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a perpetual dedication of it, as a Rural Cemetery or 

 Burying-Ground, and to plant and embellish it with 

 shrubbery, and flowers, and trees, and walks, and 

 other rural ornaments. And I stand here by the or- 

 der and in behalf of this Society, to declare that, by 

 these services, it is to be deemed henceforth and for- 

 ever so dedicated. Mount Auburn, in the noblest 

 sense, belongs no longer to the living, but to the 

 dead. It is a sacred, it is an eternal trust. It is 

 consecrated ground. May it remain forever invio- 

 late ! 



What a multitude of thoughts crowd upon the 

 mind in the contemplation of such a scene. How 

 much of the future, even in its far distant reaches, 

 rises before us with all its persuasive realities. Take 

 but one little narrow space of time, and how affecting 

 are its associations ! Within the flight of one half 

 century, how many of the great, the good, and the 

 wise, will be gathered here ! How many in the love- 

 liness of infancy, the beauty of youth, the vigor of 

 manhood, and the maturity of age, will lie down here, 

 and dwell in the bosom of their mother earth ! The 

 rich and the poor, the gay and the wretched, the fa- 

 vorites of thousands, and the forsaken of the world, 

 the stranger in his solitary grave, and the patriarch 

 surrounded by the kindred of a long lineage ! How 

 many will here bury their brightest hopes, or blasted 

 expectations ! How many bitter tears will here be 

 shed ! How many agonizing sighs will here be heav- 

 ed ! How many trembling feet will cross the path- 



