394 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
CEMETERY NOTES. 
A mausoleum to cost |6,ooo is to be erected in Harleigh 
cemetery, Camden, N. J. Messrs. Gessler’s Sons of Philadel- 
phia have been awarded the contract for the work. 
* * * ■■ 
It is said that the defalcation of the late cashier of the First 
National Bank of Lebanon, Pa , also involves the Mt. Lebanon 
Cemetery association to some extent, he having been secretary 
of that association . 
* » * 
The annual report of Oakland Cem. Assoc. St. Paul, Minn., 
shows receipts for the year $20,803.35 ^'^4 the ordinary expendi- 
tures for same period 119,470.20. The sales from the green- 
houses amounted to I3 923. 15 in addition to what was furnished 
for use in chapel and grounds, equal to I1.328. 55. The princi- 
pal of the perpetual care fund amounts to $80,591.92 and the 
working fund to 19,662.25; of these $87,700 is invested and draws 
interest. Sales of lots amounted to $7,338 and single graves to 
11,132; interment fees were $1,783 and tomb fees $471 .50. 
It has been suggested that as the tulip is a flower that prac- 
tically makes a season for itself in our northern latitudes, and 
that otherwise as the supply of blossoms for Decoration Day is 
very limited in variety, that a special bed of the finest tulips 
should be planted as a Memorial Day bed, from^which to cull 
flowers for the National ceremony. A bed of tulips, of colors, 
suited to the occasion, planted with a liberal hand would afford 
a constant supply at the proper time, and a bouquet of white, 
lavender and pink tulips is a thing of beauty, in decided con- 
trast to the more gorgeous varieties unwittingly collected as a 
rule. 
* * * 
Extensive improvements are under way in Woodlawn ceme- 
tery, New York, some 15 acres of new sections are now in pro- 
gress. It requires about four acres per year to keep up with 
sales of lots. During the past season there have been erected 
three mausoleums and one side hill vault. The Kountz Memor- 
ial erected this year stands about 40 feet high with first base of 
21 feet square. It is constructed of Concord granite. A shaft 
monument of Westerly granite is now in course of erection. Its 
total height is about 60 feet of which the shaft alone measures 45 
feet and weighs between 50 and 60 tons. Several foundations, 16 
to 18 feet square, have been built this fall for monuments to be 
set next spring. The Clark mausoleum, a eostly structure, will 
not be finished until next spring. . 
* * * 
From reports of responsible florists as well as cemetery offi- 
cials, there appears to be a well organized system of flower steal- 
ing from the newly made graves in the Chicago cemeteries. In 
some cases it is asserted that costy floral pieces are made to do 
duty on more than one occasion, the piece being stolen on the 
night of its first use and resold the following day. Cemetery 
officials are at a loss to know how to prevent this depredation, for 
it is evidently carried out by experts, but there must be unscrup- 
ulous dealers in the scheme, or the vandals would find it unprofi- 
table. It is well-known that certain of the flowers which are 
generally the expensive kind used in funeral ceremonies, keep in 
excellent condition for two or three days, and it is this feature 
which makes stealing the flowers profitable, as well as the frames 
upon which they are set. 
» * * 
Kahbakong cemetery is situated one mile from Taylor’s 
Falls, Minn., and was organized in 1855. Its name is derived 
from the Chippewa Indian designation of St. Croix Falls, near 
by. It contains 15 acres and owing to the sparsely settled country, 
bodies have been interred there brought from 50 and 100 miles 
distance. It has a naturally beautiful location. Its roads and 
by ways are 20 and 13 feet respectively in width, and its blocks 
30 by 40 feet, subdivided into smaller lots. At one end is a trap 
rock formation rising some 50 feet above the grounds, upon which 
it is expected to erect a soldier’s monument, 31 Union soldiers 
being buried here. At the last annual meeting the lot owners 
voted to erect a shelter house with seats and other conveniences. 
Water is supplied by a windmill from a well 100 feet deep. Mr. 
W. H. C. Folsom has been connected with the association from 
the organization and he with many other interested well wishers 
undertake the care of the grounds. 
* * * 
The work of converting the old St. John’s cemetery, at Hud- 
son and Clarkson streets. New York City, has been postponed 
and probably until spring. As has been stated it occupies an 
acre and contains graves of persons buried as early as 1799 and as 
late as 1858. Although all possible notification haa been given 
by the authorities, very few have taken any interest in the re- 
moval of the remains, so that the bodies will be left undisturbed 
and the grave stones buried in place. The great majority of in' 
terments appear to have been of the poorer and middle classes, 
though a few well-known names are found. The place had be- 
come a forlorn and dilapidated graveyard. The most pretentious 
monument was that erected by friends and members of Fire En- 
gine Company No. 150, to the memory of the men who lost their 
lives by the falling of a building while engaged in the discharge 
of their duties as firemen, July 1, 1834. The firemen desire to 
have this monument retained in its present place and position 
after the cemetery becomes a park, which will probably be con- 
sidered b) the commissioners. The earliest decipherable date 
on any of the tombstones says the New York Times, is 1799. 
This slab bears the following inscription: 
A Monument. 
In Friendship Rendered 
Sacred to the Memory of 
- Mrs. Elizabeth Lawrence. 
The Wife of Mr. John Lawrence, 
Merchant, of the City of New York. 
Amidst surrounding numbers she fell a victim to Death’s un- 
erring shafts. Adorned with virtue, elegance, and grace, she dis- 
charged with unremitting care the duties both of social and do- 
mestic life. To the world in general and her sex in particular 
she was an amiable pattern of exalted goodness. With manners 
mild and engaging, with an understanding highly cultivated and 
improved, with a fancy lively and brilliant, with a flow of lan- 
guage correct, smooth and elegant, with sincerity undisguised 
and pure and valued affection, long will she live in the hearts of 
all the good and virtuous. 
Sacred Spirit, 
Rest in the realms above and indulge to relatives and friends the 
only solace left. 
To shed over thy grave 
A parting Silent, Melancholy Tear. 
Died 16 Oct., A. D. 1799. Aged 57. 
* * » 
A down east paper says the New York Times, supports one 
of its correspondents in rather angrily denying the assertion 
made by a writer in an English Magazine that people living in 
New England villages often remove the silver name plates from 
the coffins of relatives, after the funeral services are over, and 
with them decorate their parlor walls or mantlepieces. The de- 
nials in each case are made on what is declared to be long fa- 
miliarity with New England customs, and the suggestion is made 
that “the English writer has probably generalized from a single 
instance, after the manner of other travelers.” Now, as a matter 
of fact, the Englishman’s statement is perfectly true, not only as 
regards the past, but as regards the present also. This use of 
coffin plates did and does prevail in many parts of New England, 
and the practice is far from unknown in this state. At least one 
