The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-04

mere Is by far more evidence OF
majesty about the place than there is
at the royal tombs of the French or
Bourbon kings. 1 fingered long at the
tomb of the Little Corporal and
thought of many things in the philos-
ophy of greatness; of it's f1eeting char
acter and of the instability of it's foun-
cations. Fortune fed from this little
magician at Waterloo and perched on
the banners of q countryman of my
own-the famous Wellington, whose
grave I had recently visited in st.
Pauls. This Iron Duke sleeps beside
that grand old warrior-Admiral Mel
son of Trafalgar, whose heroism con-
frmed the claim Of England to imperial
| power over the waters of the world
which she holds to this day.
At Naples I saw the tomb of Vir-
gil, one of the very greatest poets of
all the ages, and at Rome visited the
tomb of Victor Emmanuel and some fif-
teen or twenty of the greater popes
I and some of the most notable saints of
| the church.
| In Dublin I visited the tomb Of
| O'ConneH, over which a facsimile of
the prehistoric round towers of Ire
land stands. The grave of Parnell,
near by, had no monument, but one
has recently been built, understand.
| At Christs church, in the same city. I
visited the grave of St-ongbow, who,
eight centuries ago, subdued Ireland
and gave it finally into the hands of
John of England-he who was forced
by the barons at Runnymede to give
| the Great Charter to English people.
At Limerick visited the tomb of the
| last king of my native province and
you may be sure I enjoyed it. He has
been dead for seven hundred years but
| the inscription on his stone sarco-
phagus is still readable.
At st. Patrick's in Dublin I saw the
grave of SWift-the author of Guilt
ver's Travels-and found in it a like
ness to the grave of Shakespeare who,
also. is buried in the earth like COM
mon folk and rests under stone on
which is engraved the following lines:
I"Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here:
BEST be we that spares these stones
And curst be he who moves these
bones
In London I was at the tonlbs Of
England's greatest men-at Westmin-
listers, st. Pauls. st. Dunstans, Maryle-
bonnie, st. Giles, st. Pancras and other
places. To stand beside such graves
as those Of John Bunyan., John Mil
ton. John Wesley, Mary Queen of the
Scots, Elizabeth, Burke, Chatham
Ben Jonson, DIR. Johnson, Beacons-
field, Gladstone and others is no un-
pleasant privilege. But the greatest
delight of all to me was to touch the
earth which is mingled all that was
mortal of Sir Isaac Newton, Charles
Darwin and other philosophers who
will outlive all others in the realm or
Ang1o-Saxon intellect. One of the
graves that interested me greatly, as
| it does every other American, is that
of Major Andre, of sad connection
with our Revolutionary. war
| In our own country I have visited
the graves of Washington. Lincoln and
Jefferson and found an inspiration
there that 1 cannot describe. I have
also visited the graves of Grant. Sher-
Thomas Adds Emmett-Who was the
brother of the great Irish patriot
| Alexander Hamilton, John Howard
Payne, the poet; Edgar Allen Poe
author of ''The Raven and many
others too numerous to mention.
My personal passion or fad is to
visit graveyards In them I find a pc
culiar pleasure. When visit even the
smaller towns / go to the cemetery II
convenient. love to read the head
stones which contain the stories or
those within-and to think of their
lives. their hopes and their ambitions.
think of the loves that have gone into
these graves, the tears that are shed
over them, the prayers that have been
said. the feuds that have been settled
upon their brink and the tragedies
| they conceal. We cannot know life
unless we know something of the end
| of it and he who would purchase peace
| in the flesh must learn the lesson OF
Death and get familiar with the grave.
There is where true democracy ex-
| lists There is where equality reaches
perfection. There is where the proud
head lies as low as any othe- head. AS
an aid to philosophy L recommend it
to the Saturday Night club, for in it's
contemplation we can think OF the IN
evitable in peace If not with very great