623 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
The sentiment of each is comforting and 
consolatory, but neither one comes from 
the Bible. 
By this time, after all that I have told 
you about cemeteries, I am sure that you 
are so thoroughly interested that you will 
listen eagerly to all my suggestions for 
mproving Oakland, 
Every successful thing must have a good 
foundation, so first of all, emploj^ a land- 
scape gardener to lay off the plot of 
ground in lots, driveways, flower beds and 
walks. Employ a man w'ith a sense of the 
Artistic. Five years from now it will be 
too late. If the ground is laid off properly 
now, then each lot owner, each Interested 
citizen will have something to work to. 
After this work has been accomplished, 
have trees set out all along the drive- 
ways; trees, yes and more trees. The 
gentle breeze, the singing birds and the 
inviting shade must come before anything 
■else. 
One essential, and perhaps the very 
first, must be water available at all times. 
What can our personal care do, if the 
natural requisites for growth are not pro- 
wided. No matter how great our pride, or 
how assiduous our attention, it is love’s la- 
bor lost unless every lot can be sprinkled. 
I would suggest restful seats, as many 
■as can be provided along the streets. The 
grief stricken, those who are fatigued by 
working on their lots, or the strollers, will 
all find these provisions for rest a boon. 
Until all the lots are occupied, cherish 
plots of wild flowers here and there; pre- 
serve nature as long and as far as pos- 
-sible. 
Appoint a cemetery committee which 
shall include one. or more women. This 
committee can serve one, three or five 
years. 
Civic pride will cause any one to serve 
on such a committee. The first business 
■of this committee should be to se- 
.cure protection against stock, and this 
means the all-destroying chicken. I ad- 
vise that this committee study the subject 
The following bills were passed by 
the recent legislature of Illinois: 
House Bill No. 301 in Senate; A 
Bill for an Act to amend Section 1 
■of an Act entitled, “An Act to pro- 
tect all citizens in their civil and legal 
rights, and fixing a penalty for viola- 
tion of the same,” approved June 10, 
188.5, in force July 1, 1885, as amend- 
ed by Act approved May 15, 1903, in 
force July 1, 1903. As amended it 
reads as follows; 
Sec. 1. That all persons within the jur- 
isdiction of said State of Illinois shall be 
entitled to the full and equal enjoyment 
of the accommodation, advantages, facili- 
ties and privileges of inns, restaurants, 
eating houses, hotels, soda fountains, sa- 
loons, barber shops, bath rooms, theaters, 
skating rinks, concerts, cafes, bicycle 
rinks, elevators, ice cream parlors or 
rooms, railroads, omnibuses, stages, street 
■cars, boats, funeral hearses and public 
conveyances on land and water, and all 
other places of public accommodation and 
amusement, subject only to the conditions 
of cemeteries, and from time to time pul)- 
lish articles giving ideas for the benefit of 
the lot owners, new ideas for the treat- 
ment of the lot, for the selection of mon- 
uments, the rules which all should ob- 
serve, and so on. 
This is to insure intelligent procedure 
among the lot owners, as well as unifor- 
mity for our ground. A beautiful home 
for the dead will Inspire a beautiful home 
for the living, so that all our little city 
will be influenced in civic pride through 
our efforts for our cemetery. 
So many of our loved ones who have 
moved away are always brought home to 
be buried and the services are conducted 
at the cemetery in the broiling sun of 
summer or the cold blast of winter. What 
an advantage a small chapel erected in a 
central part of the grounds would be! It 
need not be expensive, but made in the 
form of an artistic pavilion, and oh! what 
a comfort it would be. 
And now for the sornething new. There 
are styles in cemetery making as well as 
in everything else, and we all know the 
dreadful crime of being out of fashion. 
You know it is as well to be out of the 
W'orld, as out of fashion. Perhaps you 
have all heard the story of the man who 
was desperately ill; his physician told him 
that his days were numbered, so he called 
all his family to his bedside, told them 
that he was going and that they must get 
out his P. P. C. cards, right away. So, 
with their precedent, we MUST BE STY- 
LISH. 
There is a great deal of literature being 
printed now-a-days; in this, the cemetery 
is coming under the limelight of much dis- 
cussion. The new style, and it certainly is 
appealing, is to do away with the irregu- 
ar effect of high and low stones, curbing 
and no curbing, so the lovers of aesthetic 
beauty and symmetry are agitating the 
Park cemetery. In this the appearance of 
uniformity and restfulness prevails. Well 
kept trees, walks and drives accompany 
grass plots in unbroken succession. The 
and limitations established by law and 
applicable alike to all citizens; nor shall 
there be any discrimination on account 
of race or color in the price to be charged 
and paid for lots in any cemetery or place 
for burying the dead, but the price to be 
charged and paid for lots in any cemetery 
or place for burying the dead shall be 
applicable alike to all citizens of every 
race and color. 
House Bill No. 137 in Senate. A 
Bill for an Act to amend Section four 
(4) of an Act entitled, “An Act to 
provide for the organization, owner- 
ship, management and control of 
cemetery associations,” approved May 
14, 1!)03, in force July 1, 1903. Here- 
by amended to read as follows: 
Sec, 4. That said persons so receiving 
said certificate of organization of said as- 
sociation shall proceed to elect from their 
own number a board of trustees for said 
association, which said board shall con- 
sist of not less than six (6) nor more than 
ten (1(1) members, as said persons so re- 
ceiving said certificate may determine; 
that said trustees when elected shall im- 
fiat simple marble pillow is inscribed with 
the name. The grave is flat, rather than 
the raised mound which we have had so 
long. In other words, our dead are laid to 
rest in a beautiful park. Peace and repose 
prevails. It may take us a little while to 
accustom ourselves to the change; innova- 
tions nearly always arouse opposition, at 
first; we have grown to know one thing and 
the other seems strange. But suppose we 
think about it. Now is the accepted time. 
The Park cemetery is growing in popular- 
ity. We are standing upon the threshold 
of its appearance. If we begin to improve 
Oakland along the old line of cemetery 
treatment in less than ten years we will 
find ourselves away out of style and re- 
gret that we did not avail ourselves of the 
passing opportunity. If we today, inau- 
gurate, those of tomorrow will adopt. The 
cemetery is the one spot in all Weather- 
ford upon which we can all agree. Young 
and old, rich and poor have a common in- 
terest in this spot. Let us pluck the blos- 
soms of good intent, and weave them into 
the chaplet of good resolutions to make 
“Oakland” the most beautiful spot in all 
our city. 
Let us realize that although we may 
have no precious dead today, w'e may have 
them tomorrow, and then we will hope to 
say with Shakespeare when he thought of 
his loved ones in old Trinity church yard 
at his home on the Avon. 
“Here lurks no treason, here no envy 
smells. 
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep.” 
Or perhaps we favor the lines which 
Mark Twain selected for the grave of his 
idolized daughter, 
“Warm summer sun. 
Shine kindly here; 
Warm southern wind 
Blow softly here. 
Green sod above 
Lie light, lie light. 
Good night, dear heart. 
Good night, good night.” 
IN ILLINOIS 
mediately organize by electing from their 
own membership a president, vice-presi- 
dent and treasurer, and shall also elect a 
secretary, who may or may not be a 
member of said board of trustees, in their 
discretion, which said officers shall hold 
their respective offices for and during the 
period of one (1) year, and until their 
successors are duly elected and qualified. 
Said trustees when so elected shall di- 
vide themselves by lot into two classes, 
the first of which shall hold their offices 
for and during the period of three (3) 
years, and the second of which shall hold 
their offices for and during the period of 
six (6) years, and that thereafter the 
term of office of said trustees shall be six 
(6) years, and that upon the expiration 
of the term of office of any of said trus- 
tees. or in case of the resignation or 
death or removal from the State of Illi- 
nois of any of said trustees, or their re- 
moval from office as provided in this Act, 
the remaining trustees, or a majority of 
them, shall notify the county judge in 
which said cemetery is situated, of such 
vacancy or vacancies in writing and 
thereupon said county judge shall ap- 
point some suitable person or persons to 
LATE CEMETERY LEGISLATION 
