i86 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
CEMETERIES IN THE OZARK MOUNTAINS. 
A recent trip through the Ozark fruit belt took 
me over the Missouri section of the Frisco railway 
and also a part of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott and 
Memphis road nearly to the Arkansas line. 
While looking into the fruit interests of this re- 
gion I incidentally paid more or less attention to 
Ps cemeteries, and found it a promising field for 
the dissemination of specific information regarding 
the modern movement in cemetery matters. 
There seems to have been no champion of the 
good cause to go down to the help of a people al- 
ready in the front rank of most progressive move- 
ments. 
It is a beautiful country with no end of landscape 
ready in a large way, and only waiting for recogni- 
tion of its splendid possibilities in the development 
of cemeteries that might be landscape models as 
well as perfectly adapted to practical use. Every 
thing in this line seems yet to 
be done. But, on the other 
hand, there is far less to be un- 
done than in the majority of old 
grounds that have been wrongly 
started. 
* * * 
To speak specifically: the 
cemeteries of Pierce City, Law- 
rence Co., and of West Plains, 
Howell County, are practically 
alike in condition and location 
— both lacking in design and 
both on hill tops. Both are 
well situated for securing excel- 
lent landscape effects and the 
surrounding country abounds 
in native material for the orna- 
mental planting of the grounds. 
In neither has any advan- 
tage been taken of either situ- 
ation or material. 
Good results could soon be obtained by a reali- 
zation on the part of the cemetery authorities not 
only of the necessity for a change, but also of a 
correct conception of what constitutes a desirable 
cemetery. And that’s the rub! 
But among the public spirited citizens of the 
two pretty little cities there are doubtless some will- 
ing to patiently study the features of the lawn plan 
and, having decided on a fitting scheme for their 
cemetery site, will bring their influence to bear in a 
determined effort to start anew and in the right di- 
rection. 
To attain success this must be done even though 
the resulting plan runs counter, in some of its de- 
tails, to the preconceived notions of lot owners 
These prejudices will be found to rest on nothing 
more substantial than inherited respect for time 
honored customs that any intelligent man or woman 
can readily be made to understand are based on 
wholly wrong premises, or at least upon those that 
are altered or removed by changed conditions. P"or 
instance, when the pioneers buried their dead in a 
wild and sparsely inhabited country, grave mounds 
and enclosed plots were essential to mark and pro- 
tect the spot, but it does not follow that in civilized 
communities the beauty of cemetery lawns need be 
spoiled by mounds that give much the appearance 
of a village of Prairie dogs or by marking them into 
checker boards with fences, hedges and copings. 
Both customs are relics of by-gone days and condi- 
tions and have long outlived their reason for exis- 
tence. 
* * * 
If the officials take action soon the changes in 
these two cemeteries need not be very great. The 
worst features of the grounds as they now stand a re 
the use of copings, the elevation of lots above the 
grade of the avenues and alleys and the mounding 
of graves. 
It goes without saying that all this should be 
done away with and the further revision of the 
grounds undertaken only after careful study of the 
underlying principles of the so-called lawn plan. A 
friend at Pierce City suggested filling in the ave- 
nues to bring them to the level of the raised lots. 
This seems a simple way to overcome a defect that 
is bad enough in any cemetery, but the results of 
this dry season should be convincing proof of its 
peculiar unfitness on light soils and dry exposed 
sites. 
SOME OF THE TREES, MAPLE PARK CEMETERY, SPRINGFIELD, MO. 
