Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-02-18
A CRYING EVIL.

If there be any consolation in death, it
is the knowledge it brings to the living,
that now, at least, the body is at rest and
the tongues of those who cannot praise,
will cease to blame the memory of the
departed. We may pardon the funereal
pomp, which is too often but an empty
show, since it is almost the only form of
expression permissible in those who wish
to honor the inanimate dust, but lately
loving and beloved and now held sacred
There is nothing more impressive than
the eternal silence of which this is. alas
tho perishable symbol; and the few hours
of fearful and prayerful Watching that
intervene between the close of life and the
entombment are thrice precious, inasmuch
as they seem to lead us through the dark
valley with the soul of the beloved. We
are hand in hand with death; the bitter
ness of the blow passes from us, and we
are more willing and better able to utter
the final, the mournful, the inexpressibly
pathetic farewell.
1t is at such time as this that all
things should be done decently and in
order, not only for the sake of those whose
hearts are stretched, bleeding upon the
rack, but because this last tribute of
respect can never again be paid The
dumb clay in the casket, yonder, appeals
to the hardest heart; its helplessness is its
strength; SO shall ow dust appeal to the
sympathy of others when our time has
come. Not only is it meet that we cherish
the remains SO long rs the semblance of
sleep is preserved, but there is the possi-
bility, proved over and over again, that life
may yet quicken the dust; that it is but
sleep after all, out of which the sleeper
awakens and, in some cases, with knowl-
edge of all that has transpired during the
death-like trance.
Consider Tor moment the agony of one
awakening in the gravel granting that
hfe cannot exist there for more than
few minutes or a few seconds, what are
those seconds to the victim of premature
burial! Picture If you dare, the incon-
ceivable agony of ono, who though dead,
yet liveth, and whose consciousness is
almost superhuman, n,-as if the soul were
half out of the body and could see with
tho eye of the All-seeng. Think you
dare not, of the increasing horrors of
this helpless one as he listens to the
despairing cries Of those about him, wit
nesses the preparations for his entomb-
ment, and is borne alive unto the grave!
In time of pestilence, or in death
resulting from contagious disease, it is
heNcsoMy w intci viz ot<iy us speeeNlIy us
possible; under no other circumsta tances is
1t proper or permissible. Doubtless at
such periods one or another may be still
possessed of some life, il not of semi con-
sciousness. Our climate is comparatively
temperate. At no season need we fear to
show due respect to the dead But there
is a custom here which is criminal and
which has become scandal in the mouths
of all who have knowledge Of it, II would
be difficult to say upon whose shoulders
the fault rests, 1t is enough that it exists
to day, and If the Judgment and the mercy
of those who have in their hands the com
mitting OF the dead to their graves be not
awakened to the enormity OF this offence
the law should enforce such deliberation
in the celebration Of the obsequies rs shall
prove beyond question the absolute extinc-
Sion Of life.
Here when q man dies suddenly no
questions are asked, or IL they are asked,
they are answered variously and cyasively