OLD BLANDFORD CHURCH, PETERSBURG, VA.
The old Blandford Church is still an object of interest to all who visit the historic sites around Petersburg. When the solemn chant of the first Memorial, or Decoration Day, service echoed through its mouldering walls, they, with a remnant of the roof, were embedded in the emerald ivy brought from Kenilworth, and were literally vocal with hundreds of tuneful birds. It has been found necessary to repair the roof, but enough ivy remains to cover it in a few years. Meanwhile the old church sits desolate among the graves of her distinguished and honored sons—indeed a Mater Dolorosa:—
"Childless and crownless
In her voiceless woe
An empty urn within her withered hands,
Whose holy dust was scattered long ago."
And there she watches "until the day dawn and the shadows flee away."