St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-23
SAINT PAUL.
TALES OF TRAVELLERS.

Walter o. Collin. of Sioux City, who
arrived in st. Paul yesterday, on his
way home from England, in which
country he has spent the summer, has
passion for the ancient, and says of the
old English graveyards that they are
more interesting as a means for the
study of departed generations than all
the mustY YoIumes in British muSums.
1.-The queerest epitaphS," said Mr.. Col
lin, ''are to be found in the old Bolsover
church yard, six miles from HardWlck
hall, the former home of the historic
BeSS of HardWick. The cemetery Is on
the estate of the Duke of Newcastle,
and the graves are in many instances
those of distinguished personages. who
departed this life in bygOne centuries.
Some of the epitaphS betray grim
humOr on the part of the composers,
while others tell a pathetic story IN
ridiculouSly unpathetlc manner. and are
characteristic of the rough and unDur-
niShed manner in which the primitive
country folk of that period were wont
to set forth on the tablet marking his
grave. incidents and dlSagreeable feat
ures of mans life which in this age
would. for sweet charity's sake, be
buried with him. One of the first things
to meet the eye after passing the mas
SiYe gate pillars, is a rough hewn tablet
of gray granite, from the face of which
the ravages of time have well nigh OBJ
liberated the inscription. This, how
ever, when deciphered, proves to read
as follows:
Here Ives inne horizentale position, the
outSyde caySe of Thomas Hyde, Watche and
cloeke mayker of this vyllage, who departed
hence hopinge to be cleaned, wOunde uppe
and set agoing iune the hands of his mayker
Inne the world to come.
A little further above is tomb which
has at one time been surrounded with
an iron railing. of which, however, but
avestige remains. Long tangled and
matted grass has grown over the de-
voted bones of the prolific old lady be-
meath for more than a hundred sum-
merS, but the headStone still remains to
inform the curious public that:
''Some have children,
Some have none,
But here lies the mother OF
Twenty one"
at appears to be a pretty well estab-
liShed fact that at the period at which
these gravestones were erected 1t was
the custom for each family to write
epitaphs for its own dead. and some of
the inscriptions indited by eighteenth
century husbands to grace the head
stones of departed wives are curiOuSly
vindictive. The following was prepared
by Meacham, Yorkshire, husband to
perpetuate the memory of his dead
spouse:
Here Ives the bodye of a shreWe,
For thirtye yeares my wye;
Her tongue may reste mayhap 1nne death,
lite never dyd inne lyle"
NEAR the last is another which needs
neither comment nor explanation, being
sufficiently explicit in itself.
Here Ives John Ross
Kicked by boss"
"Over in the southeast corner of the
cemetery is found the grave of a miSer,
whose relatives at the time of his death
were scattered to the ends of the earth.
Accommodating neighbors, however.
determined that old Skinfiint should
fare as well as those who had gone be-
fore as regarded a legend, and carved
in deep letters on a miS-Shapen mOnu-
ment of white rock:
''At reste beneathe this churchyarde stone
Lies stingye Jimmy Wayatt;
he died one morning just at ten
And sawed hys dinner by lite.
Below is the date. May IA, 1921, and
a statement that the deceased was at
the time of his death aged seventy-two.
~
ga modest stone of more recent date
sets forth that the persouage beneath
died in 1910 of humps. Then follows
the dOggerel:
Below this stone lies Billy Jones,
bailiff and bum;
He'd Just been wed when his spirit fed,
And now lies in Kingdom Come.
"These." says the traveller. ''are but
samples of hundreds of such curious
relics to be found In the old graveyardS
of England and Scotland. A curious
fact is that the country folk have still
tendency to follow the lead of their an
cestry in this strangely eccentric Gus
tom of perpetuating on his gravestOne
any failing or dlsagreeable trait man
may have possessed during his life.'