St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-09-11

It's passage by the legislature, direct
ing that the trustees should go out of
office in sections, so that it would
thencefOrth require successful manipu-
latlon for twelve years to totally
change the board. That ended the ra-
\ pine.
In view of the marvellous growth of
our citiesit is evident that the plant
ing of large cemeteries, in the expec-
tation of their being permanent, and
for all time, is an absurdity. 1t can
not be done. In New York the city
has grown round every graveyard.
Even those which twenty five years
ago were supposed to b. so far up town
that they were beyond any possible
limit of habitation, were long since de-
barred from use, and in Brooklyn and
that part of Long. Island devoted to
Greenwood cemetery and Calvary Gem
etery the question is already very
serious one-hOw can the dead be ac-
commOdated without interfering with
the necessities of the living. Observe
the phase ''the necessities of the liv-
ing because the time has long since
gone when to lave n house in the vi
cinity of Greenwood cemetery was Il
luxury. That entire portion is now
grown up, and, far beyond the limits
of the cemetery are blocks and blocks
of tenement houses filled, as reporters
say, ''tO repletiOn." 1t isn't safe, even
if it were convenient, and we are there
fore thrown back upon the one other
mode recognized as decent and proper,
namely, cremation. AS to its flying in
the face of Providence, it strikes me
that it is rather IL curious bit of impu-
dence ut attempt to limit the power of
the Almighty. We have been taught,
| grant, that in the resurructiOn, at the
last great day, upon the sounding of
the trump of Gabriel, our physical
bodies will resume their more or less
hideOus shapes, and stand before the
everlasting Judge precisely as we stand
here in the presence OF our fellOwmen.
| don't know whether this is SO or not.
If it isn't SO, that ends the objection.
If it is so, have ii very clearly defined
belief that this great creator, who WAS
able to make the universe, of which
the world is SO small Il bit, and to make
men and every creeping thing, with
all the magnificent strength of rock,
the superb growth of trees and the
graceful flowers from nothing, won't
find it very difficult to put the living
essence we call soul into some sort of
Il tenement, if that be his divine de-
sire. So it strikes me that objection
is good only for travelling tramp who
turns to occasional preaching for an
easy living. AS to preserving the
ashes from desecration, | cOncede that
there is il degree of sentiment about
that which is worth considering; but
after all, how many men or women
who read these lines can tell where
what is left of their great -grandfathers,
or even their grandfathers, is buried
to-day, and who of us is there who
cares much about them anyhow, or
looks forward to a meeting with them
on the heavenly plane, with any lively
degree of satisfaction The fact of
the business is that after we get beyond
the second generation, the horizon of
honest, unaffected affection is very
limited. But grant that man desires
tons it seehge fhe ID jpSheS Snat tRer t9Rery" "6R6Per
way would be to have public deposi-
tory, in which, for a trifling sum, we
could place the urms containing the
ashes of our friends, and leave them
there for all time to come Joseph
Howard in Boston Herald.