Kimball enterprise. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1883, 1883-05-25
Burial Reform in England.

An interesting letter in the Journal
says-I once heard an eccentric philoso-
pher say that the entire surface Of the
habitable globe was made UP OF the dust
of the dead of the long past to the depth
Of eighteen feet, This is a pretty wild
statement; but had he applied his theory
only to old England, he would certainly
have been nearer the truth. In all
parts of England I found the graveyards
full to overflowing with the monuments
and tablets that had been set up in hon
or of the dead; yet these only told me
where the comparatively recent and
more favored dead rested. I was very
glad to see and hear, as I wandered
about England, that ''tombs were out of
fashion" in that country, There is a
strong sentiment against them there.
The nobility and gentry and the higher
middle classes have by precept and TX
ample greatly helped to foster the GUS
tom of their disuse. Many of the most
prominent and wealthy families are de-
termined that their dead shall be buried
in mother earth. Tie earth is
remains that are allowed to come direct
ly in contact with it. There is a large
corporation in London that has for its
| object the manufacture and sale of wick
| er coffins, or, as they are termedi in Eng
! land, earth-to-earth collins, which are
advertised as enabling the dead to be
| buried in the earth without danger to
the living. / found thatithese basket cof-
inns, which have SO 1ar only Deen used
to a very limited extent in the United
States, are rapidly growing in favor in
London. Their use shows the emphatic
reaction that has in England taken place
against tnmbs. There is n style Of
grave that is Of long standing in England
| in favor in the United States. / refer to
the brick graves, in one of which the
dean of Windsor has just been laid with
great funeral pomp. These have a tomb
like character, and are. therefore, con-
demned by those sanitary reformers
who have paid so much attention to
mOrtnary matters.
While wandering about London I had
many opportunities of twisting the ancient
churches, in whose crypts repose so
many Of the dead of the great metropolis
and whose walls and floors are covered
with inscriptions in stone and brass in
memory of the deaf. And l could but
reflect that the war upon intramnral in
lGTulculE ltu ny SuduNlCh Adu ApI CtiA
menced too early or been waged too
warmly for the good of the living popu-
lation of London. This custom of bury
ing in and about churches everywhere
so observable in England, has steadily
grown more and more Objectionable in
the minds Eof intelligent students of sucL.
matters. When l think of the trouble I
saw had been taSen to preserve poor,
mortal bodies in their often four-fold
collins of wood and lead for deposit in
the tombs, brick graves and mausoleums
Of Pere La Chaise, Kensal Green and
Highgate, or in the crypts like those in
London, Paris and st. Denis, | love to
recall the breezy exclamation l heard
from the lips of a ruddy gentleman
man with an ideal English face. full OF
refinement, and a form full of strength,
with whom I was talking upon this topic
| of burials. "Bury me" said he, Sin an
earth to earth willow coffin, in good pc.
rous soil, 80 that I shall in the shortest
time possible get back into Gods pure
and sweet air again." This was a queer
way of putting things; yet lie meant well
for the speaker was q manly Christian
gentleman.
Wednesday night 9th inst, the depot at
Houston, Mimi, was struck by lightning
and burned to the ground. Agent G. ].
Cronieer had a narrow escape. de occu-
pied q room in the depot. and in %erdeavor-