The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-07-24
Burial in Baskets.

The case made out by the cremation
lists against the prevailing mode of dis
posing of the remains of the deceased
was strong one, but they found it i'm
possible to overcome the natural an
tipathy of mankind to consuming theil
dead trends in IRE and bottling up tbeil
ashes as mementoes. People shrinF
from this appearance of a sacrifice tt
the dread enemy of the race, and cling
to the practice of laying away the NOR
tai part of their loved ones to sleep be
meath the daisies. And yet the objec
tions to the present mode of burial are
many. 1t is unnecessary to repeat them
now, as they have become familiar
through the arguments of the advocates
of cremation.
But an ingenious gentleman of Eng.
land, Mr.. Seymour Haden, has hit upon
a compromise. The main objection to
the usual mode of burial arises from the
use of close collins, which arrest the
kindly processes of decay. The pur-
pose of burial should not be preserva-
ton, but prompt surrendering up of
the individual being to mix forever with
the elements. The earth shat nour1shed
us claims our growth to be resolved to
earth again, and we should not re-
sist its claim. Accordingly Mr.. Haden
proposes to substitute for caskets of
rosewood, or other more or less impene-
trable material, baskets of wicker, in
which the body may be laid in the
bosom of the earth in close contact with
its dissolving influences and pass into
its elements without any unseemly re-
sistance. Every thing that pertains to
death and burial, though abhorrent to
the sensibilities of most persons, has a
strange fascination for us all. There is
nothing which more interests us than
the disposition of the earthly remains
of our fellow-beings when the immortal
part has taken its flight. Honest old
Montague notices our Inconsistency in
making such a pomp and parade over
the senseless and useless body, when
life is gone, and preserving such close
privacy in the circumstances attending
the coming of a new life into the world.
1t is one of the foibles of our nature
which we cannot get rid of, however
clearly the philosopher may point out
it's absurdity.
No sooner does Mr.. Haden bring his
burial baskets to the attention of the
world than he finds it full of eager in
terest. He had quite a levee lately in
the stately gardens of Stafford House,
The lordiy mansion of the duke of
where he exhibited fine
variety of his wicker caskets. A large
company of lords and ladies gathered
10 look at these fragile receptacles for
The still more fragile forms which they
we're at that moment wearing, and to
listen to the descriptions of the inven-
tor. Children peered curiously into
some slender specimens adorned with
black and gold, in which an attempt was
made to crafty the love of display
which is carried even into the grave. 1t
was a curious party, and it would hard
y be possible to gather such a company
20 inspect a collection of ordinary
,offins. 1t was the novelty of the thing
md the interest which is excited by any
hing new pertaining to the disposal of
he dead that brought them together.
What is in the Bed Room.
If two persons are to occupy bed
DOM during the night, let them step on
. weighing scale as they retire, and
hen again in the morning, and they will
ind that their actual weight is at least a
,ound less in the morning. Frequently
here will be loss of two or more
pounds, and the average loss through
,ut the year will be pound of matter,
which has gone off from their bodies,
PARTLY from the lungs, and partly
through the skin. The escaped matter
9 carbonic acid and decayed animal
natter or poisonous exhalation. This
$ diffused through the air in part, and
described by the. bed-clothes. If a
ingle ounce of wool-cotton be burned
n a room, it will so completely saturate
he air with smoke that one can hardly
,reathe, though there can only be one
'unce of foreign matter in the air. If
N ounce of cotton be burned every half
lour during the night, the air will be
,ept continually saturated with smoke,
lnless there be an open window or door
or it to escape.
Now, the sixteen ounces of smoke,
hus formed is far less poisonous than
he sixteen of calculations from the |
ungs and bodies of two persons who |
AVE lost pound of weight during the
light hours of sleeping for, while the |
Try smoke is mainly taken into the
ungs, the damp odors from the body
re absorbed both into the lungs and
nto the pores of the whole DO ~.
Jeed more be said to show the impor-
ance of having bedrooms we'll venti.
ated, and of thoroughly airing the
heets, coverlids and mattresses in tn
morning, before packing them up in the
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