Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-12

room to rest their bones for 81 80; adults,
s.. There is not a single cross In the yard
save two wooden ones that appear to have
been pat up to temporarily mark graves
The strangers corner is we'll filled also, at
least from the absence of stones one would
suppose it was the strangers portion.
Doubtless many traveller fell by the way
side In the olden time when the pike was
one of the arteries of commerce, and since
then the gay have laughed and the solemn
brood of care" has plodded on, little recking
who they were orwhat their names might
have been, and the inscription on wood has
long since been obliterated.
Here and there is evidence in an occa-
sional record of death in hospital or on
battlefield, that war has ''bowed his sable
plume" to the congregation and much mat
ter more suggestive of the folly of castle
building than anything to be found In Her
vey's Meditations Among the Tombs.
The advocates of cremation will for many
years search in vain in their arsenal Tor
weapons to combat prejudice in the coun-
try districts against its practlce-tney
either believe in literal resurrection OF
the body, and shudder at the thought OF
incineration as q proclamation, or are abso-
lutte materialists, but dare not avow their
sentiments. Reasons and demonstrations
are alike futile when addressed to people
who for 4, 900 years have from generation TO
generation inherited the ancestral! rever.
ence of both Egypt and of the patriarch OF
Ur of the ChaIdees, and as long as love
kisses the lips of death, this sentiment
will not be overcome. There is consolation
also in the thought that:
Thou shalt lie down -
With patriarchs of the infant world-Wltn
kings,
The powerful of the earth-the Wlsei the
good
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulcher."
AN INDIANA COUNTY LEGEND.
And it is certain that there is nothing
more than mere sentiment in the desire of
the mother, wife, or sister to weep at inter-
walls over the dust of the departed. 1t is an
inexpressible comfort to some sensitive
ones, and who will undertake to say GER
tainly that the sorrow stricken do not hold
converse with their departed ones Though
centuries have elapsed since the melancholy
Dane moralized, yet there are doubtless
still many things betwixt heaven and earth
not dreamed of in anybody's phil
osophy. In Indiana county 33 years
ago child belonging to q
family named Burkepill died of some inex-
plicable disorder and the physicians in at
lowed to make an autopsy, but being super
stitious she could not be persuaded to con-
sent. One night shortly after the funeral
Mrs Burkepill dreamed that she saw the
doctor and some medical students disinter
her child's body and take it away in a cut
ter, (there was deep snow on the ground).
Her husband ridiculed her vision, but it
made so much impression on her that she
could not eat or sleep for several days apd
nights. Finally overpowered she fell asleep
and had the same dream. The second vision
so affected her physically and mentally that
the husband, fearing she would become in
sane if her desire were not gratified, had the
coffin raised, and, to the astonishment of all
the neighborhood, it was found empty.
The remains were found in the doctors dis
secting room, and he had much trouble to
avert prosecution, and was only saved by
the fact that the father had been in favor of
the autopsy, not sharing his wife's NOR
bidity.
There seems to be something autochthonic
in the sentiment, as it is we'll known that
the greatest hardship imposed on the In
dian. when removed from one reservation to
another, is separation from the graves of his
kindred.
SCENES IN MT. UNION CEMETERY.
Inc MI. Unlon OfaVeVarQ presents mucn
the same characteristics as that of the Mon
tour, except that the United Presbyterian
population, not being SO large as the regu-
lar Presbyterian, the inclosure is not so
crowded as that of Montour. As the
Phillips connection almost monopolize that
section. and as four generations of the
family have been buried there, the monu-
ments mark row after row of silent
tenants of that name. In this cemetery
Gabriel Walker was buried on November
4, 1899, and his wife, Margaret
followed him in 1915. An inscription tells
the passer-by that Robert Mcfarland, who
was buried in 1924, was SO years old and
another that Susannah Phillips was "a years
old at her death. There is Presbyterian
ring about the inscription on her tombstone
in the absolute confidence of final persever-
ence, and no doubt she deserved the testi-
monial. 1t is: 'The dead in Christ shall
rise first"
In the Mount Gilead graveyard, north |
west of Mt. Union, it is recorded of John
Curry that he was 104 years old at the time
of his death, and to prevent carping criti-
cism he "who is by lonely contemplation led
to wander among the dead" is Informed of
the place of Mr.. Curry's birth in Ireland |
where the parish registry may be consulted. |
Within few years all these graveyards |
must be enlarged or additional bodies must |
be buried on top of each other.