Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-05-28
THEIR SAD MISTAKE.
A SERIOUS ERROR or TOURISTS
WHO VISITED WILLIAMSBURG.
OLD BRUTON CHURCH.
A Beautiful Place, Rcplete With His
torical Associations - inscriptions
on Tombstones and a Prophecy for
the Future.
the Future,

on Tombstones and q Prophecy for
the Future.
The good dinner which / ate at Will
liamsburg. Va. two weeks ago. has so i'm
pressed itself upon my memory that
again find my thoughts drifting TO this
romantic and promising spot on the Vir-
ginia map. Anything old except women
and cheese) always attracts me, and
when its age is mellowed with historical
associations and hallowed by carefully
picked and embalmed memories. l give
1t my unqualified endorsement. Williams
burg, as said In my previous letter, no
longer belongs to tho kindergarten class.
but is to-day as ripe with "reminiscences
as a pantry is full Of reaches One could
so to the town and write a volunlinous
history Of nineteen volumes and still have
material for the twentieth. But it is not
my purpose thus to immortalize a place
which has hitherto been modest, and, per-
haps, now finds herself too dignified
and ''sot in her ways" to court publicity.
To go to the ancient burg and not visit
Bruton church would be objectionable
It's a thing you're expected to do, even
II you generally avoid churches, and after
you have done It you have ample cause
to shake hands with yourself. And then,
too, every great man, when he visits
celebrated locality, goes TO It's church
yard, seeks out some famous grave. looks
solemn, and says something epigrammatic.
You are expected to do this. and it Is
best to prepare your epigram before
hand, though you must pretend that it is
extemporaneous. My recommendation
also extends to death-bed speeches, which
should be bright, crisp, and TO the point,
so that the members Of your family may
afterwards retail them without difficulty.
Now, confess at the outset that was
somewhat prejudiced against Bruton
church, for l regarded ii as a sworn rival
of ST. Johns church, in Richmond, and
l had too much town pride to make any
concessions. Both of these sacred spots
are messy with age, and ST. Johns has
carefully preserved in the monograph Of
history the imprisoned appeal of Patrick
Henry, who once, during the course Of
very long and tiresome sermon in fly
time fervently exclaimed Give me lib
erty or give me death!' The annals Of
the State do not say whether the request
was compiled with by the officiating min
lister, but let US hope it was.
Bruton church. as 1t stands to-day on
Duke Of Gloucester street, is, regret to
say, a much more imposing, picturesque,
and romantic old place than st. Johns.
and what it lacks in the Patrick Henry
line 1t amply makes up in other features.
1t was built mo, well. no matter. for If
I so to quoting dates you will all quit
work and take a week off in order that
you may ram them into your heads. II
there is any one thing people do love II
Is dates. Arabs and Bedouins and drome-
dares couldn't do without them. AS the
place may be sensitive as TO its age /
will only say in a general way that the
ground on which IL stands was probably
dumped out from the geological work
shops millions OF years ago, while the
present edifce was finished about l715.
Prior to that time smaller churches had
stood upon the same spot, and the parish
dates back to 1852. In those days people
were good, and attendance upon church
es was compulsory.
Now most tourists read the catalogue
on the subject, when they visit a place
like this, get out their notebooks, and
chip off souvenirs, and ask questions and
pump the natives dry, and seek to find
out when the left-hand corner brick was
first put in. and who was King at the
time, and what dynasty he represented,
and all that. But not so with me. All
L ask is whether the place is really an
antique and If they say yes, ! simply |
roam around ad libitum and absorb the |
spirit of my surroundings like a sponge |
soaking up water. / let the other fell |
lows hunt UP the dates and statistics, |
while / breathe the holy atmosphere. |
This was the way / acted at Bruton |
church. / went out in the beautiful old |
yard, which is rich with the ashes OF |
departed celebrities, and dreamed and |
mooned and nosed about until / was |
saturated with the romance |
of my environments. Churchyards al |
ways did inspire me anyhow, and IL |
Gray hadn't been born / don't know but |
what l might have taken it upon my
self to write that famous elegy which |
has since made his name so prominent |
in encyclopedias Above my head heard |
the signs of huge trees and beneath my |
russell shoes there was a Powered carpet |
of green. such as no dry-goods store has
ever been able to place on the market.
All around me were graves and tomb
stones and relies of by-gone years. On
many of the marbles / saw the crests
and armorial bearings of dignitarles who
lived, fourished, and prospered years be-
fore the invention of kerosene oil or gas
or electric lights or cigarettes or tele-
phones or bicycles. Now only their
graves and epitaphs tell who and what |
they WERE and even we $50 clerks know
that in our nineteenth century civilization
we enjoy more luXurles and privileges |
than did these grandees. All Of which
the fact that there is
born.
From tho inscriptions read on the
and marbles judge that none
but the best could sleep their last sleep
n the bosom Of old Bruton churchyard;
n fact, the epitaphS were the most fiat
ering things / ever read. II some one
we're TO ask me where 1 would most pre-
er to have the kind words about myself
accorded i should uDhesitatingly say,
Upon my tombstone"
Dr. Samuel Johnson was once queried
IS to whether he thought there was any
larm in telling stories when writing a
,ersons epitaph, and he replied that he
lid not; that people were not supposed
O be on oath when producing inscriptions
or tombstones.
But in this harsh. cruel, and suspicious
re the time is not far distant when even
pitaphs will have to be certified by the
ffidayits Of the writer Who knows when
We shall see upon the tombs in Richmond
aleautara sIIch lines as these. |