The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1886-12-02

-.
I ~LAFAYETTE's GRAVE.

LAFAYETTe's GRAVE.
An Americans visit to the Noted
Frenchman's Tomb.
AParis correspondent Of The Buffalo
Courier writes: Having after. much.
questioning, ascertained, and that too
OF an American resident, that .Lafay-
cites tomb Is in the ancient cemetery
sof Picpus, one of the fourteen Gene
teries within the walls Of Paris, I was
not much better off, for I had not
driven far with the cocher, whose ,vehi-
Gle I had taken by the hour, before I
saw that he had no idea where the
place was And no wonder; any
thing more unlike the entrance to a
cemetery than Rue de Picpuus So, which
after much blind driving we drew up
before, just after passing the Place de
il Nation, could not be conceived. It
looked like the ordinary entrance to the
ordinary French house, with the walls
= trifle higher perhaps. Our ring at
the great yellow-white door was an
swered BY the concierge, the. usual lit
tie old lady in the usual fussy cheap
lace cap. The site, which was origin
ally that OF an old st. Augustine mon
astery, is now occupied by the Convent
Of the Sacre Occur, whose high build
ings surround the cemetery on three
sides. ,,s
.eThe convent is a very fashionable
school" said the concierge. MANY
pretty American girls are. educated
here" She led us down a. long. shady
path, past a flourishing kitchen garden,
where the luscious red-ripe tomatoes
looked as though they were longing to
be served with their proper accom-
paniment, mayonnaise sauce, through
three different doors or gates, making
four in all through which we passed,
into the quaint old cemetery. 1t is a
little oblong plot not larger than the
ordinary city building lot, and the af.
ternoon sun was beating down SO fierce
" or its gravel walks hat 1 was
obliged, having left my parasol in the
carriage. to make my stay brief.
All the French cemeteries are lacking
in taste, but this one, without a blade
Of green grass to relieve its time worn
grayness, is the most austere spot in
all Paris. The burial lot of the La.
{ fayettes is at the lower end in II corner
surrounded on two sides by a brick
wall and on the other by an iron chain.
The Enclosure contains six or eight
tombs, with the slabs lying fiat upon
them. In the foreground, connected
by a stone cross, arc those of Lafayette
and that faithful wife, the granddaugh-
ter Of the duke Of Noailles, who endur-
ed imprisonment for his sake, and who,
-rssAA lie he was a five years captive at
Ofmutz, wrote imploring letters to
George Washington urging him to use
his influence to have her husband liber-
ated. II copied into my notebook the
inscription on the slab over L~afayette's
tomb, but it is so simple that it would be
sygseriuous to repeat it here: It mere
the date of his birth, and be-
meath the motto, 'Requiescatin pace"
Two OF three of the ugly bead wreaths
which one sees in all the French ceme-
teries lay upon the tomb, and l was
sorry indeed that 1 had not a few
fresh flowers to lay iii place of these
upon the grave of a patriot, who, in
stead of resting inthe Pantheon, seems
SO utterly forgotten in France. Inter-
ments are now prohibited in Picpus
cemetery. which contains the tombs OF
some of the most a]aristocratic families
Of France, such as the Montmorencys,
the Grammonts, and the Noailles. Next
to the Lafeyettes lie the Remusats, but
was interested in peeping
through on iron-barred door close by
the Lafayette slabs, where in q small
Enclosure, the green grass is growing
over the headless trunks of some 1900
illustrious victims, g~uillotined at the
Barriere du Trone during the reign Of
terror and thrown together in this
common grave. called Cemetiere des
Guillotines.
-