The Quiet Neighbors

There are graves here from the 1600's, when this village was first settled.

Some of them tell stories, like the minister buried next to his two wives. Their stones are inscribed from top to bottom with the family's history. The first wife gave birth to six children, buried nearby at various ages, and then passed away in her late forties. The second wife, memorialized as "the charming Elizabeth," was the children's nursemaid. After her mistress died she married the Reverend and kept him happy the rest of his life, bearing him two more children before she too passed on. The patriarch lived to the ripe old age of 93, surrounded by his offspring. It sounds like he had a good life!

Other stones tell a sadder tale. Lots of little ones died very young. Some families lost child after child, none of them making it past three or four years old.

I always think of the last scene from the play Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. The characters are all sitting in chairs in the graveyard. Emily realizes she is dead too. She asks, "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it??every, every minute?" The stage manager answers, "No. Saints and Poets maybe. Just a little."

Carpe diem, Blippers.