The Cache Series
The Thanatopsis series of caches celebrates a life-long interest of
mine, old rural cemeteries. I have also included an Emily Dickinson poem
with each cache, since she wrote many poems about death. The poems themselves
were taken from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by
Thomas H. Johnson. Emily Dickinson published 1,775 poems. Each poem of
the series follows the numbering of the "Harvard (variorum) edition,"
according to Thomas Johnson. As a heading to each poem, I quote Johnson
in giving the earliest known manuscript for the poem, and its earliest
publication date.
Why "Thanatopsis?" My dictionary defines it as "a meditation upon death."
A final word: All caches may be found without showing any disrespect
for our predecessors. I hope that all finders have an opportunity to pause
and consider what life (and death) must have been like in the North Woods,
more than a century ago.
The Cache
The cache is a match holder covered with camo tape.
The Cemetery
First Methodist and Protestant Church and Cemetery
The cemetery is also known as Auburn Cemetery, and in the past has been
known as Chase Cemetery or Eddy Cemetery. Some of the earliest stones in
the cemetery include Willie Bowers 1860, George Joyal 1861, and John Haskins
1866. An early birthdate is that of Andrew Hebert 1789-1869.
(From the Chippewa County Cemetery Index by
Donna Miller Bourget, 1998.)
The Poem
Harvard Number 71. (From The Complete Poems
of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson.)
Earliest known manuscript: c. 1859; First publication: 1891
A throe upon the features –
A hurry in the breath –
An ecstasy of parting
Denominated "Death" –
An anguish at the mention
Which when to patience grown,
I’ve known permission given
To rejoin its own.