RURAL CEMETERIES. 



of his owQ idea, but another conception, perhaps a happier one. Surely this is 

 far more honorable than the course of those who employ mere artisans to steal 

 the property of genius." 



Enough has been said, perhaps, to convey leading ideas on this interesting 

 topic, and though the subject is by no means exhausted, we shall not detain the 

 reader much further than to remark, that simply to designate the boundaries of 

 lots by stones, six or eight inches high, at each corner, with the name or initials of 

 the owner, so that the grass may be mowed uniformly, may be sufficient where a 

 hedge is not desired ; to plant no large trees in small lots ; to avoid straggling 

 shrubbery, or anything that throws up suckers; to eschew poor iron railings or 

 tawdry monuments ; in short, to improve durably rather than super6cially, for 

 the present. 



There is a subject connected with the interment of the dead, in this country, 

 which it will be proper only to allude to in a journal like the present. It is 

 one to which our advancing civilization and increasing population will, ere long, 

 command attention. We mean, the right of control over the remains of deceased 

 persons. It has been generally conceded, that it exists in the nearest relative, and 

 to that individual it is supposed the power attaches of giving an order for removal 

 from one spot to another. We know of no law in practice which says how this 

 shall be regulated ; the practice, in fact, is loose in the extreme. Almost any 

 individual, in our great city, may go to the Board of Health, and receive a 

 " permit" to remove the body of any other person from one grave to another, 

 or from one cemetery to another, and the nearest relative may never hear of the 

 circumstance. It is true, cases where improper motives may exist for such im- 

 proper interference are rare, but still, they may and do occur. The Board of 

 Health, itself irresponsible, gives very little attention, if any, to the matter ; the 

 permission is granted as a matter of course, without due inquiry, and the deed 

 is done without any ofiicial having had the slightest evidence of the nearness of 

 relationship, or of the right to interfere. At least, such was the loose system 

 when the writer was formerly a member of the Board. 



In Europe, especially in France, every check is placed upon irregular action in 

 this matter. Offices exist to which application must be made before any person 

 can take an initiatory step in such a proceeding, and any one attempting such an 

 act is dealt with as a felon. It appears to us, that no removal should be allowed 

 without minute scrutiny as to the right to the possession of the deceased, and 

 that wise legislation must sooner or later be introduced among us to insure the 

 proper respect for the cherished remains of mortality. The first steps have been 

 taken for this purpose, by the formation of rural cemeteries ; it would be completed 

 by attention to the point we have indicated. 



With these remarks we conclude our own experiences, for the present, with the 

 single additional suggestion, that whatever the improvements may consist in, high 

 keeping is one of the most essential parts of the management of rural cemeteries. 

 The roads and walks must be regularly and carefully attended to; the grass should 

 be cut early and frequently ; weeds and brambles of all kinds should be extermi- 

 nated as soon as they appear, never being allowed, on any account, to scatter 

 their seeds. Iron railings must be regularly painted with good materials, if thoy 

 are desired to be even temporarily what they were designed to be. It should be 

 the duty of the Superintendent, or an assistant, to pace every walk daily, with a 

 basket, to pick up the loose papers which visitors, and children especially, are 

 so apt to unroll from their eating stores, and throw carelessly about ; to trim off 



dead limb or branch whenever it appears, and generally to exercise those duti 

 a good eye for all that is neat so readily learns to understand ; without 



