The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1904-06-24
A Protest.

L cannot understand WHAT ais SOult
people who are SO fortunate as TO live
here in this favored portion of Michigan
that they manifest such want OF APP
probation of one of the chief beauties,
one of the chief advantages from every
point of view, practically, commercially,
pecuniarily, aesthetically considered,
that we possess. Those who have no
love for the sturdy, spreading oaks which
once abounded here and fairly good
specimens of which valuable trees still
occur along our roadsides and are scat.
tered here and there in the fields, who
can only see in them their commercial
value cut into ties or other forms OF sal
able timber, had better break for the
treeless desolation of the wind swept
plains of the West.
There is no room for such abnormal,
non-appreciative people here who are
unable to enjoy the benefits OF one OF
the chief treasures with which nature so
beautifully endowed this section OF coun-
try What blessing it would be if the
law existed and the due enforcement of
il were brought into play to secure the
deportation of such men who have the
possible legal right to cut away trees
that for long, perchance, have been the
delight of innumerable beholders, but
who, seeing only the dollars and cents
that might accrue TO them by so doing
cannot forbear to exercise the power
which is unfortunately theirs, and so
these splendid objects of nature are des-
IL 80 Ia. L. 1Nff hn1
remarks by very striking illustration
apparent to everyone who travels east
ward from Paw Paw along the territorial
road. In truth, the fact to which / re-
fer would justify the use of much strong
er language than / have thus far en-
ployed in this preamble. A little way
east from the village of Paw Paw on the
south side of the territorial road is one
of the oldest cemeteries in this imme-
date vicinity and it is one that has been
generally recognized as, perhaps, the
most attractive of rural cemeteries any
where to be seen. The surprising beau
ty of this country burying ground was
due to the quiet, restful aspect that was
given to it by the great, spreading ma
interspersed with evergreens. These
trees rendered this spot, for the purpose
10 which it was devoted, UNNECESSARILY
beautiful and appropriate.
This place, so long silent certificate
to the good taste of the neighborhood,
has been ruthlessly depleted of the trees
and foliage with which nature and kind
1.,b IL hoA Il
that gave it such admirable distinction
is gone and the beholder now only sees a
naked area of tombstones and the ugly
stumps of the trees that were cut down
and made into timber and fuel. | can
not understand why the people in the
neighborhood suffered this 10 be done.
/ cannot comprehend why those who had
buried their dead in the shadow of these
grand old trees could have consented
that the final resting places of their dear
ones should thus be desecrated by the
removal of the protecting shade that
overspread them. Do not their magma
tons recoil at thus exposing these hal
lowed graves to glaring sunshine and
desolating storms?
ment that leads communities everywhere
to choose the grounds that are decked
with native forest growth to set aside
and to consecrate for the burial of their
dead. And when thus taken and rem.
dered sacred by use through years OF
time, what folly, what mistaken judg-
ment, what perverted sentiment to enter
these hallowed precincts and remove the
feature which was originally the deter
mining factor il the selection of the spot
appeal only from the standpoint OF
the general public as one of those who
have few times in the past attended q
burial there and who occasionally have
travelled along this fine old highway anC
been attracted by this, one of the most
interesting features of it's margins. dc
not know by whose counsel or authority
this-I had almost said vandalism-ha:
been committed, but the fact remains
that one of the most charming rura
cemeteries that | have ever seen ha.
been sadly ruined.
CHAs. ID. LAwToN.
Worst Of all Exnar1annaG