Morning journal and courier., 1884-10-28
%Mule Barnun.
A Suggestion Concerning the Proposed New Cemetery.
 HOTEL BUCKINGHAM,

NEW YORK, Oct. 9.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER.
 I observe that action has recently been taken by the Common Council with refer ence to a new cemetery for the city of New Haven It must be evident to all that the time has fully come for some such action. The present accommodation is not at all ade- quate to the wants of a city growing so fast as New Haven, and the time is near when a much larger place of interment will be abso- lutely necessary.
 Possibly public attention may not have been directed to this subject, and but few are aware that what New Haven needs in this respect she is in an exceptionally good situa- ton to have, and that within easy dis tance she possesses site of unequalled beau ty. refer to the high and broken ground west of the river. and directly south of the residence of MT. Mitchell
 At this time when so much attention is be- ing given to beautifying and rendering at tractive the burial places of the dead, New Haven, as one of the most beautiful of our cities, should have cemetery worthy of its culture and taste and in harmony with mod ern ideas, and it should be large enough to fulfill the requirements of many, many years. It is not every one who appreciates the high civilization our people have attained in this respect, as regarded by intelligent visitors from other lands. Those who have been much abroad will have been struck with the inferioritv-one might almost say barbarian of many of the continental methods of sep ulture The idea of making the cemetery place of beauty, bringing to its adornment the resources of landscape gardening, and where it is possible fine prospects, is a strict ly American idea. Nowhere else in the world has this idea had any considerable de velopment save in this country. We speak of France as a highly civilized nation, but the burial places of France are for the most part simply hideous. Pere la Chaise and Montmartre, where sleep so many men and women who have given brilliancy and glory to the annals of their country, are but well kept cities of the dead, in which nature bears no part. The height of Meudon and St. Cloud would furnish many admirable sites for cemeteries like our own, but French civilization has not yet grasped this idea. The cemetery at Lyons, though situated on the picturesque heights which dominate the city, is wholly destitute of beauty. In Italy the taste and genius of the people for sculp- ture has led them to establish near their principal cities loggis or arcades in connec- ton with mortuary chapels, where the richer dead are disposed in sealed ovens or recesses, and where the tonbs of the aristocracy are adorned with very beautiful statues or groups in marble, while the common people are inferred in pits or unkempt open spaces, with only humble cross to tell where they lie In England one finds an approach to truer refinement and sense of beauty in the graveyards almost always surrounding the churches of the establishment. These are often in very picturesque and delightful s1tu- ations and have a peculiar charm of their own worthy to inspire the genius of such poet as Gray, but even these are sometimes made the scene of intolerance and strife, and are altogether inadequate to the wants of large communities. Kensal Green, the prin- cipa1 burial place of London, is little better than 8 cheerIess- s-suburb. There Is not city in the United Kingdom, in all Europe, that possesses a cemetery at all comparable with our own Greenwood at New York, or with Mount Auburn and Forest Hill at Bos- ton. or with Laurel Hill and Mount Vernon at Philadelphia. Fancy the heathendom of such places of interment as the Catacombs, or the sepulchral chambers underneath the Church of St. Capucius at Rome, whose mummies of dead monks lean bolt upright against the wall in hideous imitation of every day life. Westminster Abbey, with all it's glorious associations, is a sort ot Golgotha as compared with some of our park-hke ceme- teries where the beloved dead repose amid the fairest scenes of nature.
 With repardk to the disposition of the dead America is the most civilized country in the world. We love 10 lay Ine uloFIdl EeuaIuS of those who have been dear to us in life in beautiful places, where flowers blossom and birds sing, and where in the midst of scenes of natural beauty the grave loses much of its terror and becomes rather the long home, soon to be our home, upon which affection bestows the same care and thoughtfulness we bring to our own habitatlons.
 The inhabitants of New Haven have re- gently been much surprised at the wealth of unknown beauty opened up to them by the foresight and liberality of Mir and Mrs. Far nam in the East Rock Park. Probably not all are aware that we have near the western boundary of the city another site which for natural beauty and picturesqueness is perhaps not equalled in this country, and is fit sup plement to the other. Those who have not explored it can have but little idea of the views obtained from several points. West and East Rocks are in full view, with Mount Carmel looming between them, and other mountains outlining the horizon The clty lies immediately before you in the distance with the spires of New Haven churches per cing the foliage that nearly conceals them. The waters of Long Island Sound stretch Tar away to the right. The ground itself occu- nies an elevated position, and is much broken 11p into hill and dale, covered with luxurlane : trees and capable of being made place Of oreat beauty with magnificent points of view ft is truIy a spot where nature has herself nrovided the site for a new cemetery worthy Inc renutation of the City of Films.
 'A-o w. s. THOMSON