Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1905-05-04
SMALL CEMETERIES.
HOW THEY MAY BE IMPROVED AND
BEAuTlFiED. u.

Decorations to Be Avoided In MAXI
ing Unkempt Burying Grounds At
tractive-The Monuments Should BE
Simple and Unobtrusive.
Visitors to our cemeteries naturally
expect to become touched with sense
of rest and Quietness. "A cemetery Is
q space set apart from all other uses
for the particular purposes OF bury1ng |
the dead and of erecting memorials to
them" This definition is that of the |
late noted landscape gardener and ART
list, +. L. Olmsted
While a cemetery should be laid out
and planted with sole regard to Its
prime purpose and every respect
should be shown for the feelings and
sentiments of the mourners and others
who visit the place in serious ana
contemplative frame of mind, there
should not be a prevailing aspect OF
| gloominess and sadness, but first and
always suggestions Of entire rest and
| freedom from care, suffering and tur-
moil, says q writer IN the Bufalo
Times. Any appearance of gayety and
festivity and all bright and ephemeral
decoration should be carefully avoided.
Some decorative planting may be ad-
mitted in order to form a frame or
background to each prominent monu-
ment, but such decoration should be IN
keeping with the real sentiment of the
place, as home for the dead.
In many cases the sale of lots with
out conditions or restrictions permits
owners to disfgure the grounds as
their uneducated taste suggests, ana
one person builds an unsightly wooden
fence around his lot, another incloses
his with iron and another with stone
barricades. Then, too. succeeding
generation moves to and remains IN
distant state, and the family lot is for
gotten and grows up to weeds and
briers. Few people ever leave fund
in charge of cemetery managers sun
GENTLY large so that the interest Will
paw for regular and sufficient annual
care. So nearly all small cemeteries
and many large ones become more or
less ragged and unkempt.
The owners Of lots in little country
burying ground in western New YORK
walked up to the manifest reproach at
tached to them because of the condition
of the place and raised sum which
leveled the graves and smoothed the
grounds so that lawn mower can be
run all over them. except where the
monuments stand, and the interest or
what was left, with some annual con-
tributions, keeps the place in excellent
| nd 6viv
now kept free from grass, and the lawn
mower is run over the whole grounds.
It is not and never was rural GENE
terry, but there are trees around the
boundaries and some hardy perennials
about the bases. and it is well kept
country burial ground, with the only
charm possible, and that is quietness
It is all green turf. covered with
gravestOnes.
This subject of monuments is very
important to country managers. AS 8
rule, they are q blOtch on the land
scape, and while ostensibly intended tt
mark the burial place of friend or rela
tive they usually are used to indicate
the financial standing of the family
These monuments should be as simple
and unobtrusive as possible. Only tn
person who is likely to have his gray
visited by pilgrims in future genera
ton is really entitled to have his las
resting place conspicuously marked
and even he does not need to have
marked. Something that will indicat
where a body lies and whose body it is
without being SO large as to distur
the peacefulness Of the place, is wha
gravestone should be.
The color of the stone should be ar
propriate to the locality. Granite is tn
best and white marble the worst l
color in nearly every locality. Grant
harmonizes with foliage, while whit
marble makes glazing contrast.
there are large powders convenient
the grounds or in the neighborhoo
nothing is more appropriate for NOM
ments, the simple inscription being 81
up on a space made smooth for tt
purpose. Owners should also be r
strained in their desire to plant show
flowers and shrubs about the grave
They should be made to cOmpreher
that they have no moral right to Il
dulge in personal desires if by so doir
they inflict an injury on surroundiI
lots and on the general suggestivene
Of such grounds.
Cemeteries should always have
peaceful unity Of aspect, and no o.
has a real right to injure this appea
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