56 
THE MODERN CEMETERY, 
The Patterson rionument, Calvary Cemetery, 
' St. Louis, Mo. 
The memo- 
rial statue re- 
cently erected 
at Calvary in 
memory of 
Mrs. Winifred 
Patterson is a 
decided and 
refreshing de- 
parture from 
the prevalent 
distress i ngly 
stere o ty p e d 
monument- 
al styles. The 
design is an 
adaptation o f 
Dore's Bible 
illustration of 
the w i d o w ’s 
mite. I have 
THE PATTERSON MONUMENT. not Seen the 
illustration, so do not know in what details it dif- 
fers from the original, but it is safe to say that it 
differs widely from it in pose and expression. An 
able critic has said that “Dore makes love, pity, 
charity and faith absurd,” that “under his influ- 
ence one feels that honest emotions or any trait of 
common humanity, much less piety, are evidence of 
weakness or nonsense.’’ There is certainly noth- 
ing in the calm face and quiet, self-forgetful bear- 
ing of this beautiful figure to suggest anything of 
that kind. 
The monument was designed by Mr. Me Nama- 
ra, a St Louis architect, and executed in Carrara 
marble by an Italian. 
The statue is seven feet high, and stands on a 
draped altar table five feet square, which in turn 
rests on a granite plinth six feet square. On the 
face of the plinth is the name Patterson, and on the 
face of the altar, the drapery drawn up in heavy 
folds, discloses this inscription: 
MARK XII. 
“For they all did cast in of their abundance. But 
she of her want, did cast in all she had, even her 
whole living.” 
On the opposite side of the altar the inscription 
reads: 
In Memory 
of 
WINIFRED PATTERSON 
Born March 13th 1805 
Died October 2nd 1891. 
May she rest in peace. 
On each end of the altar are reversed torches. 
And on both sides and ends the well carved 
drapery is drawn up in heavy folds as on the front. 
The design is beautiful in its idea and its sim- 
plicity. 
The well poised figure is appropriately clothed 
in a long flowing garment that falls in graceful, 
easy folds from the knotted scarf which girdles it at 
the waist. Deep drooping sleeves carry out the 
long lines and excellent drapery effects of the en- 
tire work. The head is closely coifed in a charm- 
ingly folded kerchief. The right hand is extended 
in the act of dropping a coin for the poor. The 
pose and expression of the entire figure is that of 
modest charity. The statue really means some- 
thing. 
The lesson of applied virtue is so clearly shown, 
and the work in its entirety so distinctive, that it 
can hardly fail to be remarked. And it seems im- 
possible that any one should fail to recognize the 
fact that the expression of an idea gives that mean- 
ing to marble which is the only reason for its prom- 
inence in cemeteries. 
The statue is a fitting tribute to a charitable 
woman, and it is an object lesson in monumental 
designs. 
Fitness should be the first point considered. If 
it were, there would be fewer pretentious blocks of 
stone remarkable for nothing save their size, and 
fewer tall shafts that often serve only to call atten- 
tion to the difference between their height and the 
small deeds they commemorate. 
The Patterson monument is joyfully hailed by 
the Calvary authorities as a move in the right di- 
rection. They are proud of it and with good rea- 
son. 
Cemeteries will become something more than 
places to be melancholy in when landscape beauty is 
freely introduced, when low, unobtrusive markers 
are used when only names are to be recorded, and, 
(where money is to be expended,) when monu- 
ments, statues and monoliths are only set up in re- 
membrance of great names, of great deeds, or fit- 
tingly record in tangible form striking examples of 
human virtue. 
Fanny Copley Seavey. 
The Directors of Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, have 
ssuggested the following form of conveyance with a view to cor- 
rect the practice of lot owners disinterring and removing bodies 
and disposing of their lots: ‘‘I give and devise to the proprietors 
of Spring Grove Cemetery my lot in the said cemetery, located 
in Hamilton County, Ohio, designated as Lot No. — , Section — , 
to be held by them and their successors forever in trust for the 
permanent interment of myself and (here insert names of per- 
sons whose interment therein is to be permanent), wholly free 
from control of my heirs at law or any other person whatever,” 
etc. 
