Hope to see you at this Cemetery Walk and I have a bit of information on why cemeteries are important plus a very brief story. If you know Clarkston, I will become the owner of the green house at the intersection of Holcomb and Washington. Elizabeth Vliet's husband was a "Guest of the Confederacy" and died at Andersonville Prison.
I went looking and found this explanation of why cemeteries are important. It originated with the
Texas Historical Commission and my only changes are changing the state to Michigan because it's certainly true here and wherever you may be.
Importance of Cemeteries
Cemeteries are among the most valuable of historic resources. They
are reminders of various settlement patterns, such as villages, rural
communities, urban centers, and ghost towns. Cemeteries can reveal
information about historic events, religions, lifestyles, and genealogy.
Names on gravemarkers serve as a directory of early residents and
reflect the ethnic diversity and unique population of an area. Cultural
influence in gravemarker design, cemetery decoration, and landscaping
contribute to the complete narrative of Michigan history. Established in
large part for the benefit of the living, cemeteries perpetuate the
memories of the deceased, giving a place character and definition.
Unfortunately, historic cemeteries do not necessarily remain
permanent reminders of our heritage. Across Michigan, they are threatened
by development and expanding urban areas, natural forces such as
weathering and uncontrolled vegetation, lack of fences to keep cattle
from toppling headstones, and vandalism and theft, including removal of
headstones and objects. Neglect accelerates and compounds the process.
If not recorded and cared for, these reminders of early settlements could be lost forever.
***
I tend to think of cemeteries as being Cities of the Dead -- rather like Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters and also adapted into a play and similarly the play, Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. Just think of all the stories in any cemetery!
That started me looking for a story about cemeteries. I found the title story in The Silver Crown; Another Book of Fables, but was surprised to discover a different Laura E. Richards story about The Grave Diggers was here back in September 23, 2020 before other cemetery walks. Richards has the skill to write something just big enough to cover the subject and keep it interesting.
THE SILVER CROWN
"And shall I be a king?" asked the child, "and
shall I wear a crown?"
"You shall surely wear a crown," said the Angel, "and
a kingdom is waiting for you."
"Oh, joy!" said the child. "But tell me, how will
it come about? for now I am only a little child, and the crown would
hardly stay on my curls."
"Nay! that I may not tell," said the Angel. "Only
ride and run your best, for the way is long to your kingdom, and the
time short."
So the child rode and ran his best, crossing
hills and valleys, broad streams and foaming torrents. Here and there
he saw people at work or at play, and on these he looked eagerly.
"Perhaps, when they see me," he said, "they will
run to meet me, and will crown me with a golden crown, and lead me to
their palace and throne me there as king!"
But the folk were all busy with their tasks or their sport, and
none heeded him, or left their business for him; and still he must
fare forward alone, for the Way called him.
Also, he came upon many travellers like himself, some coming
toward him, others passing him by. On these, too, he looked
earnestly, and would stop now one, now another, and question him.
"Do you know," he asked, "of any kingdom in these
parts where the crown is ready and the folk wait for a king?"
Then one would laugh, and another weep, and another jeer, but all
alike shook their heads.
"I am seeking crown and kingdom for myself," cried one;
"is it likely that I can be finding one for you, too? Each one
for himself, and the Way for all!"
Another said: "You seek in vain. There are no crowns, only
fools' caps with asses' ears and bells that jingle in them."
But others, and these they who had been longest on the way, only
looked on him, some sadly, some kindly, and made no answer; and still
he fared onward, for the Way called him.
Now and then he stopped to help some poor soul who had fallen into
trouble, and when he did that the way lightened before him, and he
felt the heart light within him; but at other times the hurry was
strong on him, so that he would turn away his face, and shut his ears
to the cries that rang in them; and when he did that, the way
darkened, and oftentimes he stumbled himself, and fell into pits and
quagmires, and must cry for help, sometimes on those to whom he had
refused it.
By and by he forgot about the crown and the kingdom; or if he
thought of them, it was but as a far-off dream of dim gold, such as
one sees at morning when the sun breaks through the mist. But still
he knew that the way was long and the time short, and still he rode
and ran his best.
At the last he was very weary, and his feet could carry him no
further, when, looking up, he saw that the way came to an end before
him, and there was a gate, and one in white sitting by it, who
beckoned to him. Trembling, yet glad, the child drew near, and knew
the Angel who had spoken to him at the beginning.
"Welcome!" said the Angel, "you come in good time.
And what of the Way?"
"I came as fast as I could," said the child, "but
many things hindered me, and now I am weary, and can go no further."
"But what did you find on the way?" asked the Angel.
"Oh! I found joy and sorrow," said the child, "good
measure of both; but never a crown, such as you promised me, and
never a kingdom."
"Oh, dear, foolish child," said the Angel. "You are
wearing your crown. It is of purest silver, and shines like white
frost; and as for your kingdom, the name of it is Rest, and here the
entrance to it."
***
Cemeteries should make us think and want to know the stories there. May you, too, earn a crown.
********************
This
is part of a series of postings of stories under the category,
"Keeping the Public in Public Domain." The idea
behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the
authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel
strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the
20th century. My
own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public
Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy
discovering new stories.
At
the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates
projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an
audience. Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing
of Public Domain stories will not occur that week. This is a return to
my regular posting of a research project here. (Don't worry, this
isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future
storytelling to an audience.) Response has convinced me that "Keeping
the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other
postings as often as I can manage it.
Other
Public Domain story resources I recommend-
There
are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for
folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's
database, Yashpeh,
the International Folktales Collection. I have long
recommended it and continue to do so. He has loaded
Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so
you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression
you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
You may have noticed I'm no
longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his
offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking
specific types of stories. There's another site, FairyTalez
claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales,
folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for
phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
Between those two sites, there
is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait,
there's more!"
The
email list for storytellers, Storytell,
discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional
suggestions:
-
Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible
through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's
wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google
search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ . It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016 and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.
- Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com
doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her
way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for
finding new books and stories to love and tell.
You're
going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT
go to the Internet Archive
Wayback Machine to find some of these old links. Tim's
site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a
full-time job. In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that
Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she
could no longer maintain it. Possibly searches maintained it.
Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim
Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old
Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library
(something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine. It
took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally
in December of 2006 it appears!
Somebody
as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website
is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.
I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can
be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that
becomes the only way to find them.
You
can see why I recommend these to you.
Have fun
discovering even more stories