Rural Cemeteries. 493 



harmonize with that expression of solemnity which is requi- 

 site ; for while it is desirable to give these grounds an air of 

 Qheerfulness, it is equally desirable to avoid one of gaiety and 

 splendor. 



It is so common to eulogize flowers, as the accompaniments 

 of tombs — emblematical, as they are regarded, of our immor- 

 tality, and of those virtues which serve to prepare us for the 

 company of higher beings — that it is believed too many of 

 them cannot be introduced into a rural cemetery. Hence we 

 see them planted not only around the graves, but cultivated 

 in parterres and borders, in such profusion that visitors forget 

 to admire anything except these dazzling horticultural exhi- 

 bitions. Admitting that flowers are the most beautiful objects 

 in nature, it does not follow from this admission that they are 

 in character in all places and situations. A simple violet 

 growing upon the rising mound of a grave, in a country 

 churchyard, never fails to impress the beholder with a pleas- 

 ing sentiment. But it does not follow that any such senti- 

 ment would be awakened by seeing a glittering row of 

 petunias, pinks and calceolarias, in a dug border on each side 

 of the grave. Such a display not only fails in producing this 

 pleasing effect, but it serves to destroy the effect of the little 

 azure tufts of violets, that may be growing spontaneously 

 Upon the green turf of the rising hillock. 



A friend of mine, who had no particular fancy for mere 

 sentimentalities, once showed me, with great delight, a little 

 flower of the white-weed, that had sprung up on the new- 

 made grave of an infant son. He made no speeches on the 

 occasion ; but it undoubtedly seemed to him like a spontane- 

 ous offering of nature, who, with unseen hand, had planted 

 this little flower to memorialize the innocence of the child, 

 who had been thus prematurely seized by death. No such 

 harmless and pleasing superstition could have been associated 

 with flowers which he had planted with his own hand. The 

 remembrance of the act of sowing the seed would eflectually 

 dissolve the charm. 



After the burial of a friend, were a little wood-sparrow to 

 perch daily on a bush by the side of the grave, and sing 



