PARK AND CEMETERY. 
VIEW IN CREMATION SECTION OF MODEL CEMETERY 
EXHIBIT IN STETTIN. 
Showing a Family Columbarium and Statue of Prayer. 
of the country joiner or black- 
smith of about the middle of the last 
century. How much fine sentiment, how 
much imagination was there in many 
of these monuments of a forgotten 
time. 
The forms testify to a sentiment of 
quiet distinction, a rich imagination, 
and even a certain elegance in the lines, 
so that one is really astonished. The 
ornaments and decorations are delicate- 
ly constructed, often being merely in- 
dicated. Among these monuments there 
are some which, being newly remodeled, 
could easily pass for the work of a 
modern artist. In those days when a 
person prided himself on being above 
the ordinary run of people he merely 
had a gold finish put on his wrought- 
iron monument. Since Pomerania is 
not rich in stone it is natural that his- 
torical stone monuments are found but 
seldom ; wherever they are met with, 
however, they are, as is shown by the 
models exhibited at the exposition, sub- 
stantially constructed of domestic drift- 
block, and moulded with a fine sense 
of form. 
All these examples of the lost art of 
cemetery furnishing possess a certain 
trait of individuality. One can see im- 
mediately that these are not wholesale 
or “stock” products. 
The inscription always either relates 
to us some episode from the weary 
life of the sleeping one or is graced 
by a sententious sentence. And then 
the quality of the lettering is often as- 
tonishingly good. Even where the paint- 
ed letters betray the hand unaccustomed 
to writing, the work is described as 
often more attractive than the produc- 
tions of modern German stone “paint- 
ers.” 
Naturally and picturesquely grouped, 
these monuments were scattered over 
the green turf, surrounded by pines and 
birch-trees, among which were planted 
shrubs of gay and varied colors, the 
whole showing us how beautiful avenues 
of graves could look even with only the 
old simple wooden monument. It is 
in Germany regarded as the best me- 
morial for those having but a limited 
income. Many of the wooden monu- 
ments exhibited at the exposition have 
reached the age of eighty years. One 
of them usually lasts as long as it is 
necessary for a monument to last there. 
“And when, in the course of time,” says 
a German artist, “the marks of decay 
finally appear, the monument still stands 
in most beautiful harmony with the sur- 
roundings, now also no longer carefully 
attended to.” 
One section of the exposition was 
devoted to modern monuments of wood 
and wrought-iron. The department of 
public works of Munich, under City 
Architect Grassel, is also represented 
here by eighteen wooden monuments; 
they are constructed of hard wood, are 
standard and inexpensive monuments* 
costing 15 to 25 marks each or about 
three to five dollars. The catalogue 
thus refers to them : 
“In those splendid Bavarian models 
we see types of the artistic, highly de- 
veloped monument architecture preva- 
lent in the districts of our German 
Alps, possessing a peculiar character 
which stands in marked contrast to the 
simpler art of the wooden monuments 
turned out by hand in our own district.” 
Here also is the arrangement of the 
exhibit quite remarkable. It is such as 
to make the gay colored and richly 
carved monuments produce the best pos- 
sible impression. Surrounded by pines 
and birch-trees, shaded by beautiful old 
trees, they stand amidst groups of digi- 
talis plants, and asters, “alpinus super- 
bus,” in most cases adorned skillfully 
with flowers and moss. The idea was 
to show how much more complete is 
the harmony between wood and plants, 
than that between stone and plant-life. 
In the section devoted to modern 
monuments of stone the primary object 
was to give the public a practical dem- 
STUDY FOR ENTRANCE OF MODERN GERMAN CEMETERY. 
Designed by Landscape Architect Richard Stegmiller. 
