PARK AND CEMETERY. 
182 
to solve, and a larger chance to serve than 
his wildest dreams ever portrayed. 
With a trial he soon concludes that he 
has made a “poor flst" of it. 
That sense of imperfection grows on us 
in any sphere of life or labor in proportion 
to the sincerity and fidelity with which 
we seek to do our work. 
Let us enter into our Twenty-first Con-; 
vention with the spirit of attentiveness and 
submission. Let discussions and argument 
be indulged in solely for the benefit we 
might derive. 
Secretary and Treasurer Lawson’s 
baggage had failed to arrive, which 
necessitated deferring his report un- 
til a later meeting. He announced 
the death of Wm. Stone, Lynn, Mass., 
and David Woods, Pittsburg, Pa., two 
widely known and highly respected 
members of the association who had 
passed aw.ay within a month. 
The President appointed the usual 
sessional committees and the remain- 
der of the morning session was de- 
voted to the “Question Box.” The 
discussion of the construction of 
vaults and mausoleums brought out a 
statement by Supt. Grassau of Green- 
wood, Brooklyn, to the effect that a 
very large percentage of the vaults 
erected in that cemetery prior to 1893 
were in bad condition; quite a num- 
ber had to be taken down as a result 
of improper construction. 
The afternoon was spent very pleas- 
antly at North Burial Ground whither 
the party was conveyed in special 
electric cars. This is one of the old- 
est burial places in New England, the 
inscription on a huge boulder at the 
entrance indicating that it had been 
in continuous use for 207 years. The 
quaintly lettered and carved tomb- 
stones, weather-worn and in some in- 
stances almost illegible, in the older 
sections, greatly interested the visit- 
ors. After a tour of the grounds the 
party congregated in a shady spot on 
one of the broad lawns and listened 
to an address by Mr. William K. 
Reynolds, Chairman of the Commis- 
sioners of North Burial Ground, in 
which he gave an interesting histor- 
ical sketch of the cemetery. The 
grounds originally comprised forty- 
five acres and the first burial of which 
there is record was made in 1710. For 
more than 100 years they remained 
little more than a sand hill and not 
until 1842 did the city fathers take 
cognizance of the needs of the ceme- 
tery. The first rules were enforced 
in 1846 and the first deed passed two 
years later. In 1861 the legislature 
authorized the commissioners to es- 
tablish a perpetual care fund which 
now amounts to over $200,000. The 
a'in of the commissioners is to make 
the cemetery second to none and in 
the words of Mr. Reynolds this is 
“probably the oldest burial place that 
is up-to-date in this country.” Al- 
though a city cemetery under the di- 
rection -of the city council there is 
an entire absence of political influence. 
Supt. Warren has a free hand and 
no one in the city council would un- 
dertake to dictate to him in regard to 
hiring or discharging his men. Mr. 
Reynolds cited an instance clearly 
demonstrating this fact, which was 
loudly applauded. The cemetery now 
covers 126 acres of beautifully undu- 
lating land, and is conducted on the 
lawn plan. One of the latest improve- 
ments, a substantial side hill receiving 
vault, was illustrated in a recent issue 
of this journal. 
OFFICE BUILDING, ISLAND CEME- 
TERY. 
Newport, R. I. 
At 4:30 p. ni. the guests departed 
from the cemetery in special cars and 
an hour later were on an excursion 
steamer on the way to Fields Point, 
a well known resort where the waters 
of the Providence river mingle with 
those of Narragansett Bay. The car 
and boat ride had whetted the appe- 
tites for the New England shore din- 
ner that was served here on the ar- 
rival of the steamer, and ample jus- 
tice was done the bountiful meal. 
The menu consisted of clam chowder, 
baked clams, clam fritters, baked fish, 
green corn, sweet potatoes, water- 
melon and coffee. The return trip b}' 
steamer brought the first day’s de- 
lightful outing to a close. 
On the morning of the second day 
special electric cars conveyed the 
party to Swan Point Cemetery. On 
leaving the cars at the picturesque 
entrance the group photograph illus- 
'trated in this report was taken. A 
business session was held in a tent 
on the lawn adjoining the office. 
President Cline introduced Mr. Al- 
fred Stone, President of the Swan 
Point Cemetery Association, who, in 
an interesting address, extended cor- 
dial greetings to the visitors and gave 
a resume of the origin and develop- 
ment of what is now admitted by 
cemetery men and landscape garden- 
ers generally to be one of the most 
beautiful cemeteries in this country. 
The experiences recounted by Mr. 
Slone were by no means peculiar to 
Swan Point, but all boards of trus- 
tees have not acted as wisely in 
adopting modern methods; and some 
may even yet find food for thought 
in contemplating what has been ac- 
complished here. Mr. Stone said in 
part : 
History of Swan Point 
The sixty years corporate life of Swan 
Point Cemetery is divided very sharply into 
two equal parts. The first thirty years were 
pioneer years in which road-making- and lot 
selling were actively entered upon. 
Unfortunately the prevailing taste and 
ambition for display found expression in 
the early years by the erection of curbing; 
often offensively obtrusive and extravagant- 
ly vulgar in .design, and the fancied neces- 
sity of separating one’s lot from those of 
his neighbors by fences of cast iron, stone 
or stone posts and chains with supposed 
funeral urns dangling thereform, or by less 
offensive hedges, and little care was taken 
to see that the roads were kept free from 
weeds, that the borders were neatly 
trimmed, that shrubs were planted and 
cared for, and twice a year was quite fre- 
quent enough for mowing the grass. 
This cemetery was in this condition in 
1876, when a few who longed for better 
things turned up at the annual meeting 
and elected some new directors who had 
a notion that there was a need for and 
room for improvements. 
The new board made a careful survey of 
existing conditions, physical and financial, 
and without undue haste made some 
changes, the result of which I will in part 
outline and you will, in going over the 
cemetery, perceive what has been accom- 
plished in its physical development. As 
to the wisdom and taste of that which has 
been done it is more proper, as well as 
more modest, for us not to pass upon, but 
to leave you free to judge in approval or 
disapproval as your wide experience and 
trained judgment may dictate. 
I have spoken of the presence of curb- 
ings, fences and hedges of which we once 
had our full share, but they were under 
the control of the individual proprietors, 
•and of the unkempt condition of the 
grounds for which the directors were re- 
sponsible; it was, therefore, our first duty 
to find a superintendent who not only 
knew what ought to be done, but had the 
energy, will and determination to do. We 
heard of a young man at Forest Hill, an 
assistant superintendent, who we were told, 
had the stuff in him for the making of a 
full-fledged superintendent and so we set 
about to capture him and Anally succeeded 
