New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-05-18
Burial or Burning
!rrom she New York Times

tEIOm Inc New lNih
How 70 dispose of the bodies o; the dead
has always been more or less Of a puzzle {"
mankind. Judging from the variety. of
means resorted to toy the purpose. In elias.
sic DAYS they were burnt up. and the ashes
collected and preserved in neat little trns
appropriately labeled. which made the
incest possible ornaments tor the centre
table or mante,-picce of a Greek or Roman
parlor. The Egyptians. IN the other hand.
preferred 20 embaliu their ancestors. ana
stick them up against the walls of their
dining-rooms, much after the style OF
family portraits III the present day. 1t is q
curious instance of the tendency OF human
fashions to repeat themselves That both OF
these processes are beginning TO find adv"-
Gates at the present day. our readers know
how the dead Mazzinl was converted INTO
particularly unpleasant looking mummy Tor
the deiectation of his friends and followers.
and now in England n movement appears
10 have been started III :avor VI :. return tc
the pan Of lncremati"n.
Rev, Charles NuVsec. who's. S.ews ~
Gocrrnal matters WI. hardly be deemed ny
conservative church-.JeG. mole heterodoy
than bis position III regard 20 iAterments.
thinks HAT dead bodies should Toe chem.-
ea!ly .iestroye,. aud :h- ashes inurned
and disposed ."i according :" 'hc
oi.Lcs Of the Survivors ia ,onsf Grated
places. in inches o: the walls Of. churches:
ayr in murfuarv chapeis designed TOT :helG
reception" This = practically return
to the classic custom, and Is the fashion
which. according 10 Lord Lytton. VIII o.
tain under he coming dominion ~ III
Iril-ya. Bor! the u!t dicI journal .n'' ~"
.avrrrud gtnfl-nlHn d11urt as IA! ..Cu' 80.
against The present Wett"t IT lAtdus;:'.'
its comparative uuCteanress ana us uAn ger
in "a hygltnlc poin.-a danger which. IA "a
Ike (,rpar RrI.D.p at limited
and dense populati-E-is probably not eN-
= ,gerated.
To IA ma iority of people any assertion ;hat
burving their dead IN vaults or III the
earth is not the best and onl- proper way
to dispose of them, will dCihtless come
with the shock OF something Ike heresy.
Long habit has invested the practice with
n sanctity to which the monumental bra>ses
OF stately cathedrals ara the peaceful love
lines. of such cities Of the dead Green
wood and Mount Auburn have added "a
touch OF tender poetry very aliurinS to the
i,p,ripation Yet it can not he galnsa!d
thai there is a force III the arguments al
vapccd against inhumation. and one day
they Gill have 10 be considered. livery
now and then tradition ia shaken by such
an accident as that at Bnghamton. where
the csmetary was flooded by the spring
freshets. or the still mere painfu! one a,
Little Rock, where the graveyard win al'
i,s relies was swept entirely away by the
,is;ny of the river. Incidents Ike these
and they are hardly 20 be avoided, "a
Trinity CHURCH yard ii.el! may witness
shock the sepsiblitv which elngs to the
sacredness of grave. one o! these ua!''
perbaps, senslbility may lie shocked into
reasoning and the-who know. lit may
he found that Rev. Mr.. Noyse.y and lie
urn loving ancients where right.