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our lowly resting-place, and their fragrance, mingled with the holiest 

 aspirations, ascend towards the throne ofthe Eternal. 



To tliose who mourn, what a consolation to visit the bower-seques- 

 tered monument of a much loved friend, under circumstances and with 

 associations so favorably calculated to revive agreeable recollections of 

 the past; and when those revolting ideas are excluded, wjjich obtrude 

 upon the mind, while standing in the usually dreary, desolate, and ruin- 

 ous repositories of the dead. 



In a Rural Cemetery the names and virtues of the departed would 

 live in perpetual freshness, and their souls seem to commune with those 

 who come to do honor to their names. Thus would all like to repose in 

 death : and who would not deem it a blessing, to be able to confer that 

 favor on a parent, child, wife, husband, or friend ? How can this object 

 be so succe.ssfuUy accomplished as in connexion with an Experimental 

 Garden ? That part of the land wliich has been recommended for a 

 Cemetery may be circumvallated by a spacious avenue, bordered by 

 trees, shrubbery, and perennial flowers ; rather as a line of demarca- 

 tion than of disconnexion ; for the ornamental grounds of the Garden 

 should be apparently blended with those of the Cemetery, and the 

 walks of each so intercommunicate as to afford an uninterrupted range 

 over both, as one common domain. 



Among the hills, glades, and dales, which are now covered with 

 evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, may he selected sites for 

 isolated graves, and tombs, and these, being surmounted with columns, 

 obelisks, and other appropriate monuments of granite and marble, may 

 be rendered interesting specimens of art ; they will also vary and em- 

 belish the scenery embraced within the scope of the numerous sinuous 

 avenues, whicli may be felicitously opened in all directions and to a 

 vast extent, from the diversified and picturesque features which the 

 topography ofthe tract of land presents. 



Besides the great public advantages which will result from the horti- 

 cultural departments, and from that portion of the land which may be 

 consecrated to the dead, and rendered, like the Elysian fields of the 

 Egyptians, a holy and pleasant resort for the living, — the whole will 

 present one of the most instructive, magnificent, and pleasant prome- 

 nades in our country. From its immediate proximity to the Capital of 

 the State, it will attract universal interest, and become a place of 

 healthful, refreshing, and agreeable resort from early spring until 

 the close of autumn. 



To accomplish these two great objects, it is necessary that a fund 

 should be created immediately, sufficient for the purchase of the land, 

 surrounding it with a substantial fence, the erection of a gardener's 

 lodge, laying out the grounds, and preparing them for the purposes of 

 an Experimental Garden and a Cemetery. That this can be done, your 

 committee do not entertain a doubt, and respectfully recommend the 

 adoption of the following measures, as best calculated to insure success. 



H. A. S. DEARBORN, 



For the Committee. 



The Committee, to whom was referred the method of raising sub- 

 scriptions for the Experimental Garden and Cemetery, beg leave to 

 REPORT: 



1. That it is expedient to purchase, for a Garden and Cemetery, a 

 tract of land, commonly known by the name of " Sweet Auburn," near 



