Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-01-25
CROSSING THE STYX.
HOW GREEK MEETS GREEK IN THE
 OTHER WORLD.

Old Charon Still in the Ferryboat Busi-
 ness-connection Between the Hillen-
 ism of the Past and of the Present-A
 Painful Sight.
 When a death is expected, the attendant mourners in the Greek islands have many little customs peculiar to themselves. The moribund is handed bowl of water, into which he puts pinch of salt for each person with whom he is at ennity, saying as he does so: ''May my wrath perish as this salt" for it is considered dreadful for man to die leaving an enemy behind him. His spirit, it is believed, will not rest, but will wander about as poor ghost, sucking the blood of his friends, like the shades in ancient hades, to gain strength for his earthly wanderings. If the complaint is consumption, they SUD- pose that three Erinnyes stand ready to pounce on children at the corners of the room; hence the young are kept out of the way when the dying is ill extremis, and q hope is opened over his head to allow the Erinnyes to escape. Fevers are best cured by priestly incantations; the of the disease is written on Q slip of paper, and with prayer and much incensins this is bound to a tree, hoping thereby to transfer the malady. Incense is much used by the priest in his visitations to the sick; the whole room is thick with it, and perhaps contagiol is thus often avoided.
 Where the death has occurred the wome1 rush on to the flat roof or some other conspic. uous place, where they rend the air with their cries, tear their hair and give way tc unbridled grief. The town crier is sent round to announce the fact to the neighbor and to summon friends to the death vail which takes place an hour or two after tho spirit has left the body. After the body has been washed in wine it is laid out on a bier in , the center of tho one roomed house, arrayeG in the deceased's best clothes, decked out witt flowers, and with lamps burning at the side. reminding us of the ancient custom of placing 1 the corpse thus in the midst of the hall dressed in as handsome a robe as the family could afford, in order, according to Lucian that the dead may not be cold on the passage to hades and may not be seen naked by Ger | berus! Then begins the death vail ceremony scene of heart rending grief, such as tool place in Priam's palace over the dead body of Hector.
 1 These death walls are, in fact, one of tn, most striking bonds of connection betweel the Hellenism of the past and the Hellenisn of the present, and in the Greek islands, dc l spite the strictness of the more civilized members of the orthodox church, they cling to them with surprising tenacity A body which dies unlamented cannot enter hades and wanders about like that of Patrocius and Elpenor in misery i'll the upper air. neither belonging to the living nor to the dead. Consequently, the death walls ans l the burials take place as soon as possible after death that the gates of hades may be opened to them as soon as may be.
 From these death walls we learn how much that is heather is incorporated in the belief of today respecting an after lifee They sing of hades as a frozen, miserable place, where the dead wander forever, anxious to return | to the upper air, and endeavoring to steal from Charon, the lord of the lower earth, his keys, but Intellectually. Charon plants the bones of the departed in his garden, and they come uI, as weird plants His tent pegs are heroes bones, and the ropes are mad. of maidens' tresses. He rides on horse to col lect his victims, driving the young and strong before him, dragging the aged after him by ropes and carrying with him on his saddle the little children.
 1 Sometimes, when a man dies who has been conspicuous for his good fortune during life they will cut off his nails before the corpse is removed and tie them up in bag to be preserved among the other sacred things which are hung up in the sanctuary belong ing to every house.
 Before the corpse leaves the house vase of water is broken on the threshold. When any one starts on 8 journey, it is customary to spill water as an earnest of his success and safe return, and when the body goes on its last long journey the vase is broken. Tho
 bier is carried by four male bearers, and about bier the Greek islanders have this
 most grewsome riddle: What is that which
 he who makes does so to sell, he who buys
 does not use himself, and he. who uses does
 not see? As the funeral procession passes
 through the village street the priests chant
 the offices of the dead, and from time to timt the mourners, who go in front, break fortl
 into their hideous walls, and women como
 forth from their houses to groan in concert
 with the others.
 Of a truth 0 Greek island funeral is a pain full sight to witness. On reaching the church the corpse is left in the porch, and while the liturgy is proceeding the mourners cease to vail Then comes the very impressive
 stichera of the last kiss. which is chanted by
 all the congregation, and begins, "Blessed is
 the way thou shalt go to-day" whereat each
 mourner advances and gives the last kiss to
 the cold face of the corpse, and once moro
 tho extravagant demonstrations of grief
 break forth Finally the corpse is lowered without coffin into it's shallow grave, and each bystander casts on to it handful sod soil:-Scottish Review.