Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-05-07


magnifcence; and Alexander promised
to spend ten thousand talents on the
tomb and monumental ornaments OF
Hephestion. The Greeks and Romans,
who generally disbelieyed in the immor-
tally Of the SOUL burned their dead, and
had their ashes placed in urns. Anti
genus had the urn containing the ashes
Of Demetrius placed in the bow of his
galley, that the Corinthians and others
might honor it; and thuswe find Homer,
in the swenty-fourth book of the "Iliad,'
describing the funeral of Hector:
Perform. ye Troians, what the rites require
And fell the forests for a funeral pyre; . III.
Twelve days, nor foes nor secret ambush dread |;
Achilles grants these honors to the dead"
He spoke. and at his word the Trojan train
Their mules and oxen harness 10 the vain,
Pour thro' the gates, and felld from Id as
Roll back the gather'd forests to the town.
These tolls continue nine succeeding days,
And high in air sylvan structure raise.
But when the tenth fair morn began to shin 0.
Forth to the pile was borne the man divine,
And placed aloft; while all, with streamin G
Beheld the flames and rolling smokes arise.
Soon as Aurora. daughter Of the dawn,
With rosy luster streaked tho dewy lawn,
Again the mournful crowds surround the pyre,
And quench with wine the yet remaining fire.
The snowy bones his friends and brothers
with tear tears collected) in a golden vase:
The golden vase in purple pals they rolPd,
OF softest texture, and inwrought with gold
Last o. er the urn the sacred earth they spread !,
And raised the tomb, memorial of the dead.
The Syracusans followed the bier of
Timoleon in the most pompous solemnity,
crowned with garlands and clothed in
white; while the body of Pompey was
washed in sea-water by his freedman,
and its funeral pile made out of the re-
mains of old fshing-boats, 1t was only
with the advance Of Christianity and the
belief of resurrection that the burial of
the dead and the decoration of graves
came into vogue among Europeans. The
Crusaders loved the pomp and pageantry
of those solemn occasions Therefore
we find Tasso, in the third canto of
Jerusalem Delivered thus picturing
the manner in which Godfrey buried
Dudon:
But when the morn look'd forth on Jordan's
flood, s rH
The fun'ral pageant he lamenting led;
An odofiferous ark Of cypress wood,
Near q green hill became Lord Dudon's bed;
The hill adjoin' d the camp, and overhead
A lofty palm its yerdant foliage flung;
Last, white-rcbed priests their anthem DER
the dead,
Slow moving, hymn'd, and many a tuneful
tongue
Sweet at the solemn close his requiescat sung
And here and there the trees proud branches
bore
Ensigns and arms, the banner and the bow
Spells, which in fight more fortunate he tore
Or from the Syrian or the Persian foe;
In midst, his own pierc'd cuirass they bestow,
His hollow helmet, his inverted spear
And grave this legend on the trunk below:
"Pilgrim, a champion of the Cross revere;
And pass this tomb with awe-braye Dudon
! slumbers here" GO lHfIsN|
Shakespeare, who carefully noted the
customs of nations, makes Paris strew
flowers about the tomb of Juliet, and
Hamlet's mother scatter fragrant buds
on the grave Of 0phelia-"sweets to the
sweet" In England the custom of de-
corating graves has been neglected since
the time of Elizabeth. Dickens, in his
story of the "0ld Curiosity Shop,
touchingly refers to this neglect. |
rather grieve-I do rather grieve to
think said little Nell, bursting into
tears, that those who die about us are
so soon forgotten. But in France
and Ireland the custom is kept up. In
France every cemetery has mementoes
around Il on the LIST of November All
Saints Day.. ss is the case also in New
Orleans. In Ireland on the feasts of
patron saints the graves are covered
with green flags, over which are stTeyn
flowers in the daytime, and at night
each grave is brilliantly Illuminated with
candles With us, however. the custom
of decoration is confined to the graves
of those who fell in their country's cause,
and to them is offered a
FLORAL TRIBprH
plucked from the gardens aud fields they
died in defending. There is indeed q
silent and effective influence in flowers.
They are the voiceless children of-God,
and impress their purity upon US through
that window Of the soul, the eye. They
grow in simple beauty, send forth sweet
odors, kiss the mo;st air, and droop
among leaves as meek as the .s-eerest
grass. Every one of them is an ldyi'
They appear Gladstone among the gay,
and grave among she gave. Birds sing
20 them, and deWs liRger on sheig petals.
They express joy in the bridal wreath,
and sorrow on the coffin lid How APP
propriate thes viii lie on the green
graves Of those whose seidiey-life ives
beset with so many thorns. beautifully
and touchingly indeed wrote Collins:
How sleep tbs brave. who sink to rest
Rv all their country z wishes bicst
Wien Spring. With deHy argers cold,
Refuras 10 deck their hallowod Hquld.
She there shall dress a sWeeter sod
Than Fancy'e Get have ever tr0d.
~ fairy hands their tnell Is rung;
By forms nnsccn their otase is sung;
Their Homer CONES, . PILGRIM sssy,
no bless the tar that wraps their ciays
Ans freedop shall sEbile repair,
To dNeil = gpepiuS hermit there
rae GBAYKs,
eight hundred and eighsy-six in number