PARK AND CCnCTCRY. 
367 
A ROCKY GLEN. 
to increase the water surface and the variety and ex- 
tent of foliage, and to give greater seclusion by 
shutting out buildings with belts of planting. 
It is hoped that some day South Park will be 
one of a series ot breathing places scattered around 
the outskirts of the city and connected by attractive 
driveways. The location of Quincy on a high bluff 
directly on the bank of the Mississippi gives it an 
unusual advantage in its river scenery. Quincy is 
also fortunate in having an energetic Park and 
Boulevard Association which will do all that can be 
done to preserve for the benefit of the inhabitants 
and their guests the beautiful scenery with which 
the city is surrounded. 
The Tomb Spider of Italy. 
The people of Italy believe in the existence of 
a wonderful creature which, for the want of a better 
name, is called the tomb spider, says the Pall Mall 
Gazette. The entomologists know nothing of this 
queer beast and declare that it exists only in the 
fancy of the superstitious persons and those whose 
curiosities or business makes it necessary for them 
to explore old ruins, tombs, catacombs, etc. Ac- 
cording to the popular account the tomb spider is 
of a pure white color, has wings like those of a bat, 
a dozen horrid crooked legs and a body three or four 
times the size of the largest tropical American ta- 
rantula. 
The accounts of this queer insect and his out- 
of-the-way places of abode are by no means com- 
mon, and on that account the information concern- 
him which we will be able to give the “curious” is 
very meager. Any Italian will tell you that such a 
creature exists, however, and that he is occasionally 
met with in the old mines and caverns as well as in 
tombs and subterranean ruins. The London Satur- 
day Review has an article from a correspondent who 
was present when some Roman workmen unearthed 
a church of the fifth century. He says: “We were 
standing by one of the heavy pillars that had orig- 
inally supported the roof, when something flashed 
down from the pitchy darkness overhead and paused 
full in the candlelight beside us, at about a level 
with our eyes. It was distinctly as visible as a thing 
could be at a distance of three feet and appeared to 
be an insect about half the size of a man’s fist, white 
as wax and with its many long legs gathered in a 
bunch as it crouched on the stone. 
“Our guide had seen or at least heard of this 
uncanny insect of ill omen before, but was by no 
means reconciled to its presence, as his actions 
proved. He glanced around uncomfortably for a 
moment and then moved away, we following. It 
seems really a bit queer, but it is said that the 
strongest nerves give way in the presence of this in- 
sect of such ghostly mien. Even to-day this un- 
canny apparition is said to be an unclassified mon- 
ster — -an eternal mystery. When the grave spider 
is encountered by those opening tombs and vaults 
it is thought to be a ‘sign’ of death to one of the 
workmen or some member of his family.” 
A More Rational View of Death.* 
As a layman, speaking to those whose professional employ- 
ment consists in providing and maintaining beautiful resting 
places for our beloved dead, I have chosen to speak to you by 
way of encouraging a more cheerful and rational view of death 
itself. If we can succeed in looking upon death as a friend, as 
Daniel French has so beautifully portrayed in his memorial 
tablet to the young artist Milmore, now set in bronze in Forest 
Hill cemetery, near Boston, and will generally admit that death 
s not inherently an evil, but next to life itself the greatest earthly 
blessing, then we might hope to maintain towards it a more 
cheerful and reasonable bearing. And this is the thesis I have 
assigned myself in this paper. 
To appreciate the changed attitude of the world in this 
matter, and especially with reference to burial places, we 
should note at least three periods of the world’s history in this 
respect. 
The oldest form of worship was that of deceased ancestors 
whose spirits were supposed to forever haunt the ancient hearth- 
stone and tomb, which were always near together. The main- 
tenance of a perpetual fire on the one and the proper attention 
and care of the other kept the descendants rooted to the home 
of their fathers, and gave to these resting places of the dead a 
sacredness and inviolableness which has always characterized 
these spots in all nations, and in diminishing degrees even to the 
present day. 
Following this came the doctrine of the physical resurrec- 
tion of the dead to an endless life, which was thought to have 
been the original attribute of the race, and which was lost 
through the sins of our first parents, which doctrine still finds ad- 
herents amongst the less educated and less thoughtful classes, 
and at one time pervaded all Christendom. This doctrine added, 
if possible, to the sacredness of the body from which all life had 
departed, and made its perpetual preservation a thing altogether 
to be desired and a filial duty which was fulfilled as far as possi. 
ble. This necessitated a place of repose, pending this wonder- 
*Paper read at the Convention of Association of American Cemetery- 
Superintendents, St.Louis, Mo., September, i896. By Prof. J. B. Johnson. 
