Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-04-12
From the National Intelligence.

Il
their bodies in metallic cofins, is one Q
the greatest evils of the age, and wit
reference to the interests, health an,
comfort of posterity, weashail protes
against this innovation of the laws O
Nature. The fat has been passed by
wise Providence. ''Dust thou art, ant
dust shalt thou return" not only 4
man, but to every living inaniuiat
thing upon earth. Now, what is th,
practice in our tines? II is to defer q,
far or as long as possible this fat Of ma
ture, and impose upon those who com,
after US melancholy task of breaking
up and getting rid of a nuisance which
if perseyered in, would depopulate the
country and prove its curse, until age.
shall have gone BY, and nature shall
have regenerated the desecrated earth.
Look at the millions of bodies that are
laid in the earth every year, and judge
what the condition of the earth would
be if this system of burying the dead
is perseyered in. The earth would in
deed become one vast eharnel house,
for the bodies of our ancients would
still be present with us in all their
freshness, and occupy space that be-
longs not to the dead, but to the living.
1t is both awful and melancholy to hook
into the condition of the earth and its
inhabitants, even one hundred years
hence, under the practice of this system.
The earth occupied by the dead, and no
place for the living to gain their daily
bread?-It is the law of Nature that
whatever comes Of earth shall return to
dust again, to contribute to the life OF
succeeding generations. Can we, is it
wise to thwart Nature in her operations,
and impose upon those who are to oc-
cupy our place an evil of our choosing?
Why is the dead body placed in the
earth? Is it not to decay and mould
into dust? Why, then, should we GO
counter to the hopes of humanity, and
put of to long period the fond hope
Of the dead to mingle its remains with
its mother earth, and with her contri-
butte to the happiness and welfare of
posterity? Let us be true to our nature,
and when we die have our bodies de-
posted in the grave in perishable mate
rial, which shall decay and turn to dust
with the body. There is another con-
sideration in connexion with this sub
ject that may and does sometimes hap
pen with the dead, or apparently so,
namely, their revival into life after be-
ing laid in the coffin or in the vault
In the wooden coffin placed in the vault
there may be some hope of escape into
life again, but in the metallic coffin none;
hope or despair takes fearful hold of the
heart, as the body lies in either coffin.
Ii the circumstances of the body COM
pei the use Of the metallic coffin, then,
when it is deposited in the ground, it
should be required by law that the grave
be dug proportionately deeper, which
will leave the common depth for future
graves which the wisdom of that age
nay choose to fill with wooden coffins.
THE CHoCTAw INDIASs.-This tribe,
'ays the Washington Star, is one of the
most civil of the Aborigines. They are
n the immediate neighborhood of the
,reat States that lie on the west side Of
he Mississippi, occupying that extern
i've tract of country, which, in par
sllelogram form, lies Immediately west
If and adjoining the State of Arkansas,
between the Canadian, a tributary of
he Arkansas river, on the north, Red
liver on the south, and having the
State of Texas on the west.
Their population, which is already
$4,000, is rapidly increasing. Al
hough their landed property is held,
according to the Indian custom, as a
or tribal right, they are cul
ivators of the soil, having reduced and
lolding in severalty their farms and
racts, which they cultivate, and from
which they derive subsistence. The
hase is abandoned, and they are grad
tally advancing in civilization, and in
hose pursuits which, under the wise
of our government, is
'levating them in social point of view.
They have regularly organized As
emily, consisting of four senatorial
Iistricts, each sending four Senators,
nd assembly districts, from which there
5 one representative to every thousand
'eople. The Senate are elected for
wo years; the House of representatives |
They meet once a year at
)oaksville to legislate for the tribe
The executive consists of a Chief for
ach district, elected quadrennially, and
hese Chefs assemble at the same time
hat the Legislature does, and from
lind of executive council, the signatures
# two of them being necessary to give
fleet to an act of Assembly. They
lave eight principal schools, consisting
f from fifty to one hundred pupils
ach. Their language is reduced to a
written form, and elementary works in
have been published.
They are a peaceful people, possess
mong them men of ability, are under
eligious precept, and exercise decided
influence for good upon the wild tribes
hat roam around them.
There is tradition in the tribe that
here were three brothers, named
,hoctaw, Chickasaw. and Muscogee,
rho came from the far West, each Civ
~ his name to nation-the first two,
0 wit: the Choctaw and Chickasaw,
70 nou hlandad sDaaJino, the same