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A STROLL THROUGH HAMBURGH, 395
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
As I Stand On The Deck Ofthe Hamburgh St...
inclosing * gates of the city , which are regularly shut at dusk , only t @ be openedon payment of a fee . These entrances werein former times ,
committed to the keeping" of certain appointed , senators , thence called Thor-herren or gate-lordsto whose houses the respective
keys were each night conveyed . , In case of fire , each Thor-herr was bound to ride at once to the particular gate of which he had
~ kh . e careand there to remain until the alarm bell ceased to sound ; th . e like , sentinelshialso devolving upon him whenever the gate
was only Minded , i . p e . but partially closed in consequence of some princelrequiring to pass through in the course of the
tions evening fell y . personage into When disuse Hamburg but were h ceased revived to in be 1814 a fortress , and carried , these regular out for
a time , with little variation , , except that several gates were given in -charge to one member of the council ; they arehowevernow all undei ?
the care of the police . The territory I wish , to visit lies , but a few minutes' walk beyond the gateand I turn at once from the maca- >
, damized allee into the road leading to it , one-third of which is composed of mudthe other two-thirds of the width being _oceujDied by a
,, _causeway of stones , soon reduced to half ; a few . yards farther on the paved portion dwindles to but a third in the middle , with a wet
_sloiigh on each side . About where the final change occurs , is the spot of which I was in searchthe " God ' s Acre . " It was before
the end of the last century that , these sensible citizens began the ¦ custom of extra-mural intermentand instituted the large cemeteries
, several of which are here found adjoining each other . In the war time which followed they must almost have regretted the advanced
step thus taken , when they found that even the dead were not safe from the insults of the invaders , and that graves were trodden low ,
• stones _desteoyed , and trees cut down , till their beautiful German nameFriedenliofor Court of Peacemust have seemed a bitter
mockery , as applied _, to these desecrated , spots . Now , however , the departed not onlrest in peacebut I find on thoroughly exploring
• one of the cemeteries y and taking , a glance at the others , that they are by no means forgotten or uncared for by surviving friends .
The | graves are rich in floral beauty , and the stones hung with freshgarlandsand I am therefore the more struck by the singular
. absence , of more substantial decoration or memento . There was not a single monument worthy of the name : on one grave appeared
a very small bust in a niche , on another a carved lyre , and there was one miniature urn perched upon a column , but this was all that
The wooden was to other be slabs seen graves of or were even crosses marked such or poor b mere y nothing attemp squares ts more at of sepulchral than pavement head scul - . stones pture The . ,
¦ epitaphs , too , were for the , most part limited to the barest record of birth and deathand few and far between were those in which any
, _approach was made to a lengthened inscription . Fruit trees were mingled with the ash and the lindenand vegetables were growing
up to the very line where the tombs , terminated , so that scarcely
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A Stroll Through Hamburgh, 395
A STROLL THROUGH HAMBURGH , 395
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 2, 1863, page 395, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_02021863/page/35/
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