Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-10-23
Musings.

to think of them and effectionately
refer to the good old days of the
past, but good or bad, however,
those early impressions made in our
youthful days, think can never en-
tirely be effaced from the memory.
How we'll I remember the. first fun
eral I ever attended when l was
child of but five years Of age, and it
was that of a little playmate, the
same age of myself, little Lucy
Washburn by name. Many sum-
mers have sped by on the wings of
time since that little mound was
heaped up in the old side hill ceme-
terry on Spring Branch, but still
each time that I visit her resting
place the same feeling of awe and
solemnity creeps over me and again
l hear the tones of that minister as
he repeated the words of that old
hymn. Hank, from the tombs a
doleful sound mine ears attend the
cry" Ye living men come over the
ground where you must shortly
lie" and it always nearly makes
me sick to hear the words of that
funeral hymn repeated. However,
the singing at funerals nowadays is
not 80 solemn and the change that
has come over those things takes
away more than half the terrors of
even so sad an event as the funeral
of a loved one. and while speaking
of those sad instances I wish to say
that our Manchester cemetery kept
in such fine order by Sexton Giles
is the admiration Of all visitors
whether citizens or strangers. "The
burial place of the dead, showeth
the character of the living" is a
proverb with which all experience
accords.
The home of silent sleepers, SO
barren and desolate that both man
and bird instinctively shun it as
thing of terror is painful evidence
to me of q selfish, heartless people
but the shrub that springs up and
blooms around the dead, the willow
that bends over them in silent grief
and the simple inostentatious stone
that marks the place of their re-
pose, are emblems of the higher and
holier sensibilities of human nature
and so we will go on the Sabbath
evenings when all nature invites to
solemn musings and stroll through
the leafy aisles of the Manchester
cemeteries and read the character
of this, our people, among their
tombs, where each one is marked
with few exceptions by slabs and
monuments of marble, inscribed
with the strictest taste and propriety.
The cold vain splendor of wealth is
not here, but pure affection has in
vested all with a garment in which
simplicity and beauty with equal
force contend for mastery.
To me, this is simply the most
enchanting ground l ever trod.
Hitherto, 1 haye associated little
else than darkness with the tomb,
but this resting place has charm,
q loneliness about it that wins my
highest, though most serious admit
ration. Of course, I cannot tread
these paths amid monuments Of
mans mortality with the same emo
tious that I would experience in the
wild woodland where no thought of
death is near, it is true, but the adj
miration would not be less, only
more profound and solemn, and
when musing here I have often
thought how little it would seem
like death to sleep amid such lowell
ness and SO say no one can look
upon this lovely cemetery and not
haye high regard for the city of
Manchester.
OF course our society here is not
free from the uglier forms of human
nature but the popular mind, the
prevailing spirit Of the citizens, will
without a peradventure respond to
every call Of humanity.
think it is right and proper ev-
erywhere to divest tile tomb of the
dark and, gloomy associations that
ignorant times have thrownover it,
and strew it with the beauties of
nature, and render it what it was
designed to be, the portal to high
er and better sphere.
Then the autumn, or fruit time,
of life, like the autumn of the year
will be as lovely and more desirable
than the springtime of life. When
amid these scenes / am little dis
posed to condemn those poets who
have imagined that THE spirits of
the departed" leave their Elysian
abodes in heaven and return to
earth to visit the thrown off clay, or
especially the beautiful place of re-
pose
But, to change the solemn sub
ject we are happy and contented
down here on the old farm Just be-
cause we take the bitter with the
sweet and between times attend our
clubs and societies in our home
town, Manchester, for we think that
just because we live in the country
is no reason why we should not i'm
prove our talents along the line Of
| literary nnrsnita or co,reo ,,,,,,,
farmers wives think, and are satisfied
to think, that they have neither time
nor talent for anything but to drudge
and lay up money, but happily 1 am
not one Of the many, especially when
am within 10 miles Of the city and
the walking is good.
There are few towns, if any, tho
they may be small in size but what
have their societies and clubs for
the intellectual and social develop
Il r r