96 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
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| ; ^-@#41 CEMETERY NOTES. 
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The City Council of South Bend, Ind., is looking for a lo- 
cation for a new city cemetery. Several siteshave been inspected 
and bids received. 
* * * 
A bill in the Maryland legislature to give cemetery corpora- 
tions and trustees powers to make repairs to lots and railings, and 
collect the amount expended by suit failed of passage. 
* * * 
Vandals have been at work in the Old Granary cemetery, 
Boston, evidently to secure relics, and have taken pieces from 
the tombstones of Hancock, Paul Revere and Sumner. Where 
are the authorities? 
* * * 
An exchange says that when once filled in, a Moslem grave 
is never reopened on any account. To remove the faintest 
chance of it being thus defiled a cypress tree is planted after 
every interment, so that the cemeteries resemble forests more 
than anything else. 
■ * * * 
The services of a landscape gardener have been secured to 
prepare plans for the beautifying of the old Riverside cemetery 
at the upper end of the town of Middletown, Conn. Funds for 
its improvement have been raised by the D. A. R., and the mat- 
ter is now in the hands of the executive committee. 
* * * 
A large amount of improvement has been carried out in Me- 
tairie cemetery, New Orleans, during the past two years, some 
$40,000 having been expended. The landscape effects have been 
heightened by the construction of small lakes and many addi- 
tions have been made to the list of rare and beautiful trees and 
shrubs. 
* * * 
William J. Rainey the wealthy coal operator is about to 
erect a memorial to his parents, brother and sister, in the Bridge- 
port, W. Va., cemetery, which is better known as “Weeks.’ 
Besides this he intends to subscribe liberally for the care of the 
cemetery, and will contribute to the end of having all lots prop- 
erly cared for. 
* * * 
A bicycle funeral was a recent innovation in Elizabeth, N. 
J. Most of the mourners, men and women, followed the hearse 
on bicycles from the house to Christ Episcopal church, and after 
the services were ended the mourners again mounted their wheels 
and slowly rode after the body to Evergreen cemetery, three 
miles distant, where the interment took place. The spectacle 
attracted much attention. 
* * * 
If the disgraceful scene enacted at Plymouth Church, Brook- 
lyn, at the close of the funeral ceremonies of the late Mrs. Henry 
Ward Beecher are an index of what we are to expect at future 
church funerals, a peremptory advertisement of “No flowers, 
please” will be in order. The scramble for the flowers on the 
occasion cited was such that the decorations were destroyed and 
the police were finally called in to empty the church. 
* * * 
Considerable stirring up has been the result of the legislation 
in the Massachusetts House looking to the creation of a depart, 
ment in Boston for the care of the city cemeteries. A board of 
trustees has been appointed to take over from the Board of Health 
the 17 Boston cemeteries hitherto under its charge. It appears 
that custodians are to be appointed to take the place of the pres- 
ent superintendents, the majority of whom are to be relieved. 
This is looked upon as a step backward, and will probably result 
in more cemetery legislation in the near future, as it should. 
The Allyn Memorial Chapel, Spring Grove cemetery, Hart- 
ford, Conn., which was built in 1883 at a cost of $40,000, and 
which has been accepted by the cemetery trustees as a gift from 
Mrs. Robert Allyn, has been given over to experts to ascertain to 
what extent repairs are necessary to place it in good condition. 
Owing to a disappointment as to site when the chapel was built 
it was neglected by its owners and allowed to take care of itself, 
and this has resulted in serious questions as to its stability and 
usefulness. It is hoped that its condition will admit of restora- 
tion and with possible additions make it an important feature 
of the cemetery attractions. 
* * * 
In the 48 th annual report of the Evergreen Cemetery As- 
sociation, New Haven, Conn., the president again wisely calls 
attention to the need of a chapel, for which a fund has been ac- 
cumulating now amounting to over $7,000. He suggests that 
no more appropriate memorial could be erected than such a 
building, which to meet the requirements would cost from $12,000 
to $15,000. He also urgently calls attention to the Perpetual 
Care Fund, which at present is only $2,416. The total receipts 
for the past year were $14,385.50, which included: sale of lots 
$6,283,35; single graves $311.05; opening graves $2,125.30; care 
of lots $2,666.50. Among the expenditures were: trees, plants, 
and such requisites, $1,641.29, labor and salaries, $8,072.74. 
There were 437 interments during the year. 
* * * 
Among the many novel and eccentric methods which are 
being adopted for commemorating the record reign, that of the 
Neyland Parish Council stands out as unique. No frivolous dis- 
play will mark the Diamond Jubilee at Neyland, no fireworks 
will fizzle and explode at this little South Wales village, the aged 
poor will go without their tea, and the children without their en- 
tertainment. But as a set-off against all these disappointments, 
Neylanders will be able to look forward to being carried to the 
grave in a jubilee funeral car, which the Parish Council have de- 
cided to purchase as a means of commemorating the sixty years 
of reign. The Chairman of the Council ought to show the ap- 
positeness of the memorial by arranging his decease so that he 
could inaugurate the new vehicle on Jubilee Day! Funeral 
Directors' Journal , London. 
* * * 
An ordinance has been passed by the St. Paul, Minn., 
Council making it necessary to bury all bodies in a coffin and 
four feet below the surface. In discussing the matter the intro- 
ducer said that at present there is no ordinance or statute cover- 
ing the point and that burial can take place at any depth that is 
desired. Out on the White Bear road there is a cemetery called 
St. Jacob’s where it was the practice during the winter to inter 
bodies only about a foot under the ground, with the result that 
the health department concluded that the health of the people 
is endangered by such a course. He declared that the result of 
this placing the bodies so near the surface and without being in- 
closed in a wooden or metallic casket had resulted in the most 
horrible desecration of the graves by dogs. The ordinance makes 
the penalty for violation of the provisions of the ordinance a fine 
of from $5 to $50, or incarceration in the workhouse not exceed- 
ing ninety days. 
* * * 
Former lot owners of Maple Hill cemetery, Minneapolis, 
Minn , which was condemned for street purposes over a year ago, 
have been wondering why they were not officially notified of the 
confiscation of their property and compensation awarded. The 
street opening commission state no legal claim will hold against 
the city, they having awarded $1,000 damages at the time the 
streets were cut through the cemetery to Martha J. Cummings, 
the original owner. This award was made on the ground that the 
lots sold by her to the other parties interested were transferred 
