The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-11-30

| WRITTEN FOR SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
On the crest of a hill in the Oldest section
of beautiful Bellefontaine are some historic
| graves of old and well-known ST. Louis men
and women.
In the days when these burial lots were
chosen by their now silent occupants, Belle
~fontaine was not as thickly populated as it
Is to-day.
and easy.
The men of those days who picked out
their graves had an eye to the beautiful
and poetic in nature.
The knoll on which the Oldest graves are
located faces the east and the rising sun.
and is not far from the Broadway entrance
to the cemetery.
The Western sun battles in full glory this
| hill crest, till its slanting rays announce the
end of day.
The several burial lots which occupy this
softly nodded mound belong to the Garrt-
| sons, the Gatys, the Christys, and the Ben
netts.
These names are prominently identified
with the city's growth and history.
SEVEN AGES PICTURED
ON GATY MONUMENT.
The quaintest of these places is that of
Samuel Gaty, his children and children'S
children.
Samuel Gaty was one of the pioneers OF
st. Louis, foremost in the development of
it's commerce and it's arts.
He was besides so ardent a lover OF the
Bard of Anon that he took the poets Sew
en- Ages of Man. for the chief adornment
of his last resting place.
A slender shaft of gray stone. into the
base of which trees are carved, surmounts
the lot and dedicates it to the Gaty family.
Upon the headstone of Mr.. Gaty's grave
is carved this citation from Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar:
His life was gentle and the. elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
| And say to all the World: This was a Man.
The inscription was the loving tribute
from his family, when Mr.. Gaty died, in
1887, at the age of 70 years.
| But the quaintest arrangement in this
| historic lot is the coping which incloses the
circular burial place.
Twenty-four small stones surround the
lot.
On every alternate stone is carved Mr..
| Gaty's conception of the illustration of his
| beloved bard's Seven Ages"
The carved pictures face toward the I'll
| lent s~leepers. rs If to remind them even
/ in death of the pleasant and busy scenes
| of their lives.
| SERIES BEGINS WITH
| THE INFANT AGE.
A cradle with a baby in 1t is carved into
the stone in small bas-relief.
The next is the picture of a fodder of
two or three years.
Another year or two added shows 4 boy
rolling his hoop.
Then comes the school age.
A youngster is going 10 school, a slate
| under his arm.
On another tablet the youngster sits at
his desk in school.
With the age of the youth comes a differ
ent occupation.
New we have him.. pushing along his
pillow.
Next to this he is seen scattering the
seeds. and still another tablet shows him
xxa rrart,o the Grain mud hfplipu e. sntn
sheaves-
Still further along in his summers labor
a tablet shows the man sending away his
grain in sacks.
The next step finds him sitting at an old
fashioned desk in a counting-room. reaping
the fruits of his labor
Then comes old age-the white-haired
worker. resting from his life's work in a
big, quaint armchair.
The carving which closes this cycle of
Shakespeare's Seven Ages shows an emp
ty chair, the hat and coat OF its late &C.
cupant hanging on the back of it.
1t is an unusual adornment which the
first owner of the lot and oldest sleeper
in it has chosen.
There is no duplicate for it in all these
Across the way from this lot. and on the '
same hillside, is that of another old st. |
Louis family, the Christys.
Here, too, lies a member of the family |
whom his beloved ones deemed worthy of
being likened unto one of Shakespeare's po- |
etc men.
James C. Christy. brother of William T. |
Christy, 6ied in Philadelphia. 1857. aged So |
years" is the inscription on the face of the
stone.
And back of it is carved this tender trib-
ute. a quotation from Shakespeare's Ham
let": |
Take him for all In all, he was a m.n and
We shall not look upon his like again.
TOMB OF MRS. KATE
BREWINGTON Ben NETT.
Quantity romantic. with the pathos of
tragedy mutely expressed. is the tomb of
Mrs. Kate Brewington-Bennett, a belle of
ante-bellum days in st. Louis.
She died in 1855. only 81 years old