This small tombstone in the church cemetery in rural Bloomington, Indiana, is a stump, not fully grown in width or height.  This tree-stump tombstone is a metaphor in limestone, representing a life that has been cut short. Little Cora Nelson was less than two years old when she died and was buried.  Twinning up the base of the stump are three fern fronds.  The fern, a forest botanical, in funerary art represents both sincerity and sorrow.

 

The gravestone for 33-year old Mellia Baxter Roberts below, in the same cemetery, is another example of the tree-stump tombstone with the three fern fronds at the base of the marker.