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Show 326 Early Western Travels [ VoL 26 from circumstances of daily notoriety, it would seem that the plat of ground appropriated as a cemetery in many of the villages of our land was devoted to this most holy of purposes solely because useless for every other; as if, after seizing upon every spot for the benefit of the living, this last poor remnant was reluctantly yielded as a resting- place for the departed. And thus has it happened that most of the burial- grounds of our land have either been located in a region so lone and solitary, " You scarce would start to meet a spirit there," or they have been thrust out into the very midst of business, strife, and contention; amid the glare of sunshine, noise, and dust; " the gaudy, babbling, and remorseless day, 91 with hardly a wall of stones to protect them from the inroads of unruly brutes or brutish men. It is as if the rites of sepulture were refused, and the poor boon of a resting- place in the bosom of our common mother denied to her offspring; as if, in our avarice of soul, we grudged even the last narrow house destined for all; and [ 75] fain would resume the last, the only gift our departed ones may retain. Who would not dread " to die" and have his lifeless day deposited thus! Who would not, ere the last fleeting particle of existence had " ebbed to its finish," and the feeble breathing had forsaken its tenement for ever, pour forth the anguish of his spirit in the melancholy prayer, " When breath and sense have left this day, In yon damp vault, oh lay me not! But kindly bear my bones away To some lone, green, and sunny spot" Reverence for the departed is ever a beautiful feature of humanity, and has struck us with admiration for nations of our race who could boast but few redeeming traits beside. It is, moreover, a circumstance not a little remarkable in |