The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-23

gentleman and a Christian, and we be-
came much attached to him. | think
he was from Macon. but we have never
heard from his kindred. I was then Il
boy of sixteen, and now there are only
two of us living who know of his grave.
The headboard that marked it has gone
to decay Recently / learned that your
wife was Holt, and possibly may be
related to or know of this Colonel VIII
liam Holt. and hence | write to you"
Who can respond to this letter. and
who will mark that soldiers grave? My
wife was not a Holt, but her mother was,
and as all the Georgia Hollis are kin,
either near or remote, she wishes me to
make inquiry and do something for this
forgotten man. She says "Mr. H0shour
and his mother have been kind and
| thoughtful, and now that grave must be
remarked. 1t will cost only a dollar
or two for a marble headstone. l Won
der what branch of the Holt family
this Colonel William Holt belonged to-"
j have looked over Colonel Avery's
catalogue and find that Captain Willis c..
Holt commanded Company G III the
Tenth Georgia regiment; that he after
wards became major and then colonel OF
the regiment. This regiment was COM
manded first by Colonel Lafayette Nc
Laws next by Alfred Cumming, next by
John Il. Weems, next by w. c. Holt and
last by A. J. Mcbride. OF course some
surviving comrade can tell us about this
Holt, and will write to Mr.. Hoshour. If
the spirits of the dead do hover around
their graves, how heartless it is to neglect
them. 1t is sad enough to be buried by
strangers afar from home and kindred,
and sadder still to be among the I'M
known and unrecOrded dead. Of course
this cannot be avoided during war, but
there is no excuse for neglecting the
graves of kindred who are buried within
easy reach of home. If there be ghosts
and haunts and spectres frequentinS
graveyards, they must come from these
neglected graves. Respect for the home
of the dead-the graveyard-the ceme-
tery-is one of the besr evidences of q
civilized and kind-hearted people. Graves
do not require monuments, but they do
, silently demand attention. They should
/ be protected from wantOn intrusion.
There is a grave here now In an aban-
doned cemetery, a potter's field, over
which rude and careless feet tramp daily,
/
of q man long honored and loved in
| Georgia. A broken widowed marble
slab that has his name and age lies upon
the ground where it has fallen. 1t is a
blemish upon the family name that this
grave Of the ancestor has been so long
neglected. Once / wrote TO man and
suggested that a simple shaft or tomb
stone to be placed over his fathers grave
"A father distinguished in his day-and
he wrote me saying that the wants of the
living were more important than sentf-
mental honOrs to the dead.
That man was wealthy. | had mar
BILE headstone placed to mark that grave,
Woman has more heart more sentiment
about such things than man. 1t is the
mother who visits the grave of her child
and decks it with flowers. The poet Bar
rett says that woman was last at the
cross and earliest at the grave" and
Halleck says that THE graves of our
loved ones are our pilgrim shrines."
| wonder if there is a charnel house in
this country. Where do they find room
for the dead in New York city and Chi
cago? We read that in England and
some parts of Germany the bodies of the
dead are allowed but thirty years to sleep
in the cemetery and are then taken up
and the bones thrown in the charnel
house and there they decay and settle
down into dust. Land is too valuable TO
keep on spreading it into graveyards and
so they keep on using the same ground
| every thirty years. The sentiment OF
respect for the homes of the dead is pre-
sumed to pass away in that time. There
is nothing there but bones and not many
! of them. This is at least better than Gre
nation: no better for the dead, of course.
but more grateful to the living who loved
them. Sacred and profane history
abounds in mention to the dead
and respect for their burial place. The
cave of Machpelah is positively known
and was the burial place of Abraham
and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah and
Jacob. 1t is the oldest burial place III
the world. Jacob built monument 10
Rachel. but none is recorded TO Lean
Leah. poor woman, was not GOOD looklhs'
| The children of Israel took up the bones
of Joseph and carried them along win
them on their forty years journey. EVEN
in our day the remains OF distinguished
dead are carried thousands or mules 10
their home and country, as w. w. Cor
cOran did the DOneS ol Jonh AAO"t'A VI
PAYNE. Columbus does not seem to rest
anywhere permanently and can well ex-
claim as Samuel did to Saul, "Why hast
thou disquieted meW | think that SPAN
might let us have the remains of either
Columbus or Americas Vespuccius, for
the latter, though an Italian, is buried
| in Seville.
The graves of our Confederate dead
are by this time pretty generally marked
with marble headstOnes. L have often
wondered that the State has not pub
lished in pamphlet or booklet form the
names of all our soldiers by companies
and regiments and other designations. Ii
wouldn't cost much and would be a
great comfort to the veterans and their
families. Colonel Avery's catalogue con-
tains officers only. need such book
almost every day. 1t would be a home
evidence of the services of fathers, broth
ers and uncles in the confederate army
and should have a place on the parlor
table beside the family Bible. Why can't
the next Legislature have such book