In olde New York; sketches of old times and places in both the state and the city . medallion is Paines motto: The world is my do good my religion. The south side bears quotations from the CrisisNo. I. and from Crisis No. XV. The inscriptions onthe east and north sides are taken from the Age ofReason. Fertile meadows sweep away to the cast-ward, cut in twain by the farm-road mentioned. Theyform part of the estate given to Paine in 1783 by theState of New York for his services in the Revolution. The history of both monument and farm is interest-ing. Paine, as he lay on his dying bed,
In olde New York; sketches of old times and places in both the state and the city . medallion is Paines motto: The world is my do good my religion. The south side bears quotations from the CrisisNo. I. and from Crisis No. XV. The inscriptions onthe east and north sides are taken from the Age ofReason. Fertile meadows sweep away to the cast-ward, cut in twain by the farm-road mentioned. Theyform part of the estate given to Paine in 1783 by theState of New York for his services in the Revolution. The history of both monument and farm is interest-ing. Paine, as he lay on his dying bed, evinced con-siderable anxiety as to the disposal of his body afterdeath, fearing, perhaps, that it would not meet withproper respect. His father was a Quaker, and hedesired to be laid to rest in the burying-ground of thatpeople. He sent to INIr. AVillet Hicks, a respectableQuaker living near, and said that, as he was going toleave one place, it was necessary to provide another,and wished to be interred in the Quaker burying-ground, adding that he might be interred in the Epis-. The Thomas Paine Memorial Thomas Paines Last Home 143 copal churchyard, but they were so arrogant, or in thePresbyterian, but they were so hypocritical. TheQuakers, however, refused the desired permission. In his last will and testament, dated January 18,1809, Paine expressed a wish to be buried in theQuaker burying-ground if they permitted it, but ifthey would not allow it he wished to be buried on hisfarm, the place where I am to be buried to be asquare of twelve feet, to be enclosed with rows of treesand a stone or post and rail fence, with a headstonewith my name and age engraved upon it, Author ofCommon Sense. He was so buried in a plot in thefield a few yards south of the present monument. In1819, however, William Cobbett, the great EnglishLiberal, while in this country dug up his bones andcarried them to England, but what disposition wasmade of them is not known. In 1838-9 funds for thepresent mo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnewyorkstatehistory
