Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-10-30
BOSTON HOLDS
MOST NOTABLE
PERSONS BONES
Heroes of Past lie in Twenty
Burying Grounds of
Hub City.
MOTHER GOOSE THERE
By FREDERIC j. HAsKTN.

because the question would have to be
settled, "What is a famous character?"
Otis and Hancock, for instance. two Of
the greatest orators Of the Revolution,
ire passed over hurriedly by many WIS.,
tors to the Old GTsnary ground, but
nearly all linger in pleased surprise near
The simple stone of Mary Goose, who, ac-
,ording to the little wooden placard, Is
to be the Mother Goose Of the
nursery rhymes.
So many Of the great lie in and around
Boston and they represent so many lines
If achievement that few strangers leave
here without paying tribute to at least
one favor!te character.
The graves Of Revolutionary heroes are
numerous.
The tomb of Mary Chiffon, the first
woman TO leap from the MayHower to
Plymouth Rock, is in the heart Of Boston,
p its oldest cemetery.
Eliza beth Pain, believed to be the orig
lnaI Of Hawthorne's- Hester Prynne OF
THE Scarlet Letter" lies in this same
ground. and as Hawthorne says In his
novel. her stone may be seen to this day.
FAMOUS PERSANs
IN CAMBRIDGE.
Over in Cambridge there is more
modern ground, one Of the most beauti-
full In the country. and here may be seen
stones and monuments to such famous
folk as Edwin Booth. the actor; Agassiz
and Cray, the great naturalists: Philips
Brooks. Lowell, Holmes and Longfellow,
Rufus Choate and Julia Ward Howe.
One Of the most beautiful monuments
to be found anywhere is here erected to
a still different type Of famous person.
This is the memorial to Mrsl Eddy, the
founder OF Christian Science.
The memorial is composed Of eight
white columns in a circle, with begonias
and geraniums planted inside.
It stands by one or the lakes in the
cemetery, and as you look across this
lake the effect Is that OF a graceful
Greek temple in a grove Of trees, the
whole rnirrOred in the blue water be-
fore H.
Boston has twenty cemeteries, all but
three OF which might be called "old."
The four oldest-Kings Chapel. the
Granary, Cops Bill, and the Common
Burying Gr0und-are the most interest
lngiy populated.
or these four, aflsbut Copp's Hill are
In the very center Of Boston. where shop
pers and office workers throng steadily
past the gates.
There are nearly always a few
strangers inside, porting over the faint
Inscriptions and smiling at the ferocious
skull and cr0ssbones and the hourglass
10 be seen on most Of the flint slabs.
But Boston folk in general hurry by
without a thought or a glance inside.
These graveyards were old before their
t-grandfathers were born.
They are an accepted part OF the land
s~a ma md unifbn rcpaI nor a. IF
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 it is an
emotional temperament that
can be moved to tears over the rows Of
gray stones all cut after the same pat
tern. but now varied by different stages
II dilapidation.
NOT ALWAYS
AS THEY SEEM.
But even were you Inclined to grow
BIT sentimental over an ancestor or 4
rayorite hero. you would remember in
time that he might not, after oil, lie
below that particular stone, and put
away your handkerchief with a single
sigh.
For 1t Is a sad fact that the stones do
not always stand where they were orig
nally planted.
After -he oldest burying grounds were
forsaken for newer ones, they were al
lowed to so mcared for, and in these
years Of neglect stones were stolen,
moved about, broken and lost.
In Cops Hill burying ground, up the
street from the Old North Church, stones
we're hlched TO fill in holes in chimueys
md prop up doorsteps around the neigh
oorhood.
One boy amused himself by changing
the date on one stone from 1895 to 1925.
and on another from 1000 to 1925 In
order to perplex the antlquarians who
would wonder how persons were buried
there several years before Boston wac
settled.
When the city began to care for the
Old grounds systematically. many of the
stolen stones were recovered ana those
found lying about were set ur in con
venient places in the same cemetery.
City officials and the cemetery watch
men know in almost every case which
stones are not In their own places,
though they may not always know. ex-
eept in general way. where the lost
graves lie.
It was this lack of accuracy IN the
markers that led Oliver Wen
dell Holmes to remark that the stones
really tell the truth when they say
here lies"
One of the most famous lost graves is
that of Gilbert Stuart, who painted pic
lures of so many Of the revolutionary
statesmen.
His best known work is the portrait
Of Washington which is familiar to most
people.
1t is fact that Washington presents
4 different appearance in almost every
portrait.
A bust in Old North Church shows
him with cheeks slightly sunken from
age and lips tight set
Few people would recognize this cid
srly gentleman as the sturdy. pink
checked Father of his Country presented
by Stuart.
Yet Lafayette is said to have looked
st this bust and exclaimed, at Is my
Dle friend Washington. indeedw
Conhdentially. the sexton of Old North
Church whispers that Stuart stuffed the
cheeksN of his most famous sitter with
cotton in order to obtain the well-round-
ed contour of the face.
Whatever the beauty secrets between
Stuart and Washington, the painter was
a master and his Washington portrait
a masterpiece.
1t seems a pity that his bones should
have been so carelessly mislaid, so that
Is known only that he was BURIED in
the Common burying ground.
UNUSUAL. STONE
IN BOSTON COMMON.
This burying ground on the Boston
Common has what is. probably the most
unusual stone In the city. /
IL was set Up "In memory of Mrs.
Sally Morse (wife of Mr.. Samuel Morse)
who dies July %. I7p9 of the cramo I'm