The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-07-16


is just now paramount in mems minds
every mortuary item that can he cleaned,
from whatever source, is matter of the
liveliest interest. This continual dis
cusssion of graveyard topics gives to cur
rent literature quite funeral aspect.
AS contribution to the popular sub
ject, a writer in late number of Temple
Bar furnishes curious account of a
visit to one of the weird and ghostly
cities of the dead that are built by the
Chinese in the neighborhood of the cities
of the living. The one described was
situated just outside of Canton, on hill
side, in full exposure to the breeze and
the sunshine The Chinaman, with a
staunch belief in immortality, thinks
more of death than he does of life, and
expends greater amount Of thought and
care on the way his body shall be pre-
served after it has become a mere clod
than while it is susceptible Of happiness
and misery. Cherishing the ancient
superstition of worshiping his ancestors,
it is chief object with him that families
shall be united in the grave, generation
after generation. 1t is to carry out this
purpose that the death-cities are built,
where, in houses exactly like those occu-
pied by the living, the coffined dead lie
until all their relatives are gathered
about them and can be consigned to the
earth together.
At first sight the death-city presents
the same appearance as any other, save
that there is an absolute silence and alb
sence of movement, while heavy, stag
nant atmosphere pervades it. There are
the same narrow, zigzag streets, paved
with cobblestones, and intersecting each
other at all sorts of angles; the same
quaint little square houses, with the
elaborate screen serving to close the
doorway; and the same little latticed
windows, from which the Chinese woman
peeps to see what goes on in the
outer world. Here and there are
patches of garden ground, in which
cadaverous flowers struggle for breath,
and few dwarfed shrubs stand languid-
ly up at distant intervals. But there is
no sound and no movement, no animal
life of any sort. Not so much as rat,
flea, or mosquito strays into this hab-
itation of death and interrupts its Cypress
i've stiffness. Drawing aside the screen
at the doorway and entering one of these
silent dwellings, one finds himself in the
ordinary Chinese parlor, or receiving
room, furnished with the usual ebony
chairs and teapoys; with the gaudy pic
lures, lacking perspective, on the walls
with the altar and Joss, or idol, at one
end and the brass urn, containing smol-
dering incense, on either side, and cups
of tea and samshoo in front. In the cen
ter Of the room stands divan covered
with the quilted silk counterpart, such
as is used on Chinese beds. Turn it
down, and there lies disclosed the inhab-
liant of the house, sealed in his coffin.
Other chambers in the same dwelling are
similarly furnished; but on the divan in
some of them rests an empty casket,
piiC"'b thol tiC III HUH IL
is intended still abides in the home Of
the living. The veranda about the house
is provided with seats and vases Of flow
ers. The travesty of life is perfectly
sustained in death.
Enter another door, and the sign, "To
Let Unfurnished," meets the eye 1t is
waiting for tenants, for these houses are
only rented until such time as an entire
family shall have assembled together
within its walls. They then are depos-
tied in the tomb, and their vacant place
above ground is ready for successive oc-
cupants
The wealth and rank Of the dead are
shown by the elegance of their surround
ings. The house of high mandarin is
rich in gliding and vermilion, with costly
mirrors, beautifully carved furniture Of
ivory and ebony, tea and samshoo cups
OF exquisite egg-shell china, objects de
rertu lying on the altar emblazoned with
jewels, and crimson velvet quilt en-
broidered in gold and seed pearls, and
bordered with bullion fringe, worth its
weight in gold. Immense wealth is
slowed away with him in the innermost
OF his three expensive collins. Thus he
lies in state, waiting not for resurrection,
but for burial.
This death-city near Canton is said to
contain several thousand inhabitants. In
view of term of such lonely and desc
late waiting, cremation would seem vast
ly preferable.