Huntsville gazette., 1885-08-22


The following on the grave of Cathe-
rine Wood, 1873, is in the orthodox
VEN:
My flesh shall slumber in the ground
Till the last trumpets joyful sound
Shall burst the grave with sweet surprise
And in my Saviour image rise.
Here is one of the affectionate type,
evidently put there by wife, 1t is on
the stone of Samuel Boyer, 1890:
Rest here, my love, while in vain deplOre
Thy sudden fate, and grieve thou art no
more;
Oil may thy gentle spirit wing its way
To blissful regions of unfailing day.
The friends OF Ephraim Smith, who
died in 1897, were evidently unrecon-
ciled to his fate when they set up this
inscription:
Relentless death, ne'er satisfied with prey,
Hath snatched him in the bloom of life away.
Joseph Pell, aged six years, who died
in 1902, speaks from the grave in this
style:
Like as shadow or the morning dew,
My days are past and spent, which were but
few;
Grieve not for me, dear parents, it's in vain:
Your loss, nope, is my eternal gain.
Here is one of an amatory kind, over
Lydia Curtis, who died in 1904:
Cold as this stone is now that lovely form.
The sight OF which could every bosom warm /;
Mkt with this earth its mouldering ashes lie,
Ah! youth and beauty, this it is to die.
The reader must decide for himself
ON the merits of the following epitaph
over John Jones, Welchman, who
died in 1905:
GwrandQ ddun with fyned heibig
Eel rwyter muinan a fyO
Ller wy fy tydi a ddewy
YmbartOa canyS meru tyddy.
The friends of James Stoutenburgh
wrote the following over him after he
died, in 1910:
Alasi how weak and feeble is the human mind
combined
To rob us of our worldly joy;
Which, children like. we love as toys;
What little fOrtitude or minds do show
When borne down with grief and woe.
ETC., etc., etc, etc.
The widow of John Mathews wrote
over his grave, in 1911, this stanza:
leave it all to God above
To do his will and show his love,
And when he calls we will obey,
To dwell with him in endless day.
The following, written over a babe,
is in marked contrast with most of the
tombstone rhymes:
Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care:
The opening bud to heaven conveyed
And bid it blossom there.
Ann James, who died in 1916, aged
seventy-six. was apparently glad to
die. Her shrine says:
The world is vain and full offpain
With care and trouble sore;
But they are blest who are at rest
With Christ fOrevermore.
Mary McCarr sounded solemn
warning to her parents in 1917:
My parents dear, who mourn and weep.
Behold the grave wherein / Sleep
Prepare Tor death, for you must die
And be entOmbed as well as /.
Deborah Ustick said in 1916:
Our life's journey full! of care.
No wealth from death can save
Each step we take more near we draw
To our dark, silent grave.
The following, erected in the same
year, is more cheerful:
Why should we mourn departed frie nds
Or shake at deaths alarms?
'Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
To call us to his arms.
Here is another verse about a baby.
1t was written year later:
As the sweet flower that scents the morn,
But withers in the rising day,
Thus lovely was this infants dawn
Thus swiftly fed its life away.
Discomfort. followed by triumph,
characterized the following placed over
Mrs. Halstead in 1S19
Relentless death, wouldst thou not spare
A form so lovely and 50 much beloved?
All no; thy iron hand has grasped
Her husband s treasure and her children's
joy;
But still amidst this tedious night of gloom.
A thought, Transporting, bursts upon nv
mind;
Death had no sting. the grave no victory.
Through grace, she triumphed in the dying
hour.
Blank verse is so rare that there
seems to be only one other sample. 1t
was placed over w. A. Lawrence in
1910. He died at sea:
Cold is thy brow, my son, and pale thy cheek.
The bright expression of that eye has fled;
And thou no more with thy soft voice shall
To meet me with thy sweet my father"
--NeU York San.