The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-08-12
For the Cairo Bulletin.
HORROR ON HORRORS HEAD.

We are wont to consider the customs and
usages to which we are accustomed as the
ones best suited to our age and day; but
little reflection upon this subject in con-
nectlon with our funeral services as we are
used to conduct them, will convince us that
we are, in this, one Of the most trying or
deals through which we are called upon to
pass, in deep error We might well term
them, DC now conducted, the cruelties of re-
tnement. No age of which we have any
record, ever excelled us IN the refined tor
ture, and anguish to which we subject our
people at the time in which they need our
wisest counseling and comforting. It's not
that we would torture them, but that we do.
It's not our desire or intention to be cruel,
but that we are, all who have been so un-
fortunate as to lose near friends or rela-
tives by the hand Of death, know but to
certainly Of its truth. Loving hearts pour
forth their ready sympathy in words of
well-meant comforting; willing hands rem
der kindly service; and this is well and as,
in all humane kindness, it should be; and
did we but limit ourselves to this, much of
the anguish of our souls would be saved us.
Is the wound in ourhearts not deep enough
that we strike it yet deeper by the rites and
ceremonies and services that custom has
made us feel it is necessary to hold over our
deadl Yes, surely. Is our sorrow not our
own that We must needs conform to any
rites or custums that may serve to torture
our very souls and tear anew, again and
again, the gaping wound, we try in vain
to coverl Surely we have no need to do this,
and yet what we do there can be but little
question. The poor, little, dropping, faint
ing women that huddled like unprotected
sheep, around the open grave Of our fellow
townsman, c. D. AFTER, furnished as strong
and sad picture Of the cruelties Of refine
ment as need be desired by any one. The
fearful manner of his death would seem to
have been quite all the nerves of the strong
est could bear, much less the lingering and
renewed tortures brought to bear upon these
delicate women by the funeral and burial
services that followed-that are usual
with u.s. Much better for us did we take
our last farewell of our beloved dead as
soon as may be while yet the ruthless hand
that claims them has left us the little like
ness to our living dear ones that it ever
leaves us. No other sound under the heav-
ems ever broke upon the dread stiffness Of
| the air with such utter loneliness and de-
spair as the thud thud, of the damp, heavy
earth that falls upon the coffin lid Why
do we break our hearts anew and fill our
souls with terror by listening to it when it
falls upon our own! Is it not that it is
customary" for the relatives and friends to
attend these last sad scenes9 Let us do as
in more enlightened countries Qhey have
for many years. away with this cruel, cruel
practice. Is it not enough and more than
enough that our homes are empty when we
enter them that we must come back
from the burial of our dead to the deserted
and oh, such lonely, empty homes Were
it not we'll that we leave our loved ones to
the tender hands oftrusted friends whom
we know will lay them in the last, long
resting place, with due care and respect9
Surely, yes! Why should we heed what
custom isor saysl Our dead are our
very own; shall we not call to our aid all
that will lessen as much as such things
can be lessend, the sorrows and fears and
breads that crush us. There is no word
that comforts us; but need we add fresh
torture at every step, from the moment we
see their sufierings ended, till we come
once more to the home that was theirs and
that must be forever to us bare and dark
and full of stealthy echoes that haunt us
that fall upon our hearts by day and steal
into our dreams by night? This is day
of reforms. Let one be inaugurated
right hear, that we may not, needlessly,
lacerate the bleeding hearts of the very
ones who most need our care--the very
ones whom we would guard and protect
from all sorrows if we might-thc ones
who think not of themselves, but of their
dead, and who, therefore, most require that
we act and think for them,
SYMPATuIsER.