PARK AND CEMETERY. 
199 
THE OHIO CEMETERY SUPERINTENDENTS’ MEETING 
The annual meeting of the Ohio Asso- 
ciation of Cemetery Superintendents and 
Officials was held at Ravenna, Ohio, June 
24 and 25. The convention was among the 
most enthusiastic meetings held by the as- 
sociation up to date. About fifty superin- 
tendents and officials of cemeteries were 
present at roll call, all parts of the state be- 
ing represented. Five new members were 
enrolled. The membership now consists of 
one hundred active members with ten hon- 
orary members. The Ravenna people had 
made great preparations for this gathering, 
and proved to be most royal entertainers. 
The first session was called to order at 
1 p. m. June 24 in the chapel at Maple 
Grove Cemetery. After the roll call Presi- 
dent R. E. Gifford, of Ravenna, gave his 
address as follows : 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
“Ladies and Gentlemen: The time has come to 
open our convention and it is my privilege and 
pleasure as president of this association to give you 
greeting and welcome you to the hospitality of our 
city, trusting that the memories of the occasion 
may be such that it may again be our good for- 
tune to entertain you. I appreciate the honor of 
presiding over such an assemblage, a meeting at 
once gratifying and significant, demonstrating con- 
tinued interest in the association, its work and its 
welfare. 
It was at Dayton that I joined its ranks, and I 
am still congratulating myself over the good for- 
tune that has placed me in line with its benefits, 
revealing new and valuable phases of work, broad- 
ening my conceptions and quickening my inspira- 
tions. I have realized large dividends, not the least 
of which are its sociability and good fellowship, 
which I am sure is a common experience of all. 
It was my privilege in early life to work among 
plants and flowers with my father and grand- 
mother in my native England, thus linking my 
youthful thought with the beauties and marvels 
of the floral world into which I was initiated at 
an age favorable to the development of a natural 
love for the work of my future calling, a love 
which has expanded with the years of my life and 
taken deeper and stronger hold of my affections. 
And an organization with the keynote of progress 
along the lines of our common calling is well worth 
our time and attention. 
I note the presence of new faces and sincerely 
hope that all who have come to the Rubicon will 
cross it and join the organization, which needs 
your help to do still larger and better things. 
For it should be remembered that our work is for 
the future as well as for the present and that a 
good working membership should be maintained as 
well as our standards. One of the objects of these 
yearly meetings is that of mutual interchange; to 
present new ideas, to compare methods and experi- 
ences and from them all to reinforce the fund of 
our common knowledge, thus making it a congress 
of builders and doers. 
An art to be cultivated by the cemetery superin- 
tendent is that of smiling down his impatience 
that would otherwise find different expression. 
When someone takes you to task because of some 
imaginary grievance involving, say, the charge of 
neglect or lack of judgment and tells you as a 
finality that ‘out where I live we do things bet- 
ter,’ you are supposed to receive it with proper 
humility and a deferential smile, lest you be told 
that the matter will be called to the attention of 
the trustees or that it will be aired in the public 
press. 
High tribute is due the Ravenna Ladies’ Ceme- 
tery Association for the beauty of the Maple 
Grove grounds and, their excellent appointments. 
They it was who built this handsome chapel and 
caused these pretty lakes to be fashioned into or- 
namental water wreaths and they were the prime 
movers in reclaiming the grounds from their for- 
mer condition of neglect and unsightliness. Many 
present day citizens recall the time when in- 
stead of being one of the prettiest lawn ceme- 
teries in rural Ohio, Maple Grove had little to dis- 
tinguish it in many essential particulars from the 
ordinary neglected graveyard of pioneer days. It 
was in 18S0 that the work was commenced under 
the initiative of the association of earnest women, 
F. L. King, superintendent of the grounds at 
Butler, Pa., being then superintendent of Maple 
Grove. The work of improvement has steadily and 
rapidly progressed under the continuing impetus of 
the ladies of the association and of liberal minded 
trustees until the grounds are what you now see 
them. 
A few years ago we learned from experience that 
we ought to get more money for our burial lots in 
order to create a fund for their perpetual care, 
and ever since the price was advanced we have 
been trying to induce owners of lots purchased 
prior to the advance to endow them with a certain 
amount of money. This, of course, is optional with 
them, for while it is true that in most instances 
they paid but a fraction of what they would now 
have to pay for the same lots, they paid the price 
then asked by the cemetery authorities. 
I would like to ask the opinion of this conven- 
tion about these lots. Shall they be cared for or 
not? My own opinion is to do so now. The satis- 
faction of bringing this much consolation to those 
financially unable to pay the additional price is a 
great one. and these are the people who most fre- 
quently visit the cemetery and who feel the loss 
of their dead most keenly.” 
After the preliminaries of the convening 
session were held, a very interesting paper 
on “Tombstones,” by Mr. George F. Titus, 
of Norwalk Cemetery, Norwalk, Ohio, was 
read. This was a very interesting paner 
and gave room for much valuable discus- 
sion, bringing out many points of interest 
relative to monuments and cemetery me- 
morials. After this paper we adjourned 
for the inspection of Maple Grove Ceme- 
tery. This is a very pretty cemetery con- 
sisting of about eighty acres with thirty 
acres of improved ground. It is conducted 
on the Lawn Plan and shows the superin- 
tendent, Mr. R. E. Gifford, is an expert in 
his line. The many beautiful trees, plants, 
and shrubs showed Maple Grove at its best 
on this occasion. It was with some hesi- 
tancy we left this quiet cool spot, on this 
warm evening, for the city. 
Convening in the Foresters building at 
7 :30 p. m., a splendid supper was served 
to the guests and their friends by the ladies 
of Cemetery Association of Ravenna. 
About one hundred and fifty partook of 
this feast of good things. After supper a 
splendid entertainment was given, consist- 
ing of solos, quartets and recitations, for 
the entertainment of the guests. 
Thursday morning at 8:00 a. m. we 
convened at Hotel Coit for an auto ride 
over the city and surrounding country. On 
this ride we visited the home of Mr. Rid- 
dle, the millionaire coach manufacturer. 
Mr. Riddle, having a hobby of gathering 
clocks from all parts of the country, has in 
his home something like three hundred 
clocks, having gathered them from all parts 
of the world, some dating back to the fif- 
teenth century. Mr. Riddle takes great 
pride in showing his curios. One could 
not wish for a more interesting hour at any 
place than to visit Mr. Riddle in his home 
and have him relate the history of the vari- 
ous clocks in his possession. 
Returning to the Hotel Coit at 10:00 
a. m. the second session of the convention 
convened. At this session a paper was 
read by Mr. Charles Crain, of Tiffin, Ohio, 
on “The Renovating of an Old Cemetery.” 
I his was a very interesting and instructive 
paper. 
Renovating- an Old Cemetery 
By Chas. Crain. 
Mr. President and Brothers: Having been asked 
by our Executive Committee to prepare a paper 
upon ’’The Difficulties of Renovating an Old Cem- 
etery,” I hope, that in my granting their request 
I may say something that will be of some benefit 
to some brother that is placed in the same dilemma 
that I have been at two different times. Instead 
of giving my paper the title of “The Difficulties 
of Renovating an Old Cemetery” I would prefer to 
call it “The Pleasure of Renovating an Old Cem- 
etery” and the price you pay. Pleasures of all 
kinds must be paid for in some manner. Some call 
for cash payment, some demand heartaches as 
their toll, while others can be satisfied wth noth- 
ing but loss of health and life. The pleasure of ren- 
ovating an old cemetery demands no such severe 
toll, but still it must have its pay. The first 
question asked is where would you start in your 
work ? 
I would start witli giving the whole yard a 
thorough cleaning and then see that it was kept 
that way. Allow no sticks, rubbish, scraps of pa- 
per or anything unsightly to lie around on. the roads 
or lots. Have receptacles around the grounds to 
receive such litter. See that they are emptied 
when full, and have Saturday for garbage day* 
when everything is cleaned up. As you make each 
move try to instill the importance of it upon 
your help. Visitors are careless in regard to 
throwing trash around. Keep your eye open and 
yon will eventually see them do it. What should 
I do then — read the riot act? Oh, no; address 
them in a gentlemanly manner and explain what 
you are trying to bring about, and. ninety-nine 
times out of a hundred you will make co-workers 
of them. Always bear in mind that you are be- 
ginning to revolutionize modes and doings, and 
to be successful you must have the co-operation 
of the lot owners. In times of troubles and trials 
you need all the friends you can get, and you are 
now started on the path that is beset with trials 
and troubles. I would keep the grass neatly 
mowed, trim around all monuments and markers. 
Would you do this to all lots? Yes, I would. 
What if people will not pay for the work, what 
then? You say: I would say, “Cut it.” 
One of the ingredients in renovation is mowing 
all lots. Here is where you must begin to use 
diplomacy, hypnotism or any other such power you 
may possess to get financial assistance from the 
lot owners. If you are a resident of the city in 
which your cemetery is located, your trials are not 
so great, but if you are a stranger in a strange 
land, there is work ahead of you. and lots of it. 
After you have kept the grounds nicely mowed for 
a couple of months make it a point to casually 
be passing when you see people at their lots, en- 
gage them in conversation, and finally get on the 
belt line that Will lead you to the subject of the 
changed appearances of the ground; swing around 
to financial aid beiiig needed from lot owners. 
Never make it a charge on a lot. Always call 
it a donation. Here is where you must get in your 
fine work. Play upon their pride as a citizen of 
the best city under the sun, and such a city must 
have its cemetery so kept that it will be a source 
of pride to all who see it. Follow this up and 
you will be surprised at the money you will re- 
ceive. Do not get discouraged too easily or soon. 
Remember you need finances, and, the lot owner 
must be the fount from which the stream is to 
flow. 
