Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-10-04
SoliIoquy in a Cemetery.

While riding along a country road
few days since l came across little
country churchyard, in the shade OF
Friends church. and l was at once i'm
pressed with the neatness Of the whole
Enclosure. 1t was apparent that
Friends church, and l was at once i'm
who have gone on before 1t has al
way been a fad of mine to look these
little grave yards over when 1 am on
the road and in no special hurry, so on
this occasion l followed the inclination
to get out of the carriage and wander
among the graves of the departed, read
ing the inscriptions as l strOlled.
Country churchyards are the same
the world over. The inscriptions are
nearly always the same, as though
there existed rule that all should fol-
low in paying tribute to their dead
stereotyped sentences as it We're. Here
AT Rest" there ASLEEP in Jesus"
again, Gone to her Reward per-
haps, Blessed are the Pure in Spirit
for They Shall see God" possibly She
had no faults" In this particular
''city of the dead" I found much to
| interest me, as 1 usually do, and of
| some of the graves l am going to tell
| you. In one corner of the Enclosure
was well kept family plot that catches
| the eye as soon as one enters. 1t was
| raised above the others and was thick
| ly covered with the most beautiful Of
| ferings of nature, carefully watered
and nourished. Here it was that
Father" Mother" Brother" and
| Sister" were buried, according to the
| foot stones of marble. Every flower
was arranged in a tasteful manner and
showed that the loving hand had for
Is years kept the graves green. Every
thing was so fresh and full of life about
that little family circle of the dead that
it was evident that the mourner had
been there the day before or perhaps
that very day.
Down in another corner of the ceme-
terry was solitary grave with a head
stone of slate. l read this. "a
| Stranger lies buried here. No one
knew him or whence he came. He per-
ished by the roadside. Charity gave
him decent burial. God has given him
rest" Prying into the history of the
case later l learned that in 1852, far
| mer while engaged in breaking out the
roads after a severe snow storm, had
| come upon the body of a stranger, who
had persisted in the storm He was
poorly clad, but as it was in those days
when tramps were not known in our
land, it was supposed that he was some
wanderer who had come that way in
search of work. The cold. stiff body Of
the stranger who had fallen at our
gates" was taken to the church and
there prepared for burial The vener-
able pastor never preached a more
touching sermon. The body was placed
in the tomb, and when the spring came
the sleeping stranger was given a place
among the graves of those who were
known in life.
Today the grave of the wanderer
shows that the sexton of the little
church, who also has charge of the
cemetery, has taken it upon himself to
keep the mound trimmed up and it
compares favorably,in appearance, with
many of the others in the churchyard.
In those good old days men were unto
men what the Savior had told them to
be. There was not so much of Man
inhumanity to man. Today if a
stranger should fall under the SHOWS
of winter and perish, the papers, the
| next day, would publish the story of "A
tramp found dead in the snow" and the