Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-10-28
EAFAYETTE'S GRAVE.
An Americans Visit to the Noted Frenchman's
Tomb.

An Americans Visit to the Noted Frenchman' S
Tomb
4 Paris correspondent of the Buffalo
Courier writes: Having after much cues
tionibg, ascertained, and that too of the
American resident, that Lafayette's tomb
is in the ancient cemetery of Picpus, one
of the fourteen cemeteries within the
walls of Paris, was not much better off,
for I had not driven far with the cocher,
whose vehicle had taken by the hour,
before l saw that he had no idea where
the place was. And no wonder; anything
more unlike the entrance to the cemetery
than Rue de Picpus 35, which after much
blind driving we drew up before, Just af-
ter passing the place de la Nation, could
not be conceived. It looked like the or
binary entrance to the ordinary French
house, with the walls trife higher per-
haps. Our ring at the great yellow-white
door was answered by the concierge, the
usual little old lady in the usual fussy
cheap lace cap. The site, which was
originally that of an old St. Augustine
monastery, is now occupied by the con-
vent of the Sacred Occur, whose high
buildings surround the cemetery on three
sides.
''The convent is a very fashionable
school" said the concierge, "Many pref
ty American girls are educated here.'
She led US down a long, shaddy path, past
fourishing kitchen garden, where the
lucious red-ripe tomatoes looked as
though they were longing to be served
with their proper accompaniment, may
onnaise sauce, through three different
doors or gates, making four in all through
which we passed, into the quaint
old cemetery. It is little oblong plot
not larger than the ordinary city build
ing city building lot, and the afternoon
sun was beating down so fercely on its
gravel walks that I was obliged, having
left my parasol in the carriage, to make
my stay brief.
All the French cemeteries are lacking
it taste, but this one, without a blade of
green grass to relieve its time worn gray
ness, is the most austere spot in all Paris.
The burial lot of the Lafayettes is at the
lower end in a corner surrounded on two
sides by brick wall and on the others
by an iron chain. The Enclosure con
tains six or eight tombs, with the slabs w.
| ing fiat upon them. In the foreground
connected by stone cross, are thuse of
Lafayette and the faithful wife, the grand
daughter of the duke of NoailIes. who en-
dured prisonment for his sake, and who
while he was a five years captive at Oh
mutt, wrote emploring letters to George
Washington, urging him to use his infiu-
ence to have her husband liberated. ]
copied into my notebook the inscription
on the slab over Lafayette's tomb, but If
is SO simple that it would be superfiuous
| to repeat it here. It merely gives the
date of his birth, and beneath the motto
''Requiescat in pace. Two or three of
the ugly bread wreaths while one sees in
all the French cemeteries lay upon the
tomb, and l was sorry indeed that I had
not few fresh flowers to lay in place of
these upon the grave of the patriot, who
instead of resting in the Pantheon, seems
so utterly forgotten in France. Inter
ments are now prohibited in Picpus Gem
etery, which contains the tombs of some
of the most aristocratic families in
France, such as the Montmorencys, the
Grammonts, and the Noailles. Next to
the Lafayetts lie the Remusats. but I was