The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-06-29 00:00:00

Punt CIIIIIIIII (SIMS.

DORCHISTER, TUESDAY, JUNE 29, IA9O.

The kindly gentleman who fulfils archidiaoonal
functions In Dorset does not seem to help forward the
great conflict between positive religion and the unfaith
which regards it all as so many systems of shams. Mr.
Sanctuary talks of "desecration ' so if it were some
possible misfortune which can happen to churchyards,
and hopes the bishops will "not feel themselves
compelled to withhold from public burial grounds the
'Moo 'of consecration." This kind of talk tends to give
the Idea that some benefit is gained either by the
churchyard or by the bodies buried therein. One can.
not help seeing that in this matter of burial an untold
amount of superstition remains, lasing spning out of
gross materialism ; but when it is dearly recognised
thst the body of a departed friend does not contain or
affect him or her, then the fierceness of the contest—
whether the fees shall be mad to the State-established
officials or to "those who do the work "—may abate.
The oombatanta may well pause and consider whether
any and what loss is sustained by the unburied dead,
who sink to their graves in the trench, the desert, or
the sess, without any service at all. The safety of
society demands that all bodies dead within the range
of its laves be taken note of in a formal way, and the
came of death registered, in order to lessen the
opportunities of murder ; next sanitary science seems
to direct that the bodies should be removed where they
cannot injure the health of the living. And yet all
that is desirable ii not done, for the opportunity of
Interment is appropriately seised to point the sorrow-
ing survivors to the resurrection hope, and a service
may be a convenient form of administering the con-
solation. But doubts about "consecration" or "dese-
cration," debates as to which class of religious
ministers are entitled to customary fees, seem as out of
place as they are likely to perpetuate the state of
things mentioned by Mr. B ht, and to which we
have referred above. Strugg es for maintenance or
increase of influence or of emolument by means of the
tender regard felt for the memories and at present
inevitably for the bodies of the deceased, may naturally
result in unfaith of those who have perception to see
that religion should be a living and loving power.
Under present fashions, an interment is too much an
occasion for levying heavy costs on the survivors, who
are further depressed by the grim trappings of woe,
and when stronger common-sense deddes on accom.
rmenta less ponderous and expensive, there is some
folish cry about ritualism or disrespect to the
decemaed.

Although the chestnut flowers are nearly gene from
Dorchester walks, the delicious shade is so grateful to
eyes o'er tired with black and white, that we can recom-
mend any visitors who find Weymouth Esplanade
rather too bright, to give us • flying visit at the county
town, where in cool grot, they may recuperate their
worn optic nerves. Weymouth's -brilliancy and the
sweet retirement and summer-deepening green of the
trees around Dorchester constitute two of the essen-
tials for the weary Londoner or Lancashire man. The
beauties and attractions of each are complementary of
the other's, and what more delightful way of spending
• holiday, well-earned in close attention to business,
than by seeing from Weymouth Esplanade the sun
rise over Itingstead In the fresh unspoiled morning,
then after • clip in the salt and tonic bey, running up
to Dorchester during the glare and heat of noon, and
man to the stir of the fashionable watering-place, in
time to hear the sweet strains of the Italian band?
Young ladies; and gentlemen who are not yet satisfied
they have "made a day of it" may indulge in the
cheap free-and-easy of a "moonlight," and the still
unsatiated may mark how the G.W. steamers bring
French and Frenchified commerce and visitors to our
lasloombe quay. Whether, in thedistant future, the
boroughs of Weymouth and Dorchester be united to
return jointly or not, 'tis clear it
Is for their interest to draw together much
more nearly in the matter of entertaining
visitors, for one can give what the other cannot.
Weymouth Is &little bare of verdure, especially to those
who won't go far from the Esplanade, While Dorchester
is peaceful and still; but the two offer such • combina-
tion„ with the assistance of Upwey midway between,
as cannot be surpassed within an equal distance, any•
were on or near our southern coast. Weymouth
people should not forget to send their Esplanade-worn
visitors up to Dorchester to rest their eyes, and the
visits, instead of being for weeks, will more likely be
prolonged to months.

Many Liberal seats are being lost on the election
ssatition• By the ousting f the Macclesfield members,
the number of nine losses is made up against the
Liberals, while the Conservatives have lost two—those
for Canterbury. Oxford, Sandwich, and the Wigton
Burghs, have made • loss of six votes on a division,
and the Liberals must be up and resolute as ever,
and not let their confidence in a large majority
tempt them to forget that "They who despise the
day of small things shall perish by little and little."
The Liberal associations springing up as if spon-
taneously but really as the result of hard and careful
work have plenty of work before them, and even in
such a seemingly settled place as Dorchester, the
opportunity for action may come when they least
expect. Weymouth, we fully believe, is on the alert;
but there they need alliances as much as organisation.
Bridport is rallying with such hearty good-will that
may do away with the ill effects ,d that chilling frost
which so long kept the Liberal enthusiasm below zero,
and a very dull luminary may be snuffed out. Poole
Es yet staggering from her terrible defeat; but neither
the wounds inflicted on freedom nor the popularity of
the song—
" Gold ! gold !gold !I love to hear it jingle."
%Vill keep the plucky borough always in the Cardord
mud.

We understand the Pcouts of the Salvation Army
have begun to reconnoitre Dorchester ,with a view to
campaign here unless the preachers of the town show
more such signs of life as please the general and captains.
dome of the " localx" it is hinted, have acted Jonah-
wise, only the Tarshish in this cam is the chafer-famed
village of Chesilborne. The friends and sympathisers
of the Army consider there is an expellent opportunity
for extra evangelical work in the present tine 'Feather.