Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1908-11-20
4 FAMOUS CE|l|E[|
Pere Lachaise Is One Of tho
Landmarks Of Paris.
IT HAS A STORMY HISTORY,
This Picturesque Burial Place Ha.
4 Served as battle-ground as we'll =.
q Graveyard-Its Monuments, Lover.
and DisconsoIate Widows. q

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 tho ground was made .
cemetery in 1901 It covers no acres
Of ground, is picturesque, but quite I'M.
lovely. Hare wrote about the tomba
that weight was their chief peculiar.
ity and that all the monuments looked
az f each family had tried to pile az
much marble as possible on TO thar
deceased relatives."
Pere Lachaise has q stormy history.
In 1914 the Russians fought the French
there and gave them a beating. Dur.
Ing the commune the Versaillais and
Oommunards fought several pitched
battles among the COMMISSIONERS and did
considerable damage. But It Is not
70 much with the history Of tho Gene
terry az with the people buried in II
that we have to deal. A volume might
be filed with the more list Of an the
celebrated men and women buried in
Il, for, az Victor Hugo wrote, ''beina
buried In Pere Lachaise is like having
mahogany furniture-a sign Of ele-
gance."
In Pere Lachaise the monument
which attracts most visitors IL that of
Abelard and Heloise, the two most "a:
NOUS lovers in the world. The monu-
ment was first erected 637 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 Musset,
lies buried not far from the two VII
lows over the graves Of Heloise and
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 and other well
known Englishpen 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. I.
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, I
learned some curious facts about it. NJ
I'VE never have dull moment" tho
man said. ''You may think that or
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 hshed
out; then the bronze stealers, who
take away as much az they can carry
In their special pockets and make from
Is to 20 francs day at tho game until
We catch them.
"A little while ago bust weighing
forty pounds was taken out Of the
cemetery over one Of the walls. But
the most curious form Of robbery Il,
perhaps. that Of the pearl wreaths.
Women are the principal Offenders.
They select the new ones, which are
. not weather stained, datten them with
thar backs against the tombstone,
slip them under their dresses, and
when they have got away with them
I've have no right to search even aus:
pacious looking customers) sell than
20 dealers, to whom they ten the wer
worn story Of poor workWoman who
j has need Of food.
"Yeu would hardly believe Il, but
peee Lachaise.'' said the kesDer, '9s q
1avorite meeting place for lovers. We
ct lovers Of an ages. and perhaps
more schoolboys and schoolgirls than
anything else. But the three most
curious things We see hsre In the GENE
!, tsey are the forlozn widows, the letter
boxes and the cafe" ':rhe CATER
asbed. Eyes. There are hundreds Of
boople In Paris who refuse to believe
! that their dead do not enjoy aftel
death the good things they used to like
when they were alive. Mothers bring
annloa and sweets and 1aayA them a