San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-11-27
CARRIED TO BURIAL.
coRPSES BORNE m ARMS AND ON
BIERS AND LITTERS.
The Hearse a Modern Aflair-Methods OF
tho Ancient Egyptians-Rome's Public
and Private Funerals-Gotls, Huns,


tho Ancient Egyptians-Rome's Public
and Private Funerals-GotIas, Huns,
Ethiopians-A Great Change.
In very early times the dead were carried
to burial without the aid of hearse or bier.
Men took the corpse up bodily and carried
it upon their shoulders or IN their hands.
After while they employed the bier in the
funeral procession. The natives Of India
used to suspend the dead body between two
horses or mules The American Indians
bore their decd upon htters, one end Of
which was fastened to q horse, while the
other end dragged upon the ground In by
gone ages dead knights and warriors were
often carried upon the spears of their living
comrades. In primitive regions rough carts
were used, and are still used today, TO con-
vey the dead 10 their final resting place
From the rough cart tat other times en-
ployed for all manner of purposes to the
hearse, having but one single, melancholy
mission, was an easy transition, compare
lively speaking
And in all these changes 1T is to be observed
that tho more Intelligent, the more enhght-
ened people become, the simpler are their
burial rites The most ostentatious funerals
that occur among the poorer and supersti-
tious classes In England the lower middle
classes and the grades below them still ad-
here to oil the fummery of black plumes and
long Grape streamers, and mutes, draped
horses and other depressing accompaniment
of a ceremony that is always solemn enough,
but should not be made painfully melancholy.
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BELIEF.
The ancient Egyptians bore their dead in
barge across lake, as they held it vital
part of their religious belief that the departed
soul passed from this to the unseen world
over the stream which they believed to sepa-
rate the two existenoes. Transporting the
body across a lake was merely symbolical Of
this. The ancient Greeks carried the corpse
to the funeral without any support whatever,
except that of the hands and arms of the men
who bore it The beliefs of the Romans in
respect to death, and for the most part their
funeral rites, were similar 30 those of the
Greeks If dead body could not be found,
the sacred rites were performed at an empty
tomb, and if any one happened to see a dead
body and did not throw earth upon it. he
was obliged to expiate the crime by sacrific-
ing hog to Ceres. For these reasons, and
the belief that the spirit Of the departed
wandered a hundred years along the banks of
the Styx before being allowed TO cross if the
body had not been Inferred, shipwreck was
the most dreaded Of deaths
Rome had its public and it's private funer-
ais, to the former of which the people were
invited by herald. Infants and young men
were buried sooner than grown persons,
and with less ponp. The bodies of the de-
parted were carried to the funeral pile on a
couch covered with rich cloth, and commonly
supported on the shoulders of heirs or nearest
relatives, though sometimes on those of freed
mon. julius Caesar wcs borne by magis-
trates, Augustus by senators, GermGnicus by
tribunes and centurions. Poor citizens or
slaves were carried to the funeral pile in a
PLAN bier or coffin, and children who died
before they were weaned were carried by the
mother Ancently all Roman funerals were
celebrated by night, in order that the magis-
trates might not meet the procession and be-
come dofiled Later il Roman history pub
lie funerals were celebrated at an early hour
in the forenoon, while private or ordinary
funerals were always at night. Torches were
used at funerals as well as at marriages.
The funeral rites of the GOths and Huns
were often conducted on a scale of extrava-
gance, both III regard to money and cruelty,
that seldom has been equaled Attila, for
example, who died in 459, was buried in a
coffin which was inclosed in one of gold, in
another Of silver, and these III a third of iron
With the body was inferred all the spoils
of the eneny-haI7lesses, embroidered and
studded with jewels, rich silks and precious
booty from the kingiy palaces they had
pillased; and then, that the place Of inter-
ment might forever remain concealed, the
Huns b,nchered all that assisted at the
burial.
DRYING DEAD BODIES.
The EthiopianS are said to dry the bodies
of their dead, sailing them to prevent putre-
faction, and then placing them in q grave
covered with glass, through which the body
is visible. Sometimes their collins are thrown
into rivers, and sometimes they are kept in
the houses of the deceased's friends. The an
Gent BacrianS suffered the bodies of their
dead friends and relatives to be devourcd by
dogs, and even kept large and savage animals
to devour such as lived to an extreme age, or
became enfeebled and useless through illness
h.ir Il