Let's talk of graves, worms and epitaphs... I like to wander through cemeteries, especially old ones. The newer ones hold little facination for me, as they are void of the headstones, monuments and aura that I feel a cemetery should have. I have found that literature, especially Gothic literature is rich with images of the lone couch of everlasting sleep. This leads me to believe that those authors were also fond of cemeteries. Judging the greatness of Gothic authors, such as Poe, the company is choice!

In South Carolina, there are many Revolutionary War and private family cemeteries. To explore some of them presents a hazard. Snakes! Keep away from creek banks, drain ditches, heavy leaf covered areas, and woods. Now, since this state has many wooded areas, this does present a problem. South Carolina has the distinction of having the largest variety of poisonous snakes in the entire United States! In fact, Beaufort County in the Lowcountry, several miles south of Edisto is where most of the snakes are captured that are used for extracting venom for snake-bite serum. Here, also, snakes are collected for the zoo, carnival shows, and for those few Pentecostal churches that have managed to elude the law, and continue in their practice of snake handling. I, therefore, avoid old cemeteries that I would dearly love to explore, if they are entangled with liana.

Some large companies have purchased land on which is located a small cemetery. Rather than relocate these graves, which can be very costly, they have fenced off the burial ground, and maintain its upkeep. Permission should be obtained, for entry into the area, since one is on private ground.

One block from my family home is the Old City Cemetery. I used to play there as a child, but cautiously remembering my grandmother's warnings, I avoided, whenever I could, stepping on someone's grave. If I did so by accident, I would stop, listen, and wait for that piercing scream that of course, never came.

This is a lovely old cemetery, with its share of magnolia trees, mausoleums, and Confederate Cross grave markers, leaning and rusty with time. The ground has patches of grass here and there, but mostly you walk on sand. ( Centuries ago, the Atlantic Ocean reached far inland, into our South Carolina, so we do have what is known as a sand area ). DAR and UDC markers bravely stand on other graves, defying grave robbers, and a rusty old iron fence surrounds all with arms of strength.

Within these arms is history, humor, wisdom, sadness, life, and of course, death. Tombstones speak of that generation in which they were placed there and the persons of whom they mark. This is where anyone can make a rubbing, which will only cost a few of your hard earned dollars with which you will buy materials. This will not only be informational - it will be your art work.

The basics of gravestone rubbing are simple: find an epitaph or design that will make your rubbing unique. Many quaint sayings are inscribed on the headstones. Or, find the headstone that contains the information you seek. Headstone rubbings are considered verifiable data.

Gravestones of the everyday man may reflect how they lived and often, how they died. A stone in turn-of-the-century New England would likely have been marked by the standardized urn, pussy willow and wailing woman motif. In the West, you are likely to find only birth and death dates. Mennonite gravestones in Pennsylvania were carved with that culture's religious symbol- the hex sign. Other Mennonite symbols representing man, woman, marriage, and union with God after death consisted of tulip petals. The Quakers usually did not mark their graves in any form, or perhaps with only a small rock marker. There are exceptions to this Quaker practice, however. The Puritans abhorred the making of images for any purpose, but they were fond of walking through cemeteries and being admonished by inscriptions such as "Memento Mori" translated, "Remember, you must die."

For the die-hard gravestone rubbing enthusiast, the New England countryside is the place to go. Fire-and-brimstone preacher Cotton Mather and patriots Paul Revere and John Hancock rest in Boston's churchyard burial plots. Rubbings are usually prohibited here, but almost all other graveyards allow rubbings. Slate and marble are not defaced by rubbings.

The typical neighborhood cemetery may not hold famous persons,but it does hold relatives, and that is what you are looking for. For each new ancestor you track down, record your find with a rubbing. Well, how?

Materials needed:

l. lightweight, tear-resistant paper (rice,or architect's paper)
2. rubbing medium (colored chalk, wax, crayon, charcoal)
3. masking tape
4. stiff brush (not wire) and eraser for cleaning stones
5. scissors or knife for cutting paper or the weeds, if need be
6. pillow, pad, or towel to kneel on
7. cardboard tube or portfolio for storing finished rubbings
8. spray fixative for soft rubbings done with charcoal or graphite
9. your stone of choice, of course!

Clean the stone with your brush. Take care not to scrape or scratch the stone surface.

Cut several pieces of masking tape and place them where you can easily reach them. Center the paper carefully, smooth it down and tape it tightly to the stone, first at the center of the top edge, and then at the bottom center. Use as much tape around the rest of the stone as needed to prevent the paper from slipping.

You are now ready to block your design with the broadest part of your rubbing medium. Using long, sweeping strokes, rub gently over the entire surface to establish the entire pattern.

Then, fill in the design by rubbing more firmly from the center out. Every once in a while, step back from your work and and check its impression upon your "eye." When you are satisfied with the results, remove the tape from the stone, and then remove the paper.

Remember to leave the area exactly as you found it. Remove everything you brought - every trace of it.

Lastly there are several thing to be done before, during, and after a gravestone rubbing session:

1. If a caretaker or a sexton is on the premises, ask permission. If you see no one, just go ahead.

2. Avoid sandstone markers, which can be scarred permanently. A sandstone marker can usually be identified by the dust that rubs off with your fingernail.

3. Keep in mind that on a warm day, stone and wax will interact more easily than on a cold day.

4. Move the paper and re-tape to join particularly good sections of a stone, or two stones, using your own artistry.

5. Roll - never fold - a finished rubbing. A spray fixative will help prevent smudging, but isn't necessary with careful handling.

You are ready to go out on your own now; but first, stop...pause with me...beneath encrusted lichens on this marble marker:

"Since I have been so quickly done fore
I wonder what I was begun fore."