The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1874-08-27
POst-MOrtem TrneratIon.

One of the idiosynerasies of our
common nature is that we seem To
/ have more consideration for man
after he is dead than while he "a alive
Very often we neglect and disparage
MIN IN the flesh, and esteem and
eulOgiZs him in the grave. Exsnima-
ton has more power than great deeds
to make heroes, for the shaIo = Of tn.
tomb is a glamour to the iiyinz.
Perfect appreciation belongs to obitu.
aries. The earliest murmur of fame
is frequently the echo OF the first
earth thrown on the coffin-lid.
The disposition to delay honor aud
withhold affection for the advent Of
the undertaken, this propensity to
retain chaplets for the sake OF employ
ing them a. immortelles, is witnessed
in mOrtuary celebration. We must
compound with our conscience
for our disregard of the living by
our attention to the dead. By
some irrational casuistry we must
conclude that we make amends to
kind hearts We have rejected By piling
marble mockeries above their silent
pulses. Only by such sumption can
we explain the sOlicitude and venera-
ton that have been shown in all
countries and In all ages for the life
less body. Race, cline, or creed has
made little difference in what might
be called the universal cOrpore2l su-
perstition. However hostile, unjust,
or cruel human nature may be to one
of its eo-heirs, its tendency is to the
benignant, even to the sentimental,
when good offices have been made
superfiuous by q funeral. Respect
may be slender or null for the breath
ing, thinking, sensitive, sympathetic
form, bat certain sacredness attach
es there to the moment it becom 8
clay. The divine spark. the godIike
element, as it Is styled, appears to
count for nothing, save By its absence.
PAgans and Christians, SOcinians
and Scripturalists, agree ia this post
mortem veneration. No people have
as yet been discovered, whatever
their wildness or antiquity, who have
not have had sepulchTal rites, and as
sociated them with certain degree
of sOlemnity. Indeed, sepulture may
be regarded as the mark of the hu-
man species. Where that Is omitted |
the trace of humanity is lost, since
no order Of the lower animals evinees
care for the dead. The annals of the
race are revealed by the vestiges OF
tOmbs which antedate by ages the
historic period, and which still puz-
zled the most learned Of arehaeOl-
Ogists. We are connected with the
past, the dimmest and remotest, by
an endless line OF graves, and al We
know OF countless nations Is that
they died and were buried. This re-
vOlving ball, with its hundreds of
millions Of Inhabitants, is but a vast
graveyard The living bear but an
infinitessimsl proportion TO the dead,
Whose r=mtins are inc IrpOrated with
every foot Of soil We call our own. |
We are as a handful Of men standing
between the billions gone and the
billions yet to come-On one hand |
the inheritOrs of Time. on the other
the heirs OF Eternity.
Interments, reasoning by induction,
have almost always been associated
with some form of religion, and their |
rites have often been preserved when
the faith which inspired them has
teen forgotten. Not few Of the fu-
neral ceremonies Of the present day
are anachronistie, because they have
been borrowed without understand
ing from q different past, and are
meaningless because the link Is bro
ken that bound them to Significance.
--.JlIlilLs Henri BrOlOne iR Hdrper's
H10nziue for SeDfeUlber.