Wichita eagle., 1888-11-16
CARRIED TO. BURIAL.
CORPSES BORNE IN ARMS AND ON
BlERS AND uTTERS.
The Hearse Modern Anair-Methods Of
the Ancient Egyptians-Romc's Public
and Private Funerals-GothS, Huns,
Ethiopians-A Great Change.


and Private Funerals-GothS. 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 dead upon litters, one end Of
which was fastened to 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 to their final resting place.
From the rough cart lat other times en-
ployed for all manner of purposes to the
hearse, having but one single, melancholy
mission, was an easy transition, connpara-
lively speaking.
And in ali these changes it is to be observed
that the more intelligent, the more enlight-
ened a people become the simpler are their
burial rites. The most ostentatious funerals
OF today, even in our own cities, are those
that occur among the poorer and supersti-
tious classes. In England the lower middle
classes and the grades below them still ad-
here to all the fumnery Of black pluInes and
long Grape streamerS, and mutes draped
horses and other depressing accomplishments
OF 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 a 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 e1istences. Transporting the
body across 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 to those Of the
Greeks Ii dead body could not be found,
the sacred rites were performed at an empty
tomb, and If any one happened to see dead
body and did not throw earth upon 1t, 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 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 its private funsr-
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 pomp Tho bodies of the de-
parted were carried to the funeral pile on a
couch covered with rich cloth, and commonly
e,Jr,r1ortej ON fbe sboY,ldaye IF b.rr or ,a,roe@
relatives. though sometimes ON those of freed
men. Julius Cesar was borne by magis-
trates, Augustus by senators, Germanicus by
tribunes and centurions. Poor citizens or
slaves were carried to the funeral pile in
PLAIN bier or coffin, and children who died
before they were weancd were carried by the
mother. Anciently all Roman funerals were
celebrated by night, in order that the raagis-
trates might not meet the procession and be-
come deflled. Later in 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 scale of ext1ava-
gance, both in regard to money and cruelty, |
that seldom has been equaled Attila, for |
example, who died in 453, was buried in q |
coffin which was irclosed in one Of gold, in /
another of silver, and these in third of iron |
With the body was inferred all the spoils |
of the enemy-harnesses, embroidered and /
studded with jewels, rich silks and precious /
booty from the kiasly palaces they had |
pillaged; and then, that the place Of inter
ment might forever remain concealed, the
Huns butehered all that assisted at tas
burial
DRYING DEAD BODIES
The EttioPfans are said to dry the bodies