Rural Cemeteries. 495 



not harmonize with the solemnity that should pervade tliese 

 consecrated grounds. Did we believe the cemetery to be a 

 mere flower garden, we could pause with pleasure to con- 

 template their varied tints and their dazzling brilliancy. In 

 a burial ground, we are shocked by their appearance, as we 

 should be by gaudy pictures of butterflies and birds of para- 

 dise on a magnificent Doric pillar of marble. The ornaments 

 that are introduced among the tombs should be the work of 

 the sculptor's chisel ; and the simplicity and grandeur of 

 their designs should be in consonance with the solemnity of 

 the scenes in which they are placed. 



In our modern rural cemeteries it is customary to build a 

 fence around the spot which is appropriated to a single family. 

 I cannot tell why this should have been done by the persons 

 who first set the example. After the example is set, it is not 

 difficult to account for the universal adoption of ever so 

 ridiculous a custom. When fashion has sanctioned a practice, 

 people will accommodate themselves to it, without regard to 

 its needfulness or convenience. I can imagine that the fence 

 was first erected to protect the monuments from injury. It 

 is manifest that no such protection is at present required, 

 because brute animals are not allowed to run at liberty in 

 these grounds. If any injury were designed by man, the 

 fence could not prevent it. 



No fence at all ought to be admitted ; because a multitude 

 of fences, surrounding the little square enclosures, destroys 

 the unity of the grounds. I believe it impossible to construct 

 fences of any sort that would not injure the grandeur of the 

 effect, except the one that encloses the whole cemetery. A 

 fence around the several monuments must necessarily convey 

 the idea of something set apart from the general grounds. 

 It is pleasing to the mind to meditate on all who lie there as 

 belonging to one great family. The sight of numerous little 

 square yards, surrounded by a prim iron paling, suggests at 

 once the very opposite of this. It reminds one of exclusive- 

 ness, jealousy, aristocratic pride, anything rather than that 

 brotherly harmony and union, which are the great foundation 

 of the Christian system. 



