. Fenimore Cooper's grave and Christ churchyard . er Nash Shaded by venerable pines and noble elms,there stands in Christ churchyard a marble shaftinscribed to the memory of Father Nash, firstrector of Christs church and Mrs. Olive,wife of Father Nash, whose bodies lie beneaththe sod awaiting the day of resurrection. Amongsome three hundred tombstones arrayed uponthe greensward, vainly struggling, with thedecrepitude of age, to hold themselves erectand to keep alignment in their ranks, the mon-ument of Father Nash, as one enters the drive-way gate, most commandingly appears, andreveals him to
. Fenimore Cooper's grave and Christ churchyard . er Nash Shaded by venerable pines and noble elms,there stands in Christ churchyard a marble shaftinscribed to the memory of Father Nash, firstrector of Christs church and Mrs. Olive,wife of Father Nash, whose bodies lie beneaththe sod awaiting the day of resurrection. Amongsome three hundred tombstones arrayed uponthe greensward, vainly struggling, with thedecrepitude of age, to hold themselves erectand to keep alignment in their ranks, the mon-ument of Father Nash, as one enters the drive-way gate, most commandingly appears, andreveals him to the fancy as captain of the armyof the dead. From the church nearby, of whichthe dead form the silent guard, the congregationstrolling homeward passes by this tomb, and thevisitor who pauses to read its inscription maylook back through the open door-way into thesanctuary where Father Nash in lifetime ledin prayer and praise, and preached the Word, andbroke the Bread of Life. It is this relationshipof his to supernal truths that compels assent to. Ojj ■i H The Tomb of Father Nash 25 what the monument seems to assert in accordingto Father Nash, within this consecrated ground,a certain supremacy which the standards of theworld would perhaps deny. In this view, astriking contribution to the harmonies is foundin the admirable restraint expressed in thesimplicity of the world-famous tomb within thesame enclosure. While Fenimore Coopers graveis. sought each summer by a thousand pilgrimswho never heard of Daniel Nash, yet the novelistis here commemorated only as a humble Christianand parishioner of the church near which hisbody lies, and the monument of the founderof American romance is thus distinctly subor-dinate to that of the lowly priest of Otsego grave of Father Nash reveals a vein ofpoetry in a nature otherwise absorbed in thedrudgery of frontier life. For it is by his ownchoice that the missionary pioneer is buriedhere. The very spot beneath the pines was ofhis c
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidfenimorecoopersg00bird
