Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-09-30

1 longer a stately and exclusive sum-
~ mer colony. it is now a place OF ma
tionaI Importance, calmly appropriated by
the entire nation. That peculiar, rural quiet
which used to mark it's Sundays is no longer
enjoyed by it's residents. On this day, host
T of strangers invades the town, monOpOlizing
it's shady walks, keeping open it's reastau-
rants and Chartering all it's motor buses,
which fill the main street with a perpetual
cloud. of dust. The citizen who used to place
his slippered feet on the railing OF the
veranda without fear of being seen, while
he concentrated on the Sunday paper now
must keep his feet firmly on the floor and be
prepared to answer the frequent question of
the invading strangers. lis this the way to
the colonePs grave?"
There is no printed sign to direct the way,
so that, unless the stranger takes bus, it
is necessary to ask questions. And large
number of the visitors obviously cannot af-
ford the bus fare. So they walk the mile
and half to the grave from the station
which, Oyster Bay being one of the most
beautiful communities in the country, is
we'll worth while.
Eventually, around a bend of the road
you come upon faded, wooden arch, mark
ed "Youngs cemetery" Upon entering this
arch, you expect to see the usual rows of
neat tOmbstones, closely clipped grass and
flower beds that are found in most ceme-
teries, but they are conspicuously lacking.
There is nothing but a rather shaggy, I'M
path leading up to the crest. Taking this
path, you begin steep ascent, and just as
you are about to pause for breath you sud-
denly come upon grave right in the mid
die of the path They are building an eight
foot iron fence around it now, but until very
recently it lay exposed. upon the hillside
with an armed guard in tiny, rough pine
shelter just few feet distant
Before this fence was started, it took the
word of the guard to convince each visitor
that he had reached his destination. us
this the grave?" was the surprised excIama-
ton Of every person as he reached the top of
the hill and looked about him. Evidently,
none was prepared for what he saw-just Il
stx-foot oval mound of grass-coyered EARTH
profusely decorated with bedraggled wreaths
and tiny American nags, of the kind that
are retailed in the five and ten cent stores
1t had been raining just the day before the
visitor was there, and the colors in the flags
had run, and the wreaths, which once must
have been impressive, were merely untidy
clusters of cloth. The flags had been left by
children, the guard explained, and the cen
| trail, largest and most bedraggled wreath of
all, by foreign mission.
After the first few seconds of surprise,
the men visitors stood silently by with barred
heads, but the women besieged the guard
with questions.
aren't they going to take care of the
| grave at all?" asked one woman who had
| come all the way from the Middle West to
| see the grave, and was rather disappointed.
| She looked about at the few other graves,
clustered on the hillside, and evidently they
did not meet with her approval either All
Of them were marked with small inconspic-
uous headstones, while the abundant grass
that covered them had not been cut once
during the season.
''The grave is taken care Of" replied the
guard. Someone is always on guard, day
! and night, to protect it,
"But mean isn't there to be a vault or
anything?' insisted the woman.
mo-" declared the guard, "just an iron
! fence for protection and a plain headstOne-
| Colonel Roosevlt's wishes were that every
thing should be as simple as possible. He
| disliked ostentatiOn."
| Eyes. but what will our foreign visitors
| think of it?'' a short stout woman who told
everybody she was from Detroit, wanted to
know. Look at the way they bury their
great men in Europe. Even poets are placed
in Westminster Abbey, and Napoleon has a
| beautiful tomb"