Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-05-19

CHARLES DUDLEY wABSEB's ACCOUNT OF A
PLACE OF sEPULTURE IN PALERMO.
There is one curiosity Of Palermo about
which hesitate to disturb you. II you were
TO see it, and let your mind dwell on it, you
probably would not sleep for week after
ward. or all the fantastic, ghastly and spor-
tive dealings with poor mortality that have
seen in my short pilgrimage, the convent of
the Cappuccini furnishes the most astonish-
ing In seeing it 1 bad a new revelation of
the capacities Of human nature for indulgence
in the horrible and the grotesque. From the
convent we descended into the subterranean
corridors where are exposed not buried, the
dried remains Of wealthy inhabitants of Pa
lermo. These corridors, of which there are
several, are arched, broad, well-hghted, aud
/ should think each q couple Of hundred feet
long. The air in them is dry and apparently
salubrious, and one might walk through these
wide aisles of death in comfort if he were
blind. On each side of these passages are
long boxes piled one upon the other, not
cofins, but boxes, sometimes with brass
nails, and looking not unlike old fashioned
hair trunks. You might imagine yourself in
an emigrants baggage room on steamer but
for some other things in the corridors. Each
of these boxes contains q dead person. The
occupants of part of them, which have glass
fronts, are visible. There they lie grinning
in arrested decay with just enough dried
skin and flesh on the bones to preserve the
semblance of humanity. The poor dessicated
bodies have been forced into clothes, some
times into fnery, and many in this awful
dress parade of death wear white kid gloves
and fine shoes. But this is not the worst
Above these rows of boxes hang in all the
limpness of responsibility for appearance
which characterizes the dead, ranks Of num-
mics, hung by the neck, or attached in some
way to the walls of the vault They are pret-
ty uniformly clad in sombre monkish robes
of cotton, and but for the horrible faces star
ing at you, might pass for scarecrows. The
drying process has drawn the faces into all
ghastly contortions, in which one might fancy
that the real character of the departed is re-
yealed. Some scowl, some grin with malev-
olence some smile (that is worst of ALL, and
some actually assume a comical look that
forces your unwilling laughter. Sometimes
groups of three or four incline their dreadful
heads to each other as if enjoying some post
mortem humorous story. His conceit must
be infinite who can walk through these ranks
of the dried and distorted dead and not feel
humiliated by such an exhibition of his kind.
Is it possible that we shall all look like that
Must all beauty and manliness and bravery
come to that?
There are many little children, some not
span long, lying IN IneH uttle DOxes, ueckeQ
in all the fnery of fond affection, the lace
and ribbons adding 1 know not what of
mockery to the weazened baby faces. One
entire corridor is reserved for the women,
and this is more pathetic and profoundly dis
gusting than the others. Those who died
virgin have crowns on their heads, and palms
or lilies in their hands They were great
beauties, doubt not, before they came here,
for the dark-eyed women of Palermo are
comely, but maid, or bride, or wife, they are
not beautiful now, although they repose in
silk dresses, kid gloves and satin slipper5.
These be dresses for ball, and what ball
and dance of death is this Is it any pleas
ure for my lady TO have her partner or lover
come and see her in this guise
learned that at death the bodies are in
tered in a sealed pit in this cemetery for
year. There is supposed to be something pc
culiar in the soil which dries the body with
out destroying it, At the end of year it is
taken out, dressed, and either put into its
box or hung up in the corridor. Every year,
at least on All Souls Day, the friends of the
departed come to look upon the frightful re-
mains. What satisfaction they can have in
the spectacle do not know, nor do under
stand how any man or woman of presentable
appearance, who has visited these corridors
in life, can consent to occupy them after
death. Lnterment here was prohibited about
year ago. 1 do not know how long the
wealthy people of Palermo have been expos
ed here, but we we're told as we walked along,
that 5000 bodies we're in sight.