The New York Times from New York, New York • Page 33

THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 28, 1901. 17 ODD EPITAPHS AND TOMBS IN NEW ENGLAND BURYING GROUNDS OME of the old Colonial burying grounds In New England ar almost as famous as the best-known ones of old England Itself. Tourists every flsy wander through the' queer Old Colony graveyard In Boston, the often-described first burying ground of Concord, or the extremely curious cemetery at 8alem, with Its graves of some who must have come over on the Mayflower, judging from the dates of their deaths. No visit to Salem, even If the tourist had seep the old Custom House, the House of Seven Gables, or.

the birthplace of Haw, thorne, would be complete without a visit to the old cemetery. Here will be found reminiscences of witchcraft, of fights with Indians, of Revolutionary bravery, of all the most strenuous parts of American history. Many of the epitaphs inscribed upon crumbling tombstones will tmuw, none of them more, probably, than this one, which every visitor reads: Time was stood as you do now. And viewed the dead as I passed by. Ere long you'll lay as low as I.

And others stand and gase on thee." Leave the towns of railroads, however, 4 and go Inland where the locomotive has not sounded Its whistle, nor yet the ubiquitous trolley car clanged Its gong, and you will find still more burying grounds of strange and curious character. Many of these unknown cemeteries are comparatively modem but not the less unique because of It. At times they lack the naive frankness of the Colonial burying ground with Its characteristic epitaphs, but they make up In eccentricity what they lack In age or other particulars. At a place known as Box ford, about ten miles from Andover, fsr, far from the madding crowd, there Is as curious' a burying ground as can be found In all New England. As a matter of fact.

Box ford ts Just a section of country, beautiful country at that, but there Is no village or gathering of habitations which -could be dignified with the name of town. The quiet farms-people go their peaceful ways utterly oblivious of the odd humor to be found in their old burying ground. Probably to tha ordlnarv Innkr no place would be more difficult to locate than Boxford. In Andover. In Lawrence, in Bedford, in Lowell, In North Andover, you will find signs up pointing to the road to Boxford.

The sign at North Andover says Boxford is five miles away. Start out en the road, however, and you may go and go, and still not come to Boxford. Not many weeks ago a traveler took two sturdy horses and started to find the old Boxford burying ground. He had driven about five miles when he inquired of some farm hands by the wayside where the cemetery was. They elucidated the sttua- uon as iouows: Which one do you want? There a Boxford burying grounds.

There la one and a new one. To reach either one. just drive on the way you are going now for about a mile and a half more." Having traveled for more than two miles further along a road to which there were no forks, the traveler came to an old farmhouse, and called out for some one to hear what he had to say. In a lew minutes an aged woman came to the door, bearing every appearance of having spent many years amid rustic surroundings. Where Is Boxford? asked the traveler, fearing that the mention of Boxford bury- tlclpatlons.

The good lady looked puxxled, stepped Indoors for a moment, and then returned to the door with the reply: West Boxford is over that way about three miles. East Boxford Is the place toward which you are going." But where Is Boxford? persisted the traveler. Again the oblivious lady disappeared, and when she returned to the door said, innocently: This is Boxford." There was not another house within two miles. It was all trees and fields. But the traveler went ahead, feeling that such good roads as he had encountered must lead somewhere.

About three miles further on an old cemetery was met with, with the traditional New England stone wall sur-' roundlna It This, it was concluded, was the Boxford burying ground, although there was nothing to indicate it except the queer epitaphs to be found inscribed upon the tombstones. And above all these gravestones and burial places the lot In which repose the remains of General Solomon Lowe and his three wives stands out most conspicuously. General Lowe was a member of the State Militia, in which he had some sort of rank, although he had never heard the sound of battle. It was the delight of his life, the Villagers who remember him say, to dress up In his regimentals and exhibit himself. He was one of the characters of this quiet rural community.

"General" Lowe died on April 4. 1801. He left a curious will, the most curious provision of, It being the creation of a trust fund which was to furnish free beer to every ono who should come to his tomb on the anniversary of his death to celebrate the momentous event. For many years this bequest made April 4 the day of a veritable orav for the farm Deoole for miles around. The abuse became so great that the.

Sheriff of the county had to Intervene, and In-lt struct the Itinerant constable of the dis trict to violate-the "General's" wllL Another curious proviso of this will was the stipulation that on this same' April 4 of every year the regimentals of the General should be taken from their resting and be displayed at the tomb for the Inspiration of the rising generations. But "General" Lowe's will Is seldom thought of nowadays, although travelers stop frequently to look at his curious grave. General Lowe arranged his cemetery lot before he died. He had already -buried three wives there, and he had1 arranged for his own burial near them. He waa himself to be Interred In a vault In the middle of the lot Over the entrance to this sarcophagus was a medallion of the General's bust, with all the regimentals.

Under this carving Is Inscribed the date of the deceased's death. "General" Lowe took unto himself four wives as he journeyed upon this earth. He arranged that two of them' were to be buried on one side of his vault and two on the other. When he died the fourth of the spouses had not died. In fact, she still lives somewhere among the wHdernessea of Boxford.

4 The General arranged that one tombstone should serve for two and another slab of marble for the other two. Each wife was to get half of a tombstone. The "General" wrote no flattering epitaphs for his wives, but he arranged to tell posterity of their qualities by bas relief carvings on the gravestones. These carvings are about 6 Inches In diameter and round In shape. They are near the top of the gravestones.

Just under the carvings are two lines on each side of the slabs, reading: Wives of General Solomon Lowe," The first of the wives to die was Huldah. who departed this earth on Sept. 24. 1806, at the age of twenty-eight. Over Huldah's name la the carving of a woman sitting beside a small working table.

In her lap two babies sit, and on the table are various domestic paraphernalia. Huldah had two children, and her life was distinctly In the home. Wife Dolfy likewise bore two children, and they, too, are remembered upon the carving which helps to perpetuate her memory. Dolly, like Huldah, was domestic, and the table beside her commemorates her virtues. She died, says the gravestone, on May 10, 1817, nine years after wife Huldah.

The next wife was Martha. 8he died on July S4. 1833, at the age of fifty. Martha apparently was fond of books. She bore no children, so, instead of the babes, the POLO ACTIVITY AMONG THE JUNIORS.

POLO has been played to a greater extent this season by the Junior element than has probably ever been the case In the history of that equestrian sport In America. "Why." remarked a veteran member of the Rockaway Hunting Club the other day, when asked It the sport was as popular as ever this season, "they tell me they are buying more polo mallets at Cedarhurst than golf clubs. When a regular club came hasn't been In progress during the rT-1 thg hovs have kept their ponies Lnnin un and down the field In practice- matches. There has been almost a revival of the old-time polo days this year." This observant critic of the ups and downs of sport attributed the additional polo Interest to the larger number of young fellows taking up the game, Rock-away has exemplified this phase of the question in the excellent series of Junior contests held during the past week. The organisation of the Great Neck and Rum-son Polo Clubs has been another strong object lesson, as most of the players In those clubs are of the younger element and practically novices to the game, while the fifty-odd members In the 8quadron A Polo Club may be cited as a climax to the argument Were It not for these accessions of young blood the future of polo In America would be very insecure.

Foxhall Keene has confined nearly all of his playing to England within the last two years. Tommy Hitchcock, has practically ceased to appear on the field, the Eustis boys and Harry Payne Whitney have been lacking this year, and were It not for the Waterbury brothers, a few Phlladelphlans, and half a dosen of the veteran Bostonlans, the sport would wane. Neither Meadow Brook nor Rockaway stand prominent, as they did a few years ago, with their dashing quartets of powerful riders, who made the nervea of the spectators fairly tingle when they lined up in battle array. The Rockaway Club was one of the earliest to play the game, and a history of Its polo field would bring out every celebrated player in America. The club has never allowed Us Interest to flag, and It can truthfully be said that It Is doing more than any other club in the Polo Association to keep the game alive In this country.

Its encouragement to juniors has had results. The fifteen lads, all under twenty-one years, who have Just been playing for the Junior Cup bear testimony to that fact earring In her honor represents her In the act rt reading. On the little work table beside her there Is another book Instead of the sewing basket of the other wives, i The fourth wife waa Caroline H.f according: to lh. smveaiona. She Still lives, but her nam was placed on the slab, and space left for the date of her death.

Caroline bore no children and she was not literary. so an Is engraved! simply sitting In her chair, with no babes upon her knee and no book In her hand. The work table beside her. too. ts It -would seem that Boxford people were addicted to second marriages.

Ono of these second wives was Mary Bradstreet Her gravestone la this quaint cemetery records that she died on Jan. 1874, at the age of seventv-eeven. Under the statement of this Information Is the following verse: precious lit the sight of Lord Is the death of His saints." Another husband of Boxford. who was blessed with ono wife and then a second, burled them under the same gravestone. He recorded their names, their ages, and the dates of their deaths, and then Quoted the Scriptural verse, "There shall be no marriage nor giving of marriage In heaven." Boxford does not enjoy a monopoly of curious epitaphs In out-of-the-way New England places, however.

In an old cemetery near Farmington. far away from the railroad, and where men seldom go, are to be found two gravestones mark-Ins; the burying places of the two wives of a certain villager of the place. Upon one of these slabs it Is recorded that Mary, the beloved wife of Samuel Posen." died upon such and such a date. On the sister gravestone we read that "Annie, the equally beloved wife of Samuel Posen," died upon a subsequent Travel war ud among the mountains of where marble quarries in abund ance make elaborate tombs very common, A certain one' of these Quarries is largely worked by Italians, men from the marble districts of Italy. They are a home-loving people, skilled In their work.

They, too, marry and give In marriage, traveler la exploring these Interesting; quarries a few weeks ago wandered away from the working places, themselves and out into the fields surrounding the home of one of the workmen. It waa late In the afternoon, and the unsuspicious but careful Italian went out to see the stranger and offer him any courtesy possible, as well as what he waa doing there. The visitor espied a low vault way out in the field, made of the most exquisite marble, carefully cut. AU around It the grass grew, and there was only a narrow clearing; to separate it from the fields in which hay was growing. Closer Inspection revealed that this was a sarcophagus.

The Italian cheerfully told the visitor that this was the tomb of his wives, three of them at least. He bad had four wives, he said, and the tomb was Intended to accommodate all of them. but. Innocently stated, the simple-minded workman: My wife refused to be burled with the others, so I had to put her In the town graveyard." Several of them have shown genuine polo ability, and the future prestige of the club on the polo field lies tn their hands. Rene La Montague, the star Junior player, has a place on the regular club team, and others who are worthy applicants Include Laura nee B.

Rand, a Tale student; W. Blanchard Rand, Cortlandt P. Dixon second, and McPherson Kennedy, Jr. Last year only three teams entered for the Junior Cup, which Is the gift of the Rockaway polo Captain. W.

A. Hazard, while this year five appeared. The games all showed mjt tarn th- 1.. pwp.ni ttlflf annual competitions as carefully as for their' school or college baseball and football games, a. O.

Yaaderpeel, a member of one of the junior teams, played on the Tale "Varsity football team last year, and he Is a promising; candidate for fullback position next season. He Is a creditable golfer, too. The Rockaway lads are coached by many of the veterans, and the older players take fully as much Interest In watching the juniors Improve as the latter themselves. Rockaway stands alone tn Its successful encouragement of junior polo, aa no other club has entered a Junior team to oppose the Rockaway lads, nor has any other club ever offered a strictly Junior prise. It Is a novelty of which Cedarhurst members may Justly be proud.

Although there are several college students who play the game, polo has never yet figured as an Intercollegiate event' It is. perhaps, too ambitious to expect, for the cost of ponies, their care and transportation, would be heavy, and the game would have to be played on some private club's field. Besides Rand. A. 8.

Alexander of the Somerset County Polo Club, at Bernards-vllle, la also a Tale man, and he shares Junior honors for excellence with Rene La Montague, each being rated four goals' handicap. Richard Stevens, who Is on the regular Somerset team. Is better known for his tennis fame and la Columbia graduate. T. Pearsall Field and Chester Simmons, who are among the novices of the new Rumson Club, are Columbia graduates, and so are two or three of the Grace boys, who have been making the Great Neck tram celebrated this year.

Harvard can show a good contingent cf polo experts. One of ihe best ts J. C. Cooley, a three-handicap man. He Is one of the best In the younger set in the Westchester County Club, and had Just Joined SquasV ron when Capt Henry M.

Earte immediately pressed him to to the polo club Alexander Wheeler, a brother of the well-. known Philadelphia player, Charles Wheeler; H. P. Perry, Arthur Ieelln, and A. 8.

Burden are also Harvard pololsts. This nucleus of enthusiasts has practically le4 to the' formation of a Harvard Polo dub and the Myopia Hunt Club kindly gave the students use of Its field for practice. In polo strength, therefore. Harvard Is somewhat In advance of Its other college rivals. v'r J.

Insley Blair, who has blossomed out this year at the Westchester Country Club as a full-fledged polo player. Is a Princeton graduate, and held for one year the golf championship of his university. Ho only took up polo last year, but has risen ts the dignity of a capable player. Maxwell Stevenson, four-goal man at Meadow Brook, Is a Columbia student, and Is likely to have a place on the future big teams of the famous Westbury dub. The names of Klngdon and Jay Gould, the twelve and eleven year old sons of George Gould, must be Included among eminent junior pololsts.

Both ride admirably, and, although they have not taken part In any tournament, their practice games on the Lakewood field have gives Indication of strong material for future teams. Klngdon Gould, "especially, has showa genuine knack for the fine pouts of the game, and his. novel appearance as referee of a Westchester game a short time ago demonstrated that he knew pole as well as most of the veterans. How Bill Nye Wis Discovered. GOL.

BILL ROOT of Laramie, Wy- oming, the dealer tn wild animals and discoverer of TBIU and who now has charge of the Indian village at Glen Island, tells the following; story how he "discovered" the humorist, Bill Nye, when be was a young man. wasn't much; In fact, folks tn Laramie wondered whether. he would dry. up and blow away or Just die wf plain star vation. Things never would come his way.

and that same way led through many rocky places. Everything to which he turned his hand seemed to wither under It. and he began to think that he was a hoodoo Bill was a pretty discouraged sort of cuss when I said to him and his wife one Cay: 'Come out to the ranch and stay with me for a nd they came. Long before this time Frances. BUT a wife, had made up her mind that Bill was cast In the mold of a lawyer, and no thins; would do but BUI must study law.

So Bill came along with his old books and would wander around the ranch trying; to Imbibe esone and pages of Blackstone. But the canker- era ot worry was in nis suoo. asm osone and several of the things I had la a cupboard seemed to do little good. Every little while Bill would sneak away, write something; he called funny, send It away, and anxiously wait for the lightning, in the shape of a check, to strike. Now, Frances discouraged all this.

She wanted the law or nothing. She felt that once Bill bung out his shingle all the world would Immediately get Into trouble and halt of It would fall all oyer Itself to get Into Bill's office. Well, one day Bill met me about three miles away from the ranch and said: hi 11. I want your advice. I've got some- thins In my pocket and on my mind, and I want you to tell me what to do.

"With that he unbuttoned his coat and pulled out a letter from a Denver newspaper. Inclosing a check for $20, showed it to me, and asked, Shall I become a funny man or a lawyer?" looked at Bill, and then at the check, and back at BUI again. That check surprised me even more than n- there to give Judg- ment, and had to do It I said, If you can find foolish people anywhere In this world who are ready to part with good bank checks for that stuff you grind out. you go right to the.house. get a big bottle out of the cupboard, put a wet towel about your head, and sit down and grind.

A man must have brains to be a "And Bill's wife never spoke to me for three years." Hint For Railroad Managers. i II IS community of mttrest chattered an old-time railroad man at the Hotel "about which railroad managers talk so glibly has not proved so beneficial to the stockhold ers as was expected. Did you ever consider the enormous expense, and much of It needless, of main taining the scores of richly appointed branch offices In expensive buildings la this city? Why, some ot them are almost within stone's-throw of another operated by the same corporation." And wht Is true of New York Is equaUy true, in a lesser de- gree, In other large cities. All these branch ticket and freight of- flees require managers. Superintendents, and a corps of clerks and bookkeepers.

Much of this exnense Is a needless waste, and millions could be annuaUy saved to the stockholders by economy In this one direction alone. While the railroad business has very largely Increased la recent years, the growth has not been equal to the growth of the army of lavishly well-paid mpl There la an excellent field for eeo--- the Interest of the and the traveling pubUc ln-? i much of this branch offlf.