The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-09-13
THE DEAD OF PARIS.

contest.
THE DEAD OF PARIS.
The whole business of burying the dead,
and furnishing coffins, carriage and all
the requisites for funerals, is in the hands
of an incorporated company, no one else
having the right to interfere with the busi-
ness In fact it is like the tobacco business,
a source of large revenue to the Govern
ment. The monopoly is granted to this
company under the title of
Entreprise des Pompss Funebres, whose prin-
cipal office is at 10 Rue Albert, whilst it
has branch offices in each of the arrondise-
ments with which the city is divided. Tho
officers of this company take charge Of the
body and prepare for the funeral, just upon
such scale, and at such expense as the
family may desire. Their soeduie Of prices
are such as to suit the purses of all parties,
and they are required to bury the very
poor gratuitously. A " first class funeral
is set down on the scedule as costing 1881
francs (about 81, 500), the cost of each arti-
Gle being enumerated. There are nine
other classes, the lowest costing 10 francs
and rs eentimes, including tho religious
ceremonies. There are however, no legal
limits to the cost of first-class funerals, as
it altogether depends upon the means and
desire for funeral pomp of the family. The
horses, hearses, carriages and drivers are
all of a different character for each of these
ten classes, the difference being in the age
and spirit of the horses, the good looks Of
the drivers, the quality of their clothing,
the harness of the horses, the ancient or
modern build Of the carriages, &c. The
hearse is graded from a splendid structure
down to hand cart, and the extremely
poor are merely furnished with hanG-5ar-
row to enable the friends to carry the body
on their shoulders to the grave. The quail
ity of the grave clothes, tho coffin, and
every thing else is graded to the price, as
it may be orderd, from class Mol to class
No.10. Besides getting the dead poor
buried without cost, the Government re-
ceivcs from the Company S33 per cent, on
the produce of funeral ornaments, and Is
per cent, on all articles furnished, The
revenue from these sources is quite largo,
and as the cemeteries are also the property
of the city government, the dead, as well
as the living, have to contribute their quota
to identifying Paris. The dead poor are
only allowed to occupy the ground for five
years, when their bones are sold for agri-
cultural purposes, and the space they occu
pied given to some new claimant for the
privileges of the soil. There are three
kinds of graves in the cemeteries even for
those who pay for the right of sepulture.
There are some who purchase the perpetual
right for their friends to occupy the soil,
but it is generally conceded for five years
or more, subject to renewal. If not renew
ed, the bones are taken up, and the ground
prepared for lease to some new conner. In
the common graves, or as they are called
losses communes, the poor are gratuitously
buried four and half feet deep in collins
placed close to, but not on top of each other.
This economies space, as we'll as saves
labor in their removal when the five years
have expired. This will all seem revolving
to the American reader, but it is not half
as bad as the vault system at Naples, where
there is three hundred and sixty-five vaults,
one for each day in the year. One of these
vaults is opened every day in succession,
and the dead poor of that day, ranging from
twenty to fifty. mea. women and children,
tumbled in naked, head foremost, a cart
load of lime thrown upon them, aud the
round slab on the mouth of the vault sealed
until it's turn comes again next year. The
most revolving sight we ever witnessed was
the throwing the bodies in one of these
vaults, the number being twenty three
They were brought out of the chapel, strip
ped naked, all ages and sexes, taken by the
heels and lowered down, head foremost,
through the narrow circular opening. In
order to scatter them around in the vault,
whilst suspended by the heels, they were
made to vibrate back and toward, and when
sufficient momentum had been obtained to
place them where desired, they would strike
a rainst the walls with a dull thud, and the
man ,-auld walk leisurely back for another
bodv. He ,ctually proposed to open and
allow peep into a vault that had been
closed two days for i.-anc' which was re-
spectfully declined. The sig.rre he oss'reo
to exhibit was the revel of the rats among
the bodi es, which are said to swarm Fl"
one vault to another as soon as the new
bodies have been deposited and the opening
sealed. These European countries are bad
the Poor pan to live in, and
still less satisfactory l.r him to die in.
Among the items of city receipts last
year in Paris are the following: Dues on
burials $4,000 francs ($120, 000); sale of
andsin cemeteries, 1, SAG, 900 francs 1885,
D0O). We do not, however, find any return
for the sale of human bones, which is prob
ably perquisite to the grave digger.
G. G. Futton's letters to tho american.
THE MOONS ORBIT.-We commonly re-
gard the moon as satellite of the earth,
md we are taught at school and in our text.
books, that while the earth travels round
,he sun, the moon travels round the earth.
But in reality this is erroneous, or at least
of error. The moon ought to
20 regarded as companion planet, travel
ng with the earth around the sun. The
is not at all fanciful ONE
The earth is not the body whose force the
noon chiefly obeys. On the contrary she
s attracted more than twice as strongly BY
he sun. If the motions of the earth and
noon could be watched from some far-dis-
ant stand point, the observed movements
would by no means suggest the idea that
he moon was circling round the earth; and
n fact, if the earth were concealed from
lew while her satellite was thus watched,
he moon would appear to circuit round
he sun in an orbit which could not be dis
inguished from that which the earth her.
elf pursues. CornhM Magazine.
THE FARMERS MUTUAL OF YORK, Pa,