Discussions

Last week I attended a “History Book Launch” by Messer’s Charles and Dale Brawn at the Brandon Library. The Book is called, “Every Stone a Story”.  
 
A truly Happy Person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour……..  
 
And, one who can enjoy browsing old cemeteries...  
 
Their book is a collection of stories gleaned from Manitoba’s buried History. Each story is illustrated with an image of a Headstone and describes the life, death, and/or experiences of the deceased buried in a particular Cemetery.  
 
The stories are grouped according to their topics: politicians, artists, sportsmen/women, crimes and scandals, special people, now forgotten, accidents and disasters, people who were executed, and pioneers.  
 
Below are some fascinating Epitaphs and things on old Tombstones, that are not in the book:  
 
Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York:  
Born 1903-Died 1942.  
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the  
car was on the way down. It was.  
 
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In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery:  
Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no  
place to go.  
 
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On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in  
East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:  
Here lies Ezekial Aikle, Age 102.  
Only The Good Die Young.  
 
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In a London, England cemetery:  
Here lies Ann Mann, Who lived an old maid  
but died an old Mann. Dec. 8, 1767  
 
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In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery:  
Anna Wallace  
The children of Israel wanted bread, and  
the Lord sent them manna. Clark Wallace  
wanted a wife, And the Devil sent him Anna.  
 
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In a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:  
Here lies Johnny Yeast... Pardon me  
for not rising.  
 
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In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, cemetery:  
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.  
Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.  
 
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In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:  
Here lays The Kid.  
We planted him raw.  
He was quick on the trigger  
But slow on the draw.  
 
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A lawyer's epitaph in England:  
Sir John Strange.  
Here lies an honest lawyer,  
and that is Strange.  
 
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John Penny's epitaph in the Windborne,  
England, cemetery:  
Reader, if cash thou art in want of any,  
Dig 6 feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny.  
 
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In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England:  
On the 22nd of June, Jonathan Fiddle went  
out of tune.  
 
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Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls,  
Vermont:  
Here lies the body of our Anna,  
Done to death by a banana.  
It wasn't the fruit that laid her low,  
But the skin of the thing that made her go.  
 
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On a Grave from the 1880s in Nantucket,  
Massachusetts:  
Under the sod and under the trees,  
Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.  
He is not here, there's only the pod.  
Pease shelled out and went to God.  
 
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In a cemetery in England:  
Remember man, as you walk by,  
As you are now, so once was I  
As I am now, so shall you be.  
Remember this and follow me.  
 
To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:  
 
To follow you I'll not consent.  
Until I know which way you went.  
 
The Brawn Book can be purchased at Pennywise Books at 1031 Rosser Avenue, Brandon.  
 
Note: Manna (sometimes or archaically spelt mana), (Hebrew: ) is the name of a food which, according to the Bible, was eaten by the Israelites during their travels in the desert: until they reached Canaan, the Israelites are implied by some passages in the Bible to have eaten only manna during their desert sojourn, despite the availability of milk and meat from the livestock with which they traveled, and the references to provisions of fine flour, oil, and meat, in later parts of the journey's narrative. The manna is also briefly mentioned in the Qur'an, with the Sura of the Cow, Sura of the Heights, and Sura of the Flattening, mentioning the divine supply of manna as one of the miracles with which the Israelites were favoured: these passages only describe manna as being good things which have been provided ... as sustenance.