Laura Knapp

The tree stump symbol is found on many New England stones and represents life cut-off. In the case of Laura D. Knapp, this was at three years of age. Various flowers and vines are carefully carved on her stone, including the ivy, whose ever green leaves denote immortality, while their clinging quality attests to undying love and memory. The morning glory on the stone suggests life's brevity as it blooms and dies in the same day, and the lily represents purity and faith, as "the lilies of the field they toil not, neither do they spin," mentioned in the "Sermon on the Mount." But what is most striking on this life-size monument is this basket of flowers left there forever by the little girl. Like the empty cross, this basket embodies an absence, a painful loss of a dear one. Yet, this monument may help to heal, as it allows the bereaved to place their sorrow in a larger, public context, to affirm that all of us must die, even the young and innocent. No doubt for consolation, we find the words from the Gospels where Jesus says:

"Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."