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Show i - '- Washington Irving's Grave In ''God's Acre" of Sleepy Hollow Many Prominent Men Are Buried Tombs Now Grass'Grown and Neglected. (Special Correspondence.) HNY one who may be passing along the main road between Tarrytown and Ossinlng In the northern part of Tarrytown sees tho old Sleepy Hollow Hol-low cemetery extending forty or fifty rods along tho cast, side of the thoroughfare, with the quaint llttlo church at the south end of It. The cemetery may be entered at the church gato or anywhere along the low stono wall tnat separates tho graveyard from tho road. The long, narrow cemetery, climbing climb-ing the steep hill irom tho church. Is beautiful in situation, but unkempt. A workman has a contract to cut the grass twice In tho season; and except for a short time after he has plied his scythe among tho crumbling gravo-stoncs, gravo-stoncs, tho thick and matted grass lies In tangles that completely hldo from view the broken stones which onco marked the last resting places of farmers and their families who died two centuries and moro ago, representatives repre-sentatives of tho first generations of Dutch settlers who lived In tho valley val-ley of tho Hudson. The church society hns llttlo money with which to koep this ancient cemetery cem-etery In repair; and so, as tho bones of the burghers burled here havo crumbled Into dust, tho llttlo brown-stono brown-stono monuments that marked their graves as long as any lived who remembered re-membered them havo fallen into BjitT j Jifib?3P jR9F03liBHfiL? ' Is "liPlJlBHHniAHHHHHHHHHHHL iwLiiS.i3tJSBjS?'' ' H lMJBsMJBsMJBgBf JjIVJJBsJBs-smBsJBsJBsJBF" TA V . .t tt JBaBarSBsBsBsBsBsBsBMasVBsBsBsBsBsBsBsBsBsBsi oKBjJQnKSBHH B9flK k, ; .fl ; wKOSIBSSSStBKBMB ll, l'KHnf3BHHljHHDHH QHEHHHH3tyH HOME OF WASHINGTON IRVING. ruins; If any still stand, the effacing storms and decay ot many years have left In most cases only a trace of the lettering, some fragments ot which may still be read. A llttlo way Inside tho wall Is n narrow path stcepiy climbing tho hill, passing straight over scores of craves that aro marked by no upheaval up-heaval of tho soil but only by fragments frag-ments ot gravestones whoso bases, still rooted In tho earth, aro likely to trip the unwary pedestrian. There could be no moro forclblo reminder of tne futility of trying to perpetuate perpetu-ate at least a namo and tho record of tho beginning and the end ot an earthly earth-ly pilgrimage. Climbing north along this path through tho grass that overhangs and over tho tombstones that encumber it, the visitor reaches at last a broader broad-er walk running cast and west. Turning Turn-ing to the right on this path he soon observes a little cemetery within a cometery a square enclosure mado by a thick hedge and trees which surround sur-round tho burial plot ot tho Irving family. The cntranco Is through a gato locked against Intruders, but tills gateway Is perhaps tho only point XIUt&jMgMJ HHBJR$7$f7T7BjHjHHi MBVfffiryfcffiffirffffiTiJJJBswJ Washington Irving's Grave, whore tho visitor may have a view of the tiers of graves within rising above ono another on tlio hillside. A llttlo northocBt oi tho centor of this enclosuro Is the grave of Washington Wash-ington Irving. It Is distinguished from tho others only y tho fact that tho white marble tombatono Is a lit-tlo lit-tlo broader ana higher and has a rounded and BllghtU ornato top. It bears r.lmply tho namo, tho ago and tbo dates ot the birth and death of the distinguished author. Around bis gravo aro fifty or sixty other tombstones tomb-stones each bearing tho namr ot lrv- leg or uhowlng by its Inscription that tho person commemorated was a member mem-ber ot the family. Thero Is no trace ncre of the ruin and neglect that mark all the older parts of the cemetery. cem-etery. In anothor part of the churchyard are the graves of tho Badeau family; Its most conspicuous member was Gen. Adam Badeau whoso record in thb civil war and connection with Gen. Grant made him well known. His tombstone Is rather moro conspicuous con-spicuous than the others, but none of the thirty or forty graves of his relatives rela-tives shows that it lies any attention savo from tho scythe of the solitary grass cutter. Curiously enough one of tho older tombstones of this Interesting spot is still erect and Its Inscription may bo read, though wltn difficulty. It records re-cords the fact that the man burled thero outlived a century and left bo-hind bo-hind him 240 direct descendants Tlmo has dealt kindly with this notable not-able record graven in brownstono; and surely tho memory of a man who had so conspicuous a part In populating popu-lating tho country deserves perpetuation. |