News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1908-12-09
A FAMOUS CEMETERY
Pere Lachaise Is One of the
Landmarks of Paris.
1T HAS A STORMY HISTORY.

'''S ENll
Served as a battle-ground as we'll as
a Graveyard-lts Monuments, Lovers
and Dsconsolate Widows.
Pere Lachaise is the largest and
quite the most interesting Of the Paris
cemeteries and named after the Jesuit
confessor Of Louis XIV, whose coun-
try seat occupied the site of the present
chapel until the ground was made n
cemetery in 1854. 1t covers 10 acres
of ground, is picturesque but quite un-
lovely. Hare wrote about the tombs
that weight was then, chief peculiar
ity and that all the monuAeut3 looked
us if each family hid tried to. pile as
much marble as possible on to their
deceased relatives
PCre Lachaise has a stormy history.
In 1911 the Russians fought the French
there and gave them il beating. Dur
ing tae commune the Versaillais and
COmmunards fought several pitched
battles among the tUmbstOucs and did
considerable damage. But it is not
so much with the history Of the Gene
terry as with the people buried in it
that we have to deal. \ volume might
be filed with the mere list of all the
celebrated men and women buried in
it, for, as Victor Hugo wrote, being
buried in Pere Lachaise is like having
mahogany furniture-a sign Of ele
gance."
In Pere Lachaise the monument
which attracts most visitors is that OF
Abelard and Heloise, the two most IA
nous lovers in the world. The monu-
ment was first erected G37 years after
their death and brought to Pere La
chaise in 1917 from the museum where
it had been during the revolution. An
other famous lover, Alfred de MussGt,
lies buried rot far from the two will
lows over the graves of Heloisc ana
Abelard. David the painter; Rachel,
the actress; Balzac, Scribe Michelet
and many other well known folk lie
near at hand. Admiral Sir Sydney
Smith, Lord Seymour ana other well
known EngliShmen are to be found in
other portions of the cemetery, while
literature is represented not only by
great authors, but by Lesurques, the
victim of Dubosc in the famous legal
Lyons Mail imbroglio.
But Pere Lachaise has more romance
than in its tombstones. Chatting one
day with one of the old soldiers who
are the keepers of this grim park,
learned some curious facts about it.
I'VE never have a dull moment" the
man said. "You may think that our
time here Is monotonous, but you are
quite wrong if you do so. To begin
with. there are the burglars. The
cemetery is, overrun with them. There
are three kinds of burglars. There
are the connoisseurs who often get
away with valuable prizes, for you
will be surprised at the works of art
of small size which people put in their
chapels. The window is broken, a
stick slipped through the hole, and all
sorts of things worth having are fished
OUT then the bronze stealers, who
take away as much as they can carry
in their special pockets and make from
10 to 20 francs a day at the game until
we catch them.
"a little while ago a bust weighing
forty pounds was taken out of the
cemetery over one of the walls. But
the most curious form of robbery is,
perhaps, that of the pearl wreaths.
Women are the principal offenders.
They select the new ones, which are
not weather stained, fiatten them with
their backs against the tombstone,
slip them under their dresses, and
when they have got away with them
1--WE have no right to search even sus-
picious looking customers) sell them
to dealers. to whom they tell the well
worn story of a poor workwOman who
has need of food
"You would hardly believe it, but
Pere Lachaise," said the keeper, sis a
favorite meeting place for lovers. We |
get lovers of all ages, and perhaps |
more schoolboys and schoolgirls than |
anything else. But the three most |
curious things we see here in the GENE |
terry are the forlorn widows, the letter |
boxes and the cafe" "The cafe" l |
asked. Eyes. There are hundreds of |
people in Paris who refuse to believe
that their dead do not enjoy after
leath the good things they used to like
when they were alive. Mothers bring
lpples and sweets and leave them Cd
he tombstones of their children. Peo-
,le bring wine and glasses, and there
S one old gentlemen who leaves a
,otato salad on his sons tombstone
egularly every SUI cay. OF course
he children soon find ut these things.
md we have never been able to con-
-ince the people who bring them of
he absurdity of doing 50. 1t is very
armless superstition. Tf-er ALL"
"And the letter bc.cs" I asked.
Lovers letter boxes?'' said the guard
an. "There are dozens Of them in
II parts of Pere Lachalse. Sometimes
hey are holes in the trunks Of trees; !
ometimes they are little hollows I'M
er stones.
"The \inconsolable widow is a fire. c
uent visitor. She is a rrctty woman,
nd black suits her. She kneels down
Y tombstone, rarely the same one, q