PARK AND CEMBTERY 
22 
A BROAD FIELD The remarkable gifts of Mr. 
FOR BENEFICENCE Andrew Carnegie toward 
the establishment of public libraries in our citieSj 
the end of which is not yet, is another indication of 
the trend of benevolence in the United States, and 
an evidence that, provided the people make proper 
use of such gifts, the intelligence of the masses will 
surely check what evil tendencies the present devel- 
opments of commercial life may evolve in relation to 
our higher national existence. But this trend of 
benevolence in the direction of increasing the facili- 
ties and pleasures of city life diverts the attention 
of the general well-wisher of his fellow-man to the 
sharp contrast it creates with the facilities and oppor- 
tunities of country life, until theory and practice pre- 
sent paradoxical conditions. In a certain measure 
the public press as well as other forces have been 
active in their efforts to turn the tide of population 
from the city to the country, to ameliorate to some 
extent the sad conditions often prevailing in cities 
from an over-supply of labor and other causes, while 
wealthy and otherwise public-spirited men, on the 
other hand, have been adding to the attractiveness 
of city life by numerous gifts of varied educational 
and economical value, thus in a sense offsetting the 
effects of the first named movement. The needs of 
the country have most certainly been overlooked, 
and a study of the situation today would show how 
eagerly a library would be welcomed in the great, 
majority of small towns. Scarcely a town of i,ooo 
inhabitants exists without a woman’s club or some 
such organization, and it is an absolute fact that the 
great need in such places is a library. Then again, 
the public schoolhouse sorely needs attention, and 
this could be made so easily the attractive spot of 
the town. It could become the very center of all 
that is promising in the intelligent progress of the 
small community, where by properly designed nat- 
ural surroundings, and internal useful accessories, 
the uplifting influences would be all-powerful. The 
amount of money required for a properly equipped 
library or museum in a fairly large city would found 
a score of country permanent improvements, and 
while not so prominent a memorial of man’s human- 
ity to man, it would subdivide the bounty while at 
the same time spreading the good name and influ- 
ence of the donor in a manner conducive to an incal- 
culable amount of good. 
PERPETUAL In the annual report of the Board of 
Cemetery Commissioners of Cam- 
bridge, Mass., attention is called to the falling off in 
the receipts for the annual care of lots by the lot- 
owners, and a short sermon is preached on the ad- 
visability of providing for such care by investing in 
the perpetual care fund. There can be no question 
as to the wisdom of such advice, for while thought- 
lessness or carelessness should not be admitted as 
excuses for failure to maintain proper care of the last 
resting place of our dead, the exigencies of life at 
the present day are so absorbing and yet oftentimes 
so conflicting, that such dereliction of duty, involving 
no practical harm to the living, is no wonder. The 
amount required to be set aside for investment for 
the purpose of the perpetual care of the family lot 
is so comparatively small, that little sacrifice is re- 
quired, and to aid those financially unable to meet 
such immediate demand, rriany cemetery associations 
have arranged methods of payment that are elastic 
enough to meet every ordinary condition. The care 
of the cemetery lot becomes a duty of every lot- 
owner; a disorderly, unkempt lot is not only degrad- 
ing to the owner, and a reflection upon his person- 
ality and ownership, but it is unfortunately degrading 
to the surroundings, and detracts from the appear- 
ance and value of not only the contiguous lots, but 
all those of the section and vicinity within the range 
of vision. On the other hand the advantages of the 
perpetual care system are apparent; it obviates all 
necessity of stated periods of attention, and no fur- 
ther call upon the purse strings, while at the same 
time the lot owner may rest assured that better care 
is given than, individually, he could possibly give it 
himself, and that care is in season and out of season 
constant and effective. 
A CEMETERY One of the most harassing ques- 
PRCFBLEM tions pertaining to cemetery man- 
agement is that connected with the collection of ac- 
counts due upon lots in which burials have been 
made prior to the full liquidation of the cemetery’s 
claims upon them. And notwithstanding all the 
efforts made to remedy the evil, there are very few 
cemeteries which have not had to face the difficulty. 
The penalty of removing the body or bodies within 
a time limit unless satisfaction is assured carries with 
it a strong element of danger for the prosecutor, and 
because the sanctity of the dead has been a powerful 
sentiment with enlightened nations for ages. Within 
our own knowledge the courts have invariably 
leaned in their judgment toward respecting the re- 
pose of the dead, and only in the case of public 
necessity has such disturbance been, so to speak, 
unreservedly acquiesced in. The rule which appears 
to have worked best in this difficult and unpleasant 
problem is that of the right of the cemetery, stated 
in its contracts, of removal of bodies so situated into 
lots equal in value, less expenses, to the amount 
already paid on account of the lot in question, and 
as this has been done with the consent of the delin- 
quent purchaser, no difficulties have arisen. The 
laws of the various states, wherein cemetery laws 
have been at all carefully considered, are generally 
inadequate on this particular feature of cemetery 
business. 
