Art Out-of-Doors 



hideous result when anything more compli- 

 cated is designed without an artist's help. 

 Tlie big. awkward tombs^ the tall, ungraceful 

 shafts, the clumsy, meaningless, hideous fig- 

 ures, and the commonplace, ill-proportioned 

 head-stones which fill our cemeteries, would 

 be exasperating if they were not so piciful. 

 They are tributes of true affection, often 

 costing, one cannot doubt, a great deal 

 more than their givers could rightly afford 

 to pay ; and thus, in their distressing failure 

 to be either beautiful or expressive, they 

 bring a tear to the eye rather than a word 

 of scorn or anger to the lips. If, in thus 

 telling other people that we loved our dead, 

 we could consent to speak less loudly and 

 more carefully, how beautiful, how touch- 

 ing and impressive a cemetery might be ! 

 The price now paid for a big monument, 

 bad in design and worse in ornamentation, 

 might persuade even a great artist to design 

 a cross or head-stone which, in its simple 

 way, would be an object of the utmost value. 

 Such an object would really honor the mem- 

 ory of our dead, instead of simply shouting 

 out their names with a crude and vulgar 



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