New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-07-19
The Casket-What shall We Do With 1t 2

The casket which has contained the hui
man soul is fer short while inexpressibly
precious The fact that it is no longer the
proper object of love, no longer the being
whom it so feebly. SO coldly resembles,
but only the cast-off human garment
which that being shall never wear again,
is difficult to realize; so difficult that
very many never do realize it. How
to dispose most lovingly OF that whose
presence no love could long endure is a
question which has for ages been settled
among Christian nations by the ceremonial
called Christian burial Dust thou art, and
unto dust thou shalt return" ia interpreted
into a Divine inj junction to cast the precious
body, which was once human being, into
the earth and leave it to become loath.
some mass of corruption. The mind of the
survivor is then to be distracted between
care for this banquet OF worms, precious as
the remains" of the loved one, and recOg-
milton that the real loved one still lives, some
where. 1t may be in a distant, visionary
place called heaven; it may be in vague
region called the Spiritland'-nobody be
lieves that his own loved ones go to hell
it may be close at hand. The place of abode
NAV be unknown, but the fact of continued
existence is undoubted
Different nations have practiced differ ent
| methods of disposing of the body, such
methods being generally influenced by their
religious views. The Egyptians, believing
| in an ultimate reunion of soul and body,
| endeavored to preserve the latter as long
| as possible, and by their system of embalm
| ing actually succeeded in keeping on earth
a great many iibels on humanity which no
well conditioned soul, no soul of taste,
| would have consented to inhabit.
| The classic nations of antiquity practiced
| cremation, and that they changed this
method OF disposing of their dead to in ter
| ment after their conversion to Christian i ty
was doubtless owing partly to the intlu ence
| of it's Jewish founders, who, like mo ST
barbarous and halfcivilized tribes, prao-
ticed that method, and partly to the doc
| trine of the resurrection Of the dead in
their earthly bodies at the last day. 1t
| would be SO much more convenient to ha We
as much as possible of the body togethe
| on that occasion-the bones, at least, for a
starting point. Families, too, could all rise
| together, and even if they might We ry
shortly afterward be separated for all
| eternity, vet at that grand final exhib ition
| it would be well for them to appear as a
family.
| Thus interment became the rule among
| - ,1r
among savage ones, and sentim ent has en-
deavored to hallow the shocking custom by
making cemeteries as beautiful as possibl Q
and confusing, as mentioned above, the
feelings of the living toward their departe d
friends
Questions that have been settled " for
ages sometimes, however, become unsettled
AGAIN, and so it is with this one OF the
proper disposal of the desouled caske T.
"What shall we do with it," is now ring ing
through the world, and that most Ch ristian
country, France, is loudest in the cry. She
has found by experience that burial places,
no matter how beautiful poison the air for
miles in their vicinity; that the dead, va ID
pire-like. prey upon the living, as if the
skeleton occupants of their grassy, fl over
covered mounds. tired Of each others
company, were sending out dea dly
influence which should compel ever new
additions to their noisome abodes. In plain
language it is dangerous to the health OF
the living in an old and thickly settled
country to dispose of the dead in the time
honored method of burial. What ther
shall we do with them Embalming is toe
expensive for the majority of people and
would ultimately become very inconven lent
as the mummies would in course of time
outnmber the living Science teaches thai
the speedy resolving of the dissouled body
into its original elements Is the best pO ssiblt
course. as far as the living are conc erned
and sentiment must soon be eniight ene(
into the perception that this course is NJ
wrong to the dead. By it the mind is let
free to follow the spirit which is the rea
being, instead OF haunting graveyard ant
covering corruption with flowers.
Science, however. having once grasped
this subject in her all conquering hands
will never lay it down until she is prep aret
to dispose of it properly: aud though pre-
iudice may protest as usual, yet in the enl
the right thing will be reoogniz, I'd as such
and what was innovation Will beco mt
custom.