The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-12-23


alarm when danger threatened Is SIM
there on duty with the long rope reach.
ing from the belfry and coilinE Itself
down upon the floor Of the little yesu-
bule at the entrance OF the church.
And now we must tread lightly, for
all around US lie those who left home
and loved ones In the Fatherland to en-
dure the hardshIps. and encounter the
peFils Of new experience. where,
amidst privation and trial, they might
ind freedom 10 worship God, to estab-
lIsh homes for themselves and little
ones, and where they-were destined to
build" for posterity better than they
knew"
Among the many ivy-grown graves
are old grey slabs and tombstones,
upon which the moss is stlIl writing It's
indelllble inscription. whatsoever thy
hand fndeth to do. do 1t with all thy
might, for in the grave whittier thou
goest, there is neither cunning nor de-
vice." These dead sleep in their mar
row beds waiting TIL the last trumpet
shall sound, but verify their works do
follow them, to which this glorious re-
public bears testimony. in the brightest
civilization that the world has eyes
known.
Upon many Of the tombstones.
though somewhat oblIterated by age,
the dates and inscriptions could easily
be read. though the spelling ANA
phraseology are pecuilar-"Here lyeth
The body of Peter The son OF Andreas
Sandel, minister of this church, who
dyed April 81, A. D. 1852 yrs, 4 mos"
On another this quaint legend is plain
ly legible;
"DeaF Friends, for me pray do not
weep
am not dead but here do sleep
Within this solid lump Of clay
Until the ''reswllcuon" day
And here indeed, must remain,
Till Christ shall raise me up again"
Against the side wall of the church
is a grey old slab that indicates that.
the church has been built over the
grav.. There is no inscription visible
upon this old stone. nothing has sur.
vlved the ravages OF time, but the in
dentatlons very plainly visible of the
lettering that has beer entirely obliter-
nted. My intelligent informant assured
me that nothing can be ascertalned Of
the history OF this worn and married old
slab. But conjecture makes 1t centur-
les old, and that 1t has history that
dates back to an old grave in Sweden,
whence the bones and stone were re-
moved by loving hands, to be laid I'M
der the fresh turf and amid the new
made graves in this far-away home.
Though 1 am nothing OF relic hunt
er, 1 could not resist the inclination 20
pluck up few roots of the luxurious
ivy that grows about the base of this
pathetic old tombstone. and send them
to friends in Wheeling, with the hope
that the sentlmen. of reverentlal awe
that accompanies these Ivy roote, may
be transplanted to tbs silent home at
Greenwood. to take root. grow, and
tenderly embrace the resting places Of
our own fondly remembered loved ones.
We were especially indebted to the
courtesy Of the present rector Of "old
swedes," Rev. Snyder B. Shines, who
has been the incumbent of the pastor
ate for thirty-one years. The old con-
gregauons OF swedes that succeeded
one another from 1924 A. D., to 1882
when the last of the Swedish pastors
died have been replaced BY a Protestant
Episcopal congregation now numbering
300. There we're not swedes enough left
In the locality to keep up the church. so
1t passed into the hands Of the EpIsco-
palians, who reverence the building be-
cause OF its history, and who carefully
and tenderly watch over the graves of
the honored dead-"Ev'n these bones
from insult to protect"