Wednesday, April 14, 2004
At Evergreen Cemetery today, I was recording the inscriptions on two rows of tombstones. They were moved there in 1907 when the cemetery opened, from an old cemetery where the bodies were left behind. As I wrote down the names and dates for an article I'm writing, I heard cars pull up. I turned and looked behind me and I am surprised to see a hearse and a bunch of cars. Somebody is going to be buried in a pauper's grave.
A backhoe pulls up and efficiently digs a 6 foot deep hole. The two cemetery employees bring the lowering device as more people arrive. A group of men in bright outfits step onto the gravel, they hold instruments and soon mariachi music was being played. Every once in a while a loud "Aye-yi-yay!" is shouted. After a while, six young Mexican men carry a brown casket from the hearse and set in on the lowering platform. A group of 5-gallon-buckets are set out and one by one people set bouquets in, most still in their clear plastic wrappers. Somebody had brought a huge red rose arrangement. I continued to record names- Frank Weston- 1901; James Martin Hildebirn Jr- 1898; Pearl, wife of I. L. Ardis- 1893- as the mourners one by one drop handfuls of dirt onto the coffin after is descends, the gravel crunching as they walked away.
I wondered who it was. Why they were in the pauper's section when so many people were at the burial. Whether they had a good life. I had to stay for the entire ceremony since my car was boxed in. So I finished quietly recording names- Ellen Miller-1907; Capt. B. Rogers-1884; Phillip S. Melluish- as another person joined them in the earth.
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A backhoe pulls up and efficiently digs a 6 foot deep hole. The two cemetery employees bring the lowering device as more people arrive. A group of men in bright outfits step onto the gravel, they hold instruments and soon mariachi music was being played. Every once in a while a loud "Aye-yi-yay!" is shouted. After a while, six young Mexican men carry a brown casket from the hearse and set in on the lowering platform. A group of 5-gallon-buckets are set out and one by one people set bouquets in, most still in their clear plastic wrappers. Somebody had brought a huge red rose arrangement. I continued to record names- Frank Weston- 1901; James Martin Hildebirn Jr- 1898; Pearl, wife of I. L. Ardis- 1893- as the mourners one by one drop handfuls of dirt onto the coffin after is descends, the gravel crunching as they walked away.
I wondered who it was. Why they were in the pauper's section when so many people were at the burial. Whether they had a good life. I had to stay for the entire ceremony since my car was boxed in. So I finished quietly recording names- Ellen Miller-1907; Capt. B. Rogers-1884; Phillip S. Melluish- as another person joined them in the earth.
