34 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
CEMETERY NOTES. 
l^y an act of the legislature the trustees of Oak 
Hill cemetery at Herkimer, N. Y., have been 
authorized to assess lot owners a sum not to exceed 
one dollar a year for the care of the grounds. 
Lot owners at Dover, N. H., are contributing 
one dollar each to a fund to be expended for 
flower-beds at the principal cemetery. 
A custom that has been observed at Framing- 
ham, Mass., for the past forty years, is the holding 
of an annual May festival in the town hall for the 
benefit of the cemetery fund. The festival, which is 
in the nature of a fair or bazaar, is in charge of the 
ladies of the town, and a handsome sum is usually 
realized with which to beautify the cemetery. 
The family of the late Thomas Clark, of Ames- 
bury. Mass. , have contracted for a granite gateway, 
to be erected as a memorial to him at the entrance 
to Mt. Prospect cemetery. 
A citizen of Ft. Wayne, Inch, has presented the 
Lindenwood Cemetery Association with a pair of 
imported white swans. 
The annual report of Health Commissioner 
Ware declares that the general health of the city of 
Chicago has never been as good as at present. 
Since January, 1890, there has been a steady de- 
crease in the annual death rate, which is now lower 
than in any city in the United States or Europe of 
over 500,000 inhabitants. In 1891 the death rate 
per 1,000 was 22.20; for the municipal year just 
closed the rate from all causes has been 18.23, 
from natural causes 17.04 per 1,000. 
After expending $i,000 in improving an addi- 
tion to Rose Hill cemetery at Macon, Ga., and 
disposing of a number of burial lots, the city 
officials were enjoined by property holders from 
making further use of the grounds for burial pur- 
poses. The enjoiners claim that the land is part of 
a reservation that cannot be disposed of for such 
purposes. 
Cave Hill cemetery, Louisville, Ky., has been 
particularly unfortunate with its water fowl. Some- 
time ago a pair of black swans were killed by a 
guard, and recently a beautiful pair of white swans 
have fallen prey to dogs. 
Joseph A. James, sexton of Walnut Hill ceme- 
tery, Belleville, 111 ., has filled that position since 
1854, in which time he has dug 16,000 graves. 
The remains of Jefferson Davis are to be placed 
in Hollywood cemetery, Richmond, Va,, on the 31st 
of this month. Hollywood contains many distin- 
guished dead, of state and national repute. Two 
of the presidents, Monroe and John Tyler, General 
Pickett, of Gettysburg fame, and many others are 
interred there. 
Arbor Day was fittingly observed at many 
country cemeteries as an occasion for cleaning up 
preparatory for spring. 
Marysville, Cal., proposes holding a floral 
carnival as a means of raising funds for cemetery 
improvement. 
At the request of a large number of lot owners 
the P'lemingsburg, Ky., cemetery authorities have 
drawn the color line, and will henceforth sell no 
more lots to negroes. This action, it is stated, was 
made necessary because of the manner in which the 
colored people violated the sabbath. 
• A real estate syndicate of New York and 
Brooklyn has bought the Union cemetery in the 
latter city and will transform it into building lots. 
The cemetery covers ten acres and during the forty 
years of its existence 40,000 interments have been 
made; $200,000 was realized from the sale. 
A change in the political complexion of munici- 
pal affairs at Cleveland, Ohio, has cost that city 
the services of an efficient official, Capt. L. W. 
Bailey, who for thirteen years has been identified 
with the city cemeteries, having been obliged to 
retire to make room for a new appointee. 
The government has been making some hand- 
some improvements recently to the national ceme- 
tery near Ale.xandria. The road leading to the 
cemetery has been macadamized, and at the main 
entrance iron gates have been placed, elaborately 
ornamented with two large United States coats-of- 
arms, cast in bronze. A handsome octagon-shaped 
rostrum, for use on Decoration Days, constructed 
of ornamental iron work, with tile floor, and a 
broad stairway, is another improvement. The 
wooden flagstaff has been replaced by one of fluted 
iron, seventy-five feet high. A fountain has been 
placed a short distance from the main entrance and 
lodge, the waste water of which is conveyed in a 
pipe to a miniature lake, filled with various species 
of fish. About one-fourth of the enclosure is devoted 
to flowers and shrubbery. 
The War Department is preparing to erect similar 
iron rostrums within the national cemeteries at 
Annapolis, Md., Yorktown, Va., Fort Donaldson, 
Tenn., and Fayettesville, Ark. 
The desire for poetic obituaries in Paris has led 
to a new profession, whose followers style them- 
selves “ professional panegyrists.” They are to be 
