The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1920-05-12

LAKE WORLD AND NTERloC
nalizes . threshold, but just before
they come to It, before catching sight
Of the grave or making out where it is
from the people around it, men in
variably, uncover. Cigars are usual
ly thrown away, otherwise held in
conspicuously, never smoked there.
No one I saw was smoking while
he was on the ridge.
It is only a sodded mound, made
rather high, like one or two other new
mounds in the cemetery. It is not
yet marked in any way except for a
bronze marker-Spanish War Veter-
ans, l think; ]. couldn't see because
it was under the wreaths. Close, by
is a guards wooden sentry box, paint
ed drab. Every bit of turf is worn
of, right to the grave itself, for yards
around. Down the slope toward the
fence on the other side is a sprinkling
of a handful of quartz pebbles-all
that remains of what the spades threw
out when the grave was dug. The
rest the people have carried away, a
pebble or a pinch of sand in a nenvol-
ope at a time Some who did this were
recognized as Rough Riders. The
lower corners of the Roosevelt plot
lit is 1 by 20 feet8) are mraked with
stake heads. Stubbing over them is
wearing the stake heads down.
Our national propensity for SOU
%venirs, which has lately attracted such
attention in Europe, to. the mortifi-
cation Of sundry elitesAmericans who
stayed at home, does show itself un-
pleasantly now and then. The day
guard quietly sees every move made
by every one on the knoll, and he has
caught persons bending over rib
boned wreaths with scissors in their
hands. Caught, they ak if they may,
and he asks what they think he is
there for. One woman ~serenely want
ed to carry away two wreaths. Oc-
c%asionally there is an offer to buy one.
Ever since the funeral elaborate
new floral pieces have been constant
ly appearing on the grave-from the
houses of Congress and other nation
al and state government bodies, with
the cards of foreign nations represen-
~tatives, from veterans organizations
and patriotic societies, one from a COL
ored regiment, I believe.
The day guard is C. T. Reynolds, an
Oyster Bay young man who was in
the army but vas disappointed of
getting overseas. He wears a cam
paign hat, khaki breaches, leather put
tees and a sizable holster, filled. The
first day he was on duty twenty
hours at the grave. Oyster Bay peo-
pie told me, he is a revolver shot with
a tidy target record.
He all questions civilly.
/ heard him answer stock ones more
times than l kept count of. Would
the Roosevelt family be buried here?
Did the Colonel's children come Of
ten? Wasn't some kind of monument
to be built? Had the Colonel him.
self selected the place? One day a
fussy old fellow came importantly
peering about and asking again and
again where Roosevelt was buried.
Two steps and he would have fallen
over the mound. The fourth time it
was pointed out to him he looked
and said: "Bless ME! That?" But
very few of the visitors fail to mark
and be impressed by it. No doubt
it is all Suggestion" but certainly
there is an atmosphere, not to say a
presence, on the knoll tht is sufi-
GENTLY impressive for all Corners to
feel.
1t doesn't subdue them to a funeral
silence. He would be sorry if it did.
Every sort and condition of mankind
comes, and you notice several diff
ferent frames of mind; the personal
sincerity of those who knew him,
the scarcely less personal sincerity
of those who did not, but followed him
for twenty years wherever he cared to
lead, the duly rapt faces and appro-
pirate whispered speeches of conscien-
tious souls bent on having fitting emo
tions, the frank s~ightseers, to whom
the cemetery is a starred place that
mustn't be missed, and then the
mere sordidly curious.
Several little c%urlyheads were led
by the hands UP the path while !
was there. Well, if he had been there
in life he'd have had n or either
knee, and the bigger boys and girls
there were plenty-around him in a
circle, and they would have been lar
&c eyed and open mouthed, drinking
in lions and elephants and girafes
and grizzly bears. He used to do that
for the Sunday school children in Oy-
ster Bav on Christmas. I was told.