Part 2 (1/2)

A terse account of an untimely end is given upon a stone in a Mexican church-yard:

”He was young, he was fair But the Injuns raised his hair.”

The following may be read upon the tombstone of Lottie Merrill, the young huntress of Wayne County, Pennsylvania: ”Lottie Merrill lays hear she dident know wot it wuz to be afeered but she has hed her last tussel with the bars and theyve scooped her she was a good girl and she is now in heaven. It took six big bars to get away with her. She was only 18 years old.”

Upon the tomb of a boy who died of eating too much fruit, this quaint epitaph conveys a moral:

”_Currants_ have check'd the _current_ of my blood, And _berries_ brought me to be _buried_ here; _Pears_ have _par'd_ off my body's hardihood, And _plums_ and _plumbers_ _spare_ not one so _spare_.

_Fain_ would I _feign_ my fall; so _fair_ a _fare_ _Lessens_ not hate, yet 'tis a _lesson_ good.

_Gilt_ will not long hide _guilt_, such thin washed _ware_ _Wears_ quickly, and its _rude_ touch soon is _rued_.

_Grave_ on my _grave_ some sentence _grave_ and terse, That _lies_ not as it _lies_ upon my clay, But in a gentle _strain_ of _unstrained_ verse, _Prays_ all to pity a poor patty's _prey_, _Rehea.r.s.es_ I was fruitful to my _hea.r.s.e_, _Tells_ that my days are _told_, and soon I'm _toll'd_ away.”

In Glasgow Cathedral is an epitaph, which is engraved on the lid of a very old sarcophagus, discovered in the crypt:

”Our Life's a flying Shadow, G.o.d's the Pole, The Index pointing at him is our Soul, Death's the Horizon, when our Sun is set, Which will through Chryst a Resurrection get.”

In a grave-yard at Montrose, in Scotland, this inscription may still be seen:

”Here lies the Body of George Young And of all his posterity for fifty years backwards.”

This brief announcement may be read in Wrexham church-yard, Wales:

”Here lies five babies and children dear Three at Owestry and two here.”

In a church-yard near London the following may be deciphered:

”Killed by an omnibus why not?

So quick a death a boon is Let not his friends lament his lot For mors omnibus communis.”

There is an unqualified Hibernianism in the following:

”Here lies the remains of Thomas Melstrom who died in Philadelphia March 17th Had he lived he would have been buried here.”

A good deal of positive information is conveyed in this epitaph:

”Here lies, cut down like unripe fruit The wife of Deacon Amos Shute; She died of drinking too much coffee, Anny dominy eighteen forty.”

To the victim of an accident:

”Here lies the body of James Hambrick which was accidentally shot in the Pacas River by a young man with one of Colts large revolvers with no stopper for the hand for to rest on. It was one of the old fas.h.i.+oned sort, bra.s.s mounted and of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

William Curtis, who was famous for his bad grammar, may have composed his own epitaph:

”Here lies William Curtis Our late Lord Mayor Who has left this world, And gone to that there.”

In a church-yard in London, evidently written by a c.o.c.kney:

”Here lies John Ross.

Kicked by a Hoss.”

In Trinity church-yard, New York, this inscription may be read: