1900
In one of the hill towns of Connecticut Parson Fuller, an eccentric minister of a century ago, is still a living tradition. He was rather austere in voice and manner, and quite imperious enough to suit his sacred profession at a time when a New England minister was expected to be the autocrat of his parish.
A larger church edifice had lately been built, and it happened that the first children to be "presented" in the new meeting-house were the twin baby boys of Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Green. The happy couple felt the distinction of standing at the head of the record, and made every fond preparation.
Mrs. Green, while not exactly a literary woman, conceived herself a little superior to her neighbors on account of the number of books she had read. She had made up her mind what her little boys should be called, and at the appointed time she and her husband and the twins appeared before the minister, ready for the public ceremony.
"What are their names?" asked Parson Fuller, looking at the two infants.
Mrs. Green had carefully conned her lesson, but now she wished she had written it down. The eyes of the congregation were upon her. She was so overawed that she pronounced the names in a half whisper.
"Augustus Gerard Green and Gustavus Gerald Green."
"Speak louder, madam," said the minister.
A glance at her bashful husband convinced the flustered woman that any vocal attempt on his part would be less articulate than her own. Making a brave effort, therefore, she repeated the names.
"Augustus Gerard Green and Gustavus Gerald Green."
"Nonsense, good woman!" said the stern old man, loud enough to be heard by the whole congregation. "These helpless little creatures must not begin life with such a burden. I will christen them out of the Bible, after the two nephews of Abraham."
And christen them he did, with the names of Nahor's sons, "Huz his first-born, and Buz his brother."
The mortified young parents, after a season of secret rebellion, submitted to the inevitable, realizing that, as the matter stood, "Huz" and "Buz" would stick to the boys beyond recall. Indeed, it is asserted that the queer names became such a "drawing card" for the Green family that not only curious visitors rode long distances to see the twins, but a leading citizen of the next town hired Timothy to run his grist-mill, and his wife to keep school in the mill-chamber. Huz and Buz would attract customers to the combination, he said.
And so it proved. The prosperity and popularity of the father and mother increased apace, we are told, and the twin boys grew to be respected and useful men. One survived the other to old age, but the single stone — now crumbled away — that marked both their graves in the country burial-ground bore, besides the dates, only the simple inscription: "Huz Green, and Buz his brother." — Youth's Companion.
Showing posts with label graves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graves. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
"The Ossified Man" — Grave Robbed, Body Missing
1896
After His Affliction Prostrated Him He Became a Methodist Preacher of Wonderful Power
The item appearing in the daily papers narrating how the grave of Edgar Pratt, well known as the "Ossified Man," had been robbed recently caused considerable excitement in the vicinity of Sodus, N.Y., where Edgar Pratt was born, educated, learned his trade, transacted business, and where his widow and her mother at present reside.
Edgar Pratt, says a Soclus letter to the New York Times, was a son of William Pratt, a well-known farmer, who for many years resided on a farm which he owned on the town line road between Williamson and Ontario, south of the "Ridge Road," so called. The family is one of the oldest in Wayne County.
The "Ossified Man" was born in the town of Williamson, was educated at the public schools in that village, and completed his education in Sodus Academy. He was a well-formed young man, bright, and fine looking. He came to Sodus about 1878 and went to work for Charles Delano, learning the trade of carriage trimming. He was not religiously inclined, in which respect be differed very materially from his parents and other members of the Pratt family. While the young man was working at his trade his father sold the farm, and with the family removed to Douglass, Butler County, Kan., the son Edgar accompanying.
The latter secured a position as stage driver. Through exposure on the stage route he contracted rheumatism, which eventually compelled his abandoning that vocation. His condition became critical. He recovered from his illness, and shortly afterward removed to Sodus, where he opened up a carriage trimming establishment. Rheumatism returned, and he was soon prostrated with his old ailment. Medical science was invoked, but nothing could be done. At length, being in destitute circumstances, his brother, Daniel Pratt, came from Kansas and took Edgar out West with him.
Shortly after this, ossification began to set in and the patient suffered untold agony. An exhorter came to Douglass, which was then comparatively destitute of religious influences, and Pratt became converted. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and soon became one of the warmest supporters of that denomination. Ossification by that time had become so advanced that the man was taken before a board medical experts in New York City. The case had baffled the skill of all Western physicians who had been consulted. The New York surgeons pronounced the case a most marvelous one in the annals of medical jurisprudence.
An offer of $1000 per year during life and $5000 to the widow at his death, provided Pratt would contract to have his body delivered to the New York medical experts at his death, was spurned, Pratt alleging that his condition was due to an act of Providence. He claimed that he was suffering a just punishment for not improving his talents while young and before being afflicted with disease. His exhortations became so pronounced that his religious admirers built a wagon, in which he lay stretched out rigid as a block of marble.
During the last four years of his life he suffered no pain whatever, but was unable to move a joint. Starvation at one time threatened him, and four of his front teeth were removed, and through the aperture thin liquid food was injected, and thus was life sustained. In his carriage he was taken to camp meetings, where he was the centre of attraction on account of his condition and the earnestness with which he exhorted. It is said that through his instrumentality thousands were converted.
Offers from museums were refused, Pratt insisting that his mission was to convert as many to religion as possible during his remaining days. His faithful wife remained with him until his death, which occurred less than a year ago. Museum managers and physicians, even after Pratt's death, continued to deluge the widow and parents of the ossified man with letters and telegrams offering large amounts for the remains. This so alarmed the father that he declined to allow his son to be buried in the Douglass cemetery, but instead had the body interred in a flower bed in the dooryard beneath the father's window, where he could keep an ever-watchful eye upon it. It happened recently, however, that the father was drawn as a juror at El Dorado, the county seat, and during his absence the ghouls succeeded in robbing the grave.
Viewed from a scientific standpoint the case of Edgar Pratt was one of the most puzzling ever brought before the attention of medical experts. Pratt is believed to have been the only completely ossified man on record.
After His Affliction Prostrated Him He Became a Methodist Preacher of Wonderful Power
The item appearing in the daily papers narrating how the grave of Edgar Pratt, well known as the "Ossified Man," had been robbed recently caused considerable excitement in the vicinity of Sodus, N.Y., where Edgar Pratt was born, educated, learned his trade, transacted business, and where his widow and her mother at present reside.
Edgar Pratt, says a Soclus letter to the New York Times, was a son of William Pratt, a well-known farmer, who for many years resided on a farm which he owned on the town line road between Williamson and Ontario, south of the "Ridge Road," so called. The family is one of the oldest in Wayne County.
The "Ossified Man" was born in the town of Williamson, was educated at the public schools in that village, and completed his education in Sodus Academy. He was a well-formed young man, bright, and fine looking. He came to Sodus about 1878 and went to work for Charles Delano, learning the trade of carriage trimming. He was not religiously inclined, in which respect be differed very materially from his parents and other members of the Pratt family. While the young man was working at his trade his father sold the farm, and with the family removed to Douglass, Butler County, Kan., the son Edgar accompanying.
The latter secured a position as stage driver. Through exposure on the stage route he contracted rheumatism, which eventually compelled his abandoning that vocation. His condition became critical. He recovered from his illness, and shortly afterward removed to Sodus, where he opened up a carriage trimming establishment. Rheumatism returned, and he was soon prostrated with his old ailment. Medical science was invoked, but nothing could be done. At length, being in destitute circumstances, his brother, Daniel Pratt, came from Kansas and took Edgar out West with him.
Shortly after this, ossification began to set in and the patient suffered untold agony. An exhorter came to Douglass, which was then comparatively destitute of religious influences, and Pratt became converted. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and soon became one of the warmest supporters of that denomination. Ossification by that time had become so advanced that the man was taken before a board medical experts in New York City. The case had baffled the skill of all Western physicians who had been consulted. The New York surgeons pronounced the case a most marvelous one in the annals of medical jurisprudence.
An offer of $1000 per year during life and $5000 to the widow at his death, provided Pratt would contract to have his body delivered to the New York medical experts at his death, was spurned, Pratt alleging that his condition was due to an act of Providence. He claimed that he was suffering a just punishment for not improving his talents while young and before being afflicted with disease. His exhortations became so pronounced that his religious admirers built a wagon, in which he lay stretched out rigid as a block of marble.
During the last four years of his life he suffered no pain whatever, but was unable to move a joint. Starvation at one time threatened him, and four of his front teeth were removed, and through the aperture thin liquid food was injected, and thus was life sustained. In his carriage he was taken to camp meetings, where he was the centre of attraction on account of his condition and the earnestness with which he exhorted. It is said that through his instrumentality thousands were converted.
Offers from museums were refused, Pratt insisting that his mission was to convert as many to religion as possible during his remaining days. His faithful wife remained with him until his death, which occurred less than a year ago. Museum managers and physicians, even after Pratt's death, continued to deluge the widow and parents of the ossified man with letters and telegrams offering large amounts for the remains. This so alarmed the father that he declined to allow his son to be buried in the Douglass cemetery, but instead had the body interred in a flower bed in the dooryard beneath the father's window, where he could keep an ever-watchful eye upon it. It happened recently, however, that the father was drawn as a juror at El Dorado, the county seat, and during his absence the ghouls succeeded in robbing the grave.
Viewed from a scientific standpoint the case of Edgar Pratt was one of the most puzzling ever brought before the attention of medical experts. Pratt is believed to have been the only completely ossified man on record.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Boy's Gratitude Was Real
1909
Has Long Cared for Grave of Men Who Been Kind to Him Many Years Ago
Rev. John Henri Sattig, pastor of St Philip's church, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, tells this beautiful story.
"In Milford, Pa., there is an old graveyard, neglected, weed-grown and unkempt. Of all the mounds in that village of the dead only one is cared for. On that the grass is neatly trimmed, flowers bloom and never a weed appears. The visitor who looks upon this evidence of love and devotion amid so many examples of forgetfulness usually asks whose grave it is, and the sexton answers: 'The man whose body rests there had neither chick nor child. Nearly every day for the six years since the man died a boy comes here to 'tend to the grave. Winter and summer he comes. The lad is the butcher boy. The man was the only human being who ever was kind to the boy.' "
Has Long Cared for Grave of Men Who Been Kind to Him Many Years Ago
Rev. John Henri Sattig, pastor of St Philip's church, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, tells this beautiful story.
"In Milford, Pa., there is an old graveyard, neglected, weed-grown and unkempt. Of all the mounds in that village of the dead only one is cared for. On that the grass is neatly trimmed, flowers bloom and never a weed appears. The visitor who looks upon this evidence of love and devotion amid so many examples of forgetfulness usually asks whose grave it is, and the sexton answers: 'The man whose body rests there had neither chick nor child. Nearly every day for the six years since the man died a boy comes here to 'tend to the grave. Winter and summer he comes. The lad is the butcher boy. The man was the only human being who ever was kind to the boy.' "
Sunday, May 6, 2007
The Christian Courage of a Reverend Father
1877
Samuel Maxwell, of the Third Ward, died yesterday morning, at 8 o'clock, of small-pox.
Shortly before his death, we understand that he, being a Protestant, sent for a Protestant minister to give him some spiritual advice, but the minister refused to go.
He sent for Father Eppink, who acceded to the request, and after giving to the dying man spiritual consolation, baptized him into the Catholic Church.
The Rev. Father is entitled to much praise for the Christian courage he has shown in visiting small-pox cases. He has gone, not only with the word of God in his mouth, but the spade and mattock in his hand, and while with one he prepared the soul for eternity, he dug the grave for the body.
Such devotion to God and humanity as he is showing is rare in human character. — Zanesville (Ohio] Times, January 15.
Samuel Maxwell, of the Third Ward, died yesterday morning, at 8 o'clock, of small-pox.
Shortly before his death, we understand that he, being a Protestant, sent for a Protestant minister to give him some spiritual advice, but the minister refused to go.
He sent for Father Eppink, who acceded to the request, and after giving to the dying man spiritual consolation, baptized him into the Catholic Church.
The Rev. Father is entitled to much praise for the Christian courage he has shown in visiting small-pox cases. He has gone, not only with the word of God in his mouth, but the spade and mattock in his hand, and while with one he prepared the soul for eternity, he dug the grave for the body.
Such devotion to God and humanity as he is showing is rare in human character. — Zanesville (Ohio] Times, January 15.
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