The Arkansaw traveler. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1882-1???, 1889-01-05
CREMATION.

The Epoch, Nine. Alice lie Plongeon, the author
of books of Yucatan and Central America, writes
thus frankly concerning cremation:
even those who object to the idea of burning
their deceased relations must admit that inhuma-
tion only leads TO the same results, by lengthy
process the body being consumed by slow heat
generated by decomposition. To me IL is pleasant
thought that the beloved object be reduced to
ashes without passing through all the loathsome
stages of putrefaction. The unavoidable phenome-
non that we call death even presents TO us a less
repulsive aspect when reflect that the cherished
form need not become hideous, but can be at once
reduced to clean white ash that may keep
If We for mortal remains. Apart from this
the good of the many Is what we must always
consider, and the laws of hygiene certainly call for
all measures that may help to keep pure the
atmosphere of this little planet. That there Is
nothing new under the sun most people are willing
to admit, and the disposal of the dead by means of
cremation is as old as the hills. The ancient Egyp-
tians having no fuel to burn their dead made
point of embalming, and afterward burying them
above the high water mark of the inundation. In
modern times the jewellers on the banks of the
Nile inter their dead around the cities; the result
is cholera and other pestilences. All the wisest
nations of antiquity were accustomed to burn the
corpses except when unable to obtain fuel, then
they mummifed them. Even in Central America
the 'extinguished,' they call the departed, are
given to the warm embrace of the purifying flames
We have found the ashes of princes preserved in
circular white stone urns. Had the remains been
laid beneath the sod they would have been dug up
centuries ago and trodden un Ter foot, as in Peru
where much of the soil consists of the crushed
bones Of former Inhabitants. Who cares for
skull bleaching in the sun? IL may be the vacated
tenement of a most noble soul, but memory tells
not of him; and the strangers foot gives it kick
and sends IL spinning from his path. Many time
have seen this done-never by an Indian, but by
white skinned walking creatures whose skulls
seemed to be devoid of reflection the one they
spurned with their foot. Particularly, should
cremation be insisted on during epidemics, the
mortality would then be much less, for every in
TERED body Is focus of infection. In the city of
Lima, Peru, during the terrible yellow fever
epidemic of 1862, the plague never abated until
immense fires were built the trenches, into
which two three hundred bodies a day were
thrown. Those fires were the next best thing to
regular cremation, against which the inhabitants
(Roman Catholic) raised great opposition, regard
ing the welfare of the living q very trifing
consideration, compared with the welfare Of the
souls of the departed There La not the least doubt
that if when the fever broke out in jacksonville
cremation had been insisted on and adopted In
every case, the disease would have soon died out.
AS IL is the sickness will most likely reappear
in the spring. Could write poetry l would pen
an ode to the crematory, where all the foul horrors
of death melt away In the fiery element, satisfying
the mourners that the dear face will never become
a dsfgured thing down in the bosom of mother
earth, but that up to the sunIit sky have foated
those ethereal elements that formed the being
whose presence was Joy to them. Wheresoever
may be when death calls for me, the garment, my
body, shall be given not to the cold EARTH but to
the rosy, leaping flames whose burning kisses will
transmute the inert matter into new forms of life.
Even If in the widest forest far from civilization,
my last request shall be for fiery funeral couch
of flaming timber. If surrounded by only igno-
rant and superstitious people, would threaten to
haunt them If they dared disobey my wishes
though If l found q very nice place on the other
side ii Is not quite certain that should take the
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