PARK AND CEMETERY, 
225 
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t CEMETERY NOTES l 
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In memory of her father, the late Rev. Daniel Frost, Miss 
Louise Frost has presented the Dayville cemetery, Dayville, 
Conn., with a new boundary fence, a great and needed improve- 
ment. 
* * * 
The government now cares for the graves of 337,296 soldiers 
in 83 National cemeteries, and it is not expected that the cost 
of establishing a few more to carry out the president’s proposi- 
tion to include the confederate dead, will increase the army ap- 
propriation bill to any very appreciable extent. 
* * * 
English circles in Italy and at home are greatly stirred over 
the Italian government’s intention to cut a new road through the 
Protestant cemetery at Rome. If carried out the line of the 
new road will take the grave of the poet Keats. Vigorous ef- 
forts are being made to prevent the ‘‘improvement.” If these 
fail of success the poet’s remains will probably be sent to En- 
gland for re-interment. 
* * * 
The closing of certain cemeteries within the city limits of 
San Francisco, and prohibiting burials therein, has been the 
cause for acrimonious debate for some time. There appears 
however to be an obvious necessity for such action if the pro- 
gress of the city is to remain unimpeded. The Board of Super- 
visors have recently adopted a resolution ordering certain ceme- 
teries closed to further burials after January 1, 1902. This will 
give ample time for arrangements to be made by all interested 
individuals. 
* * * 
The mayor of Taunton, Mass., in his recent address to the 
council, made the following gratifying remarks: “An act rela- 
tive to placing the public cemeteries in the city of Taunton un- 
der the control of the park commissioners, was passed at the last 
session of the legislature, subject to the general laws relating to 
cemeteries, and in consequence thereof, said commission has had 
the exclusive control which formerly belonged to the committee 
on public property. The result obtained under the present 
meth >d of procedure is satisfactory in the highest degree.” 
* * * 
In an interesting history of the parish the Rev. James Mur- 
ray of Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland, mentions that 
“amid the enjoyments of the people we must not fail to notice 
funerals,” and he calls attention to a curious custom which was 
prevalent in connection with them. It appears a sieve contain- 
ing clay pipes filled with tobacco was handed round just before 
the cortege started. Then the mourners smoked, and when the 
kirkyard was reached, as the grave was being filled, each stepped 
solemnly lorward and cast his pipe “amorg the mools.” 
* * 
By the death of John J. Fayel, who died recently in South 
Dakota, the town of Theresa, where he was born and attended 
public school, receives valuable bequests, amounting to a third 
of his estate. Of 1 his $7 500 is to be devoted to defraying burial 
expenses, the purchase of a lot and the erection of a monument. 
$5,000 is left to the Theresa Cemetery Ass relation for beautify- 
ing the said cemetery, and the residue after paying small lega- 
cies is to be expended by the executors fur the purpose of creat- 
ing a public library or a public school in the village of Theresa 
as the executors shall deem best. 
* * * 
The Nation il Manufacturers’ Association, of Philadelphia 
has received a letter from Caracas, Venezuela, asking that Penn- 
sy v mi nr l imcis and iron manufacturers be invited to send 
proposals to C. raras for the construction of an absolutely uni- 
que iron cen etery, to accommodate 25,000 bodies at the outset, 
and to be constructed in that city. Venezuela is a flat country 
in that vicinity, and the stone gra\es in which bodies are buried 
above the surface are not waterproof, but are decidedly leak). 
So the Venezuelans want to see what could be done toward se- 
curing an iron graveyard constructed in sections in this country 
and put together at Caracas. They want the cemetery built in 
the form of a square, with ornamental iron base and an attractive 
railing around it. 
* * * 
Canon Greenwell, or Durham Cathedral, England, has just 
finished the curious task of piecing together the coffin of St. 
Cuthbert. This shrine of the great Saxon saint was despoiled 
by the Commissioners of Henry VIII, and the body, which was 
found to be intact, was reburied in its original coffin in the nave 
of the church. In 1827 it was again dug up by Dean Hall, who 
was anxious to verify the condition of the body. On this occa- 
sion the outer coffin was broken up and thrown aisde. The frag- 
ments were, however, eventually saved, and have for many 
years been preserved in the Episcopal Library. Canon Green- 
well has now put these hundreds of pieces together, with the re- 
sult that it is now possible to decipher rough drawings represent- 
ing St. Cuthbert, the four Evangelists, the Virgin and Child, 
St, Michael the Archangel and the Crucifixion, which were 
rudely but deeply carved upon this interesting relic of Saxon 
art in the year A. D. 860. 
* * * 
In the course of his annual address to the Boston City Coun- 
cil, and speaking of the old cemeteries of Boston, the mayor said: 
“This department found on assuming charge of the old burial 
grounds of the city that no records of any value or importance 
existed in connection with them. Since that time the depart- 
ment has been copying the inscriptions on the old stones, in- 
quiring into the ownership of tombs, and searching into public 
and private records in reference to interments and burials in the 
old cemeteries. This work has substantially been completed so 
far as the search for information is concerned, and the depart- 
ment is about to classify this information, so as to be available 
to the public, in the form of a card catalogue. This will be a 
complete record, so far as the same is obtainable at the present 
time, of matters pertaining to the old cemeteries of the city of 
Boston.” Plans have been submitted for a new chapel for Mt. 
Hope cemetery, the stone for which is being quarried in the 
cemetery, and the entrance is to be changed and improved. 
* * * 
The Court of Appeals has handed down a decision in the 
case of Martha E. Seymour versus the Spring Forest Cemetery 
Binghamton, N. Y., a matter which has been in litigation for. 
tm years It appears that the association issued bonds to the 
amount of about $15000 which came into possession of the 
plaintiff and the trustees used the money received from the sale 
of lots for improvements and other necessary expenses, and n< t 
for the payment of the bonds, as it was claimed had been agreed 
when the bonds were issued. It was afterwards found that tlu 1 e 
was no way of getting the money from the association, because 
about all the lots are sold, and an action was commenced against 
the trustees personally, on 1 he ground that they had misapp ied 
the funds. The Court of Appeals held that the trustees had 
acted in good faith in the expenditure of the moneys, and can- 
not be held personally liable. So it finally comes about that 
Mrs. Martha E. Seymour, cannot enforce her claim against the 
cemetery, because it has nothing with which to pay, and cannot 
enforce it against the trustees because the courts hold they are 
not liable. 
