The Penn's Grove record., 1884-02-02
commandment to the grave, always

accompaniment to the grave, Away
solemn, yet not altogether u%ncheerful
The usual hearse, trappings and mutei
must be altogether abolished and re
placed by a light open car, with white
drapery and abundance OF flowers IN
the case of children, but In that OF
men and women cut down in theil
promise, their prime, or at the close oil
a long and useful career, Il symbolism
altogether original and strictly appro-
pirate. At the presant day, except in
the case Of Royalty and military men,
one funeral is like another, the addi-
tional pomp impaired by wealth lending
perhaps extra sombreness. What we
want is, not only nstheticism but indi-
viduality in our mode of burial. The
man of a thousand ideas should not be
borne to the tomb after a fashion as
Insignificant as that of the man without
any. The noble character, the COM
manding spirit, the splendid achieve
ments which raise one human being
from another should be symbolized to
the eyes of all as his remains are borne
to their last resting place. Thus a
funeral would be a moral lesson as well
as a beautiful, albeit solemn spectacle.
For Bstheticism before everything! Let
there be, first of all, beauty in our
mode of burial. Let us no longer toll
crate the mountaineering under
taker, SO little In keeping with the
Christianity of any age or the scientific
spirit of our own. 1t Is odd how the
hopefulness and faith inculcated by the
Christian religion should be thus belied
in one Of its most solemn ceremonials.
Surely all who believe in the ''world to
come and the life everlasting should
put on white robes and garlands instead
of Grape and sable when hidden to a
funeral? Nor to the p~hilosophic minded
outside Christianity can death have any
unbearable sadness about it, except in
the case of the very young and those
prematurely cut off. Who, seeing that
death is a condition of our mortal
state, would wish to live on and on
indefinitely, surviving his friends and
his faculties?
This matter of aesthetic burial is of
more moment than may at first sight be
apparent. Life must be the best ex-
preston Of humanity and often it is a
very inadequate expression, too. In an
age of positive science, a generation,
imbued with the spirit of Darwin, Her
bert Spencer and others, it is high time
that we should accompany, and when
our own turn comes be accompanied to
the grave after a fashion less meaning
less and unbecoming than is at present
in vogue. We are eYo~lutionists. We
believe in the theory of development
and the doctrine of continuity. Why,
then, this unmitigated gloom and de-
spair, this lugubrious tawdriness Of
funerals? Surely the symbolism
such an occasion should be more cheer
full, more moving. Initiators may COM
fort themselves with the reflection that
if they cannot make things better,
they cannot make them worse. So let
Us hope o cn to be enabled to enrol
ourselves in an aesthetic burial associa-
ton, which would certainly do away
with II pang at the notion of quitting
the earthly stage of activity and may
be usefulness. 1t is a matter for the
consideration Of all, alike the devout
believer and the humble seeker after
truth, for Christian and agnostic, ire
of creed. The suggestion is
out for the ~leisurely and the
true lovers of beauty to take up, but l
could make many did space permit.