138 
PARK AND CE/nCTERY. 
sides and everything that goes to make an ideal 
burial place. In the new sections now being added 
such restrictions should be enforced. In the con- 
federate section of the cemetery or that contracted 
by the Ladies Hollywood Memorial Association is 
the soldiers monument to be seen in our illustration. 
The pyramid is 45 feet at the base and 90 feet high. 
It is built of random courses of native granite, and 
is partially covered with hardy vines. 
Before taking leave of Hollywood the party was 
grouped on the lawn near the cemetery office and a 
photograph taken, which is illustrated in this issue. 
To the Members of the A. A. C. S., at Richmond, Va. 
I cannot refrain from writing a few words with 
reference to your visit to our city, — indeed I am 
not capable of expressing myself as I would love 
to do. 
The poor manner in which I received and en- 
tertained you while in our city, did not deserve in 
the slightest degree any special recognition from 
you. We had not the sights to show you that com- 
pared favorably with places previously visited by 
you, neither were we able to entertain you as you 
have been heretofore, and as we desired to, but we 
simply did the best ive could. 
The many kind expressions made personally to 
me on every hand, as well as the eloquent 
speech made by Mr. Simonds in presenting the 
beautiful and elegant present were beyond my 
comprehension and was such a surprise to me, that 
I was completely dazed; I know not what I said 
when I tried to respond, I could not possibly have 
done justice to my feelings, I was so overcome and 
entirely surprised that unlike Brother Simonds, 
“Locomotive,” I could not find a “Safety Valve” 
through which I might express my feelings. 
The object of this letter is to thank you one and 
all as best I can, and while I know you were too 
abundant in your expressions, it will be pleasant to 
my dying day to remember the kind and friendly 
words of encouragement spoken by you. 
I accept your presents not for their intrinsic 
worth (though they are both handsome and elegant) 
but for the feelings which prompted you in giving 
them. I shall often sit at ease in my chair and 
by the sombre light of the lamp read, and 
think of my friends and their visit to Richmond, 
and what joys we had together and how sad I felt 
at having to part with them. 
Again and again I thank you and trust we may 
all meet at many more conventions. Of the ladies 
I would say all praise is due for their attendance, 
their presence always adds dignity to the occasion, 
and inspires us of the sterner sex to have purer 
thoughts, loftier motives and by their sweet faces, 
gentle manners and kind words train our hearts in- 
to such directions as lead us nearer to God and 
Heaven. 
Jxo. R. Hooper. 
The testimonial above mentioned consisted of a 
handsome quartered oak rocking chair and a parlor 
lamp and stand, the latter of solid brass with onyx 
top. 
1 have never been able to understand how a 
cemetery could be made beautiful by monuments; 
it seems to me there is nothing so offensive to the 
taste as graves surmounted by monuments of all 
sorts, grotesque designs, faulty construction, old and 
crumbling stones, vague sentiment half wrought 
out; queer and sickly fancies perpetuated in marble 
and bronze. Why there is no place whe’re the mor- 
bid imagination of man runs riot as it does in a 
cemetery. You see things there that seem to be 
parodies upon human sentiment, and yet it is per- 
mitted because it is thought that the grief of one 
who has sustained such a loss is sacred. I do not 
think it so; 1 do not think that we arc bound to 
surrender to the fancy of a grief stricken one in all 
things, any more than we are to humor the sick 
fancy of an invalid. If they be so morbid, so 
grotesque, that we feel that we can substitute our 
calmer and better judgment for theirs, let us do so. 
Let us seek to control to some extent this express- 
ion. I have always supposed that death was the 
leveler of rank, but in our cemeteries, we see the 
ostentatious display of wealth, side by side with the 
humble tribute of poverty. It keeps alive the dis- 
tinctions which all regret in life; it seems to be the 
only way in which certain, purse-proud, and igno- 
rant persons can declare their respect, simply by 
showing a willingness to spend money; and so we 
find that in many of our cemeteries some of the 
most elaborate and expensive monuments have been 
erected by persons of low degree to distinguish the 
graves of those whom the world would gladly 
forget. — y. S. Nortoft. 
15 . F. Hatheway, landscape engineer, of Stamford, Conn., is 
stopping at the Rural Cemetery, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., laying out 
the ground for a few hundred more family lots. The association 
is also contemplating plans for water supply. The prevailing 
drought in that locality has and is demonstrating the desira- 
bility of more water for irrigating purposes. The Rural Ceme- 
tery contains over 160 acres located yi mile south of the City 
centre between the old Post road and the Hudson; the N. 
Y. Central & H. R. R. R., passes between the river and the 
cemetery. Travellers bv this R. R., can always catch a glimpse 
of these grounds when they pass. Mr. Hatheway has been con- 
nected professionally for over forty years in the development of 
these cemetery grounds. 
