Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-20
CITY CEMETERY.

EDS. RECORD. UNION Allow me TO say a
few words about our cemetery. 1t occupies
beautiful site. It is well laid out, and por-
tions Of it well improved and cared for. The
lots owned byfamilies still residing here and
having means are ornamented with shrub
berry, flowers, and a sHard of green grass
nicely trimmed and irrigated. In the main
it is sweet and restful place in which TO
lay away our dead. But there are some neg
lected and unsightly lots here and there, with
tho curbings broken down, the monuments
dilspidated, the grass dead, and weeds in full
possession-a monument suggestive of more
than what we see chiseled on the granite or
marble-a monument that the entire family
has disappeared by removal or death, and
that there are 10 loving hands to care for the
graves Of the dead.
Is there not here sacred trust for the
community to take up? Is it not fitting, is it
not due to our common humanity. that the
public should in some way provide that these
lots should be kindly cared for, the sod kept
green and trimmed, and shrub or flower
kept standing as a faithful sentinel over those
graves the natural guardians of which have
passed away And would such tenderness
and thoughtfulness on the part of the present
generation be anything more than an antici-
patton of what may be hereafter the needs of
those now living All our families. however
large or opulent or careful in attentions to
the dead, are in due time to be scattered by
death or removal, leaving none behind who
would naturally care for those last resting
places 30 precious to them now. How pleas
ant it would be to feel that some arrange
ment, more secure and permanent than any
that can be made by employing private indi-
yiduals, had been made by which hereafter
the entire cemetery, all the lots and graves,
would be tenderly and decently cared for.
This might be done in several ways. The
owners of the lots might, many of them,
agree to contribute pro rata for fund for
this object, and the lots hereafter disposed of
might be sold at an advanced price, and the
advance go into the fund. In this way suf-
fcient fund might be raised to justify the city
in assuming the sacred trust. Or our citi-
zens might subscribe sum that would yield
sufficient revenue, and commit it to Board
OF Trustees, who shall incorporate and be
self-perpetuating. Or society might be or
ganized for the purpose, and itself look after
the neglected graves Or, better still, some
wealthy citizen, DESTROYS of rendering o ser.
vice to the forgotten dead and willing to leave
an enduring monument Of thoughtful charity,
might furnish the means, and give it to the
city on condition that it would assume the
trust.
The object of this arrangement should not
be TO do any expensive work, but to irrigate
the lots, keep them in decent repair, and
trim the shrubbery, SO that persons would
have no anxiety about them when their per-
soaal supervision over them ceases. What
ever more than this general care is desired by
any family or person. that should be ar.
ranged for by themselves in their own way.
This general work, think. should be done
for all the lots, to relieve the friends of the
dead of any doubt that the lots in which they
are interested will be tenderly cared for when
it is beyond their power to look after them.
T. T.. DWINELL,