Omaha daily bee., 1890-01-02
soMERs LOST HEtREss.

HObIlnV more -DlI lLS HTlSlOtTullt |
suburb, the quarter which natural or
acquired luxurious taste had set apart
Tor orna architecture, %sumptuous pri-
waite dwellings,, broad machine-cut
lawns, elegant lawns, elegant gardens,
we'll kept hedges, fences, pavements and
roadways, handsome churches, and n
depressing air OF exclusiveness which
is inscparable from modern wealth vas
known MS Somerstow n-on-the-Hil,
The hill at its highest level was 100
feet four and one-half inches above tide
water. So the county surveyor affirmed
once every twelve months in his official
report. 1t being understood thatstatis-
tically and otherwise there must be
nothing low at or about Somerstown-o n
the-Hill, no reference was ever made to
its minimum elevation. Quite as ex-
pert at measuring human vanity as
yards or furlongs, the county surveyor
managed to keep hIs bread nicely but
tered on its right side. Although he
well knew that Il considerable, not to
say the greater part, OF Somerstown-on-
the-Hill was at a mean level OF less
than ninety feet above the river, that
vulgar fact and the figures substantial
ing it were carefully omitted when his
yearly budget went into the hands of
the corporation printer.
Something has already been said
about tide-wutcr. While it is true hat
Some rstown Is located on a stream of
width, depth and Importance, the big
dam at Factoryville, sixteen miles
below prevented Underwater, even at its
highest flood, from becoming associated
with the county surveyor and his not
infrequent dreams of fortune. The tide
couldn't go to him, OF course, and he
seldom mad inclination to go to it, for,
like Ephraim of ola. the county sur
veyor was wed to his idols; the purse
proud inhabitants of Sumerstown-on-
the-Hill. He regarded the ~Factoryville
people as of inferior grade and ram.
That was his settled opinion discreetiy
reserved. He gave it no utterance. If
the busy toilers at Underwater CHANGED
to learn it | do not think that they
would have ceased to labor or t~hat'there
would have been a sudden and general
loss of appetite.
With the o~pulent annex OF the hill
Somcrstown contained 1900 permanent
population. Most of these were self
contained. There was Il large number
Of small stores, a few warehouses, two
weekly newspapers lbitter in rivalry,
one line of street cars, n fire de part
ment, free library, gasometer, reservoir
aud board OF trade. It's three stylish
ID hotels had many more windows and me-
chanics' liensthan regular guests. There
was n thriving bank, several insurance
agencies, a dingy, moss-grown academy
q granite court house. and u third
class postmaster. Moreover, rs Somers-
town folks piously assumed virtues,
though they had them not, there were
six churches in debt and only one out
OF debt. The situation of the place was
healthful. Doctors were respected nnd
undCrtakers tolerated, but in a dozen
years neither had done much toward
= populating the fashionable cemetery on
the valley road, about half an hours
sharp drive north of Somerstown-ou-
the Hill.
49, That really beautiful Gods acre was
the last of many liberal gifts made by
John Somers TO the county In which he
was born, and his body was the first one
carried with pompous reverence to
Meadow Brook cemetery.
II.
John Somers had always been very
rich. Two of his name lived and pros
pered and died before him. What his
wealthy grandfather Somers devised to
John the second, John the third re-
ceieed IS an inheritance which in his
fathers hands had increased tenfold.
Meadow Brook was the Somers home
stead for three generations. After
John the third married. he built a more
modern house on the hill, and the old
farm dwelling gradually wen to ruin.
He often said that he did not care to
rent or sell his birthplace. Never
would he permit "a tree to be cut from
it. In the evening of mis- life, when,
here and there, that picturesque valley
road was dotted with the neat, trim,
rural boxes of city gentlemen, John
= Somers refused many tempting offers
for the whole or choice parcels of
Meadow Brook. Then, like an
inspiration, the cemetery idea came
into his mind. He acted on
it at once; caused a new survey to
be made, and decided to trustees, named
by himself, upward of two hundred acres
Of desirable land to be suitably inclosed,
divided into sections and lots and used
forever as a burying ground. The
trustees were empowered to sell n limit
ed lumber OF lots, not exceeding fifty
acres in the aggregate, and add such
revenue to n fund which he created to
meet contingent expenses. 1t was thus
that the future sepulcher OF the poor OF
Somerstown became at the outset an
antc-mortem fad with the hest people OF
SomerstOwn-on-the-Hill. They raised
costly monuments at meadow Brook;
occasionally enhancing but oftener
disiiguring its natural lovliness. II
was II pleasure TO die at Somerstown-on-
the-Hill after John Somcrs the third
occupied the central plat on Meadow
Brooks main avenue.
1t is not unusual for a rich man to lose
his vital spark, be e~Xtravagantly gar,
rished in newspaper obituaries, have
more or less of an imposing funeral, and
then be rs quickly forgotten MS yester
days dinner. John Somers the THIRD
: left Il memory, however, which was lone
kept green by many hundreds of his
late fellow citizens. His good deeds
survived him and bore excellent fruit
He was greatly missed at Somerstown
on-the-Hill. Even Fa~ctoryville held t
town meeting to pass three wherease'
and eleven resolutions Of sincere con
dolence. Almost as common as the IN
terogation points made by "A rising Oh
falling thermometer become such
phrases AS that was not SO in Johr
Somer's time, 'and when John Somer.
lived things were different"
Eighteen years had been the limit o
his happiness as lover and husband
M - A.. -. " .-I