The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-10-26


Boston, Mass., Oct 2l.-Boston
and It's cluster Of surrounding
towns surely possess more famous
dead than any other locality In the
country. II 10 impossible to cay
how many notable characters lie
buried around here because the
question would have to be settled,
What is . famous Character"
Otis aAd Hancock, for instance,
two Of the greatest orators Of the
Revolution, are passed over huf-
riedly by many visitors to the Old
GFanary ground. but nearly all lin
ger in pleased surprise near the
simple stone OF Mary Goose, who,
according to the little wooden pla-
card. is believed to be the Mother
Goose OF the nursery rhymes.
30 many OF the great lie In and
around Boston. and, they repre-
sent SO many lines Of achievement,
that few strangers leave here with
out paying tribute to at least one
favorfte character. The graves OF
Revolutionary heroes are numer-
Gus. The tomb Of Mary Chiffon.
the first woman to leap from the
Mayflower to Plymouth Rock, is in
the heart Of Boston in its Oldest
cemetery. Elizabeth Pain, believed
to be the original of Hawthorne's
Hester Prynne Of THE Scarlet Let
ter" lies in this same ground, and
as Hawthorne says in his novel,
her stone may be seen to this day.
Over in Cambridge there 10 q
more modern ground, one of the
most beautiful in the country, and
here may be seen stones and mon
uments to such famous folk as Ed
win Booth, the actor; Agassiz and
Gray, the great naturalists; Phil
lips Brooks. Lowell. Holmes and
Longfellow, Rufus Choate and
Julia Ward Howe.
One Of the most beautiful mon
uments to be found anywhere ID
here erected to . still different
type Of famous person. This is the
memorial to Mrs. Eddy. the found
er Of Christian Science. The me-
mortal is composed Of eight white
columns in a circle. with begonias
and geraniums planted inside. II
stands by one Of the lakes in the
cemetery, and as you look across
this lake the effect 10 that Of q
graceful Greek temple in a grove Of
trees, the whole mirrored in the
blue water before it.
A Town Of Graveyards.
Boston has 20 cemeteries, all but
three Of which might be called
odd" The four oldest-Kings
Chapel. the Granary. Cops Hill
and the Common Burying Ground
are the most Interestingly popu.
lated. OF these four. all but Cops
Hill are in the very center of Bos.
ton. where shoppers and office
workers throng steadily past the
gates.
There are nearly always q few
strangers inside. porting over the
faint inscriptions and smiling al
the feroc.ous skull and crossb0nes
and the hourglass to be seen on
most of the flint slabs. But Bos.
ton folk in general hurry by with
out a thought or glance inside
These graveyards were old before
their great-grandfathers were
born. They are an accepted part
of the landscape and neither repel
nor attract.
Even for the stranger these very
old burying grounds do not inspire
gloom as modern cemeteries often
do. The inhabitants have been dust
for over two hundred years, and il
is Is an unusually emotional TEN.
permanent that can be moved tc
tears over the rows Of gray stone!
all cut after the same pattern. buI
now varied by different stages Of
lapidation.
But even were you inclined t.
grow q bit sentimental over an an
cester or a favorite hero. you woult
remember In time that he nigh
not, after all. lie below that par
ticular stone, and put away youl
handkerchief with, single sigh
For it is a sad fact that the stones
do not always stand where the!
were originally planted. After th'
oldest burying grounds were for
saken for newer ones, they wer'
allowed to 60 uncared for, and ii
these years Of neglect stones wer'
stolen, moved about. broken ant
lost. In Cops Hill Buryinl
Ground. I'M the street from the oil