewn flowers and well kept plots, but l you see many, too, of neglect and want of l proper care.
 It is to this that the writer would call the attention of all who have personal interest 1 in place that of necessity must have fewer and fewer claims on that of the public generally. This apparent neglect undoubtedly does not l originate in want of respect for the dead who l rest there, but from other and very natural causes. Many of the present owners of the lots at least in that portion of the ground first occupied, have very remote interest in them. The ground has become theirs by in heritance, but no near or tender feeling is associated with the spot. The younger branches of many families have found homes far away, and may never revisit the place where their an- cestors rest. Whole families have died out, leaving no living representative, and the old stones, once carefully placed, are slant ing and moss covered, and the grass in sum- mer grows rank above the now unknown or aforementioned sleepers. Here and there lot well sodded and cared for is half hid den by the uncut grass on either side of it. Many of the little wooden paIlngs are gone
 many are broken down, and the earth has
 washed away from the base of more than one noticeable monument.
 small tax on each lot owner, if paid,
 would insure proper attention to all these matters, but the sum really received is quite insufficient for the purpose. If our pop ulation were two or three thousand, Village Improvement society would without doubt take this matter in hand and see that all things were done f'decently and in order" It does not need great appropriation; it is not a park to lay out; it cannot be made beauti full with flowers and fountains. It is mat ter for few reverent men and women to consider and to act in. It does not require persistent begging or appeals to rich men (whose money is always freely spent in imaginary good deeds by those who have none1. Small contributions. obtained in quiet ways, put in the hands of those who have charge of the ground, would keep the grass well trimmed, prop up the leaning stones, repair the broken palings. In many portions these unsightly boundaries might be removed, provided the limit of each owner was properly designated. This most desira- ble improvement would necessitate some cor respondence perhaps with lot owners, little trouble, but no large expenditure of money. Who will see to it that this ''field and acre of our God, the place where human harvests grow,' shall be worthy of being called Gods Acre ?" G.