I like to visit cemeteries when I travel. You can usually glean sometime about the people buried there by examining their headstones. You can learn about their towns and sometimes about hardships of living there, for example when you see many children's graves or those of adults who died young. In many old West ghost towns, it seems every other grave is a child's. Sometimes you come across a headstone that makes you laugh -- like this one of Douglas Kiss. Whether he wrote the epitaph himself or someone else did after he was gone, the message is a good one. I think I would have liked him.
When I visit a cemetery I almost always pause at a few graves to ponder the person below me. Who was he or she? Most often you can't determine much, but I enjoy just stopping to say "hi." I hope that long after I am gone someone will visit me, too.
I believe the best headstone slogan of all time is this one:
Remember me as you pass by.
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be.
Prepare for death and follow me.
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The epitaph you wrote here is quite common from the 1600 to 1800 age. However In Mississippi I found one from 1784 that was a bit odd....
ReplyDeleteIt read.
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so shall you be,
prepare for death
and follow me!
The people who burried that poor soul may not have liked him as they added,
To follow you
we'll not be content.
Until we find,
which way you went.
This is a true story as I saw the head stone myself and took a rubbing of it.
Keep up the good work, Keep on Rving, and happy trails to you.
Atunionbob
I love reading the old headstones on the east coast. There is a beautiful one in Beaufort, SC called St. Helena Episcopal Church, founded in 1724. The oldest ones had stories on them. It was a small window into their lives centuries ago. If you enjoy visiting old cemetaries, you should visit that one.
ReplyDeleteSheila :)