Identifier: mountauburnitssc01flag (find matches)
Title: Mount Auburn: its scenes, its beauties, and its lessons
Year: 1861 (1860s)
Authors: Flagg, Wilson, 1805-1884. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Mount Auburn cemetery. (from old catalog)
Publisher: Boston and Cambridge, J. Munroe and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
part a humble offering to nature, whilewe commend the immortal spirit to the God who gave it.The ancients had less distinct ideas of the souls im-mortality, and cherished an inferior amount of tendersentiment in connection with the dead. They had nolove of nature ; since the love of art, for the display ofart, precedes in the human breast, this more fervent andpoetic feeling. Hence their tombs, — many specimensof which exist on a small scale in every burial groundat the present time, — were mostly revolting objects. Itis now customary to bury the dead in graves, coveredwith the green turf and the wild flowers of the field.Men will gradually learn to set less value upon art inthis connection, and will think more of nature. ^ Theywill learn that the only service we ought to render thedead is to secure their remains from desecration in thegrave, and to provide a simple and durable monument,for the record of their virtues, and to serve as the meansof identifying their place of burial.
Text Appearing After Image:
PILGRIM PATH. On the left is sjen the marble sarcophagus erected in memory ofBartholomew Ciieever, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, who came toAmerica from Canterbury, England, in 1637. On the monument alsoare inscribed the names of some of his descendants and their families. On the right is a view of the monuments of S. Quinct, J. Shaw, A.Rice, and T. Haviland. 10 MOUNT AUBURN. wishes. Even the enjoyment of the present is gi-eater,because we know that our possessions ma)^ shp away fromus ; and we are prompted by this insecurity to continualaction and watchfuhiess. From this activity and sus-pense, this hope and uncertainty proceed all the zest oflife. We are not permitted to know the truth of all webelieve. Imagination presents us glimpses of divinetruths, which reason will not allow us to believe with thefiill assurance of a positive faith. Imagination affords usthese gleams of light to cheer and encourage the ardorof hope; but reason suggests doubts, lest in the full cer-tainty of celes

Note About Images