Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-03-08

Soses SUN HlOFo 10 Qlc. IQIS Is, III a
measure, true, and that it is so is due to
the fact that the government has a
monopoly of the work of burying the
dead, and has established a scale Of
prices by which the style of funerals is
regulated, from that costing thousands OF
dollars, to the one which opens the fosse
commune Common gravel.
As a rule, the French are fond of fine
funerals. For Statesmen of the first
rank the government DEGREES a state
funeral, which is an occasion of great dis
play, and frequently leads to political
demonstra lions; but private funerals are
also costly, and many man who has
lived meanly all his life is laid to rest
with princely pomp. The door Of his resi-
dence is hung with black curtains, en-
broidered with silver; his monogram in
silver is on all the mourning coaches
which follow the hearse; the drivers are
dressed in black, with knee breeches, high
boots, three cornered hat and long Grape
streamers on their arms; the horses for
the hearse are caparisoned with sweeping
draperies of black and silver, and on the
hearse itself are plumes and silver
hgures of angels and cberubs. Then, too,
the custom Of sending out notices of the
death, and invitations to the funeral, is
very common; and sometimes those no.
tees are as elaborate and as elegantly en-
graved as the most expensive wedding
cards, or invitations TO ball.
Perhaps the desire for all this was the
cause of the mans meanness in life; per-
haps TO pay for il, his wife and children
must stint themselves for years. Still, il
is done, and with the chanting Of priests,
the pealing of grand organs, and the blaze
CT wax lights, the man is buried.
Even if the dead person was an atheist
and atheism is alarmingly prevalent in
France-the funeral can not take place
without ceremony, and a good deal of it.
The body is followed to the grave by a
long procession which lacks only the priest
of the Christian funeral, and before the
remains OF the departed are covered from
sight one or more of his friends and ad-
mirers will eulogize his good qualities and
declaim farewell.
More than once, when the dead man was
Radical agitator, his body has been fol-
lowed TO the cemetery by vast throngs Of
sympathizers, shouting "rire'' this and
"a 6dS" that-"long live the commune
or down with tyrants"-as regardless of
propriety and as brutal in their bearing
and conduct as were the hideous and
bloodthirsty ruffians who nearly century
ago, committed the butcheries of the
"reign of terror
In striking contrast, both with the de-
corous funerals of the rich and the noisy
burals Of atheists, are the scenes when
the body of very poor person is to be
laid in the grave. The city is strict in re-
gard to them.
The body can be kept only twenty-four
hours from the time of death, and it must
be buried in a coffin made of thin deal
boards, implanted, unvarnished and so
slight that it is always wrapped up and
knotted with ropes, lest it sh ould come to
pieces. 1t is taken to the grave in hearse
which is hardly better than dray.
At the fosse commune the priest is al
lowed to include six funerals in cue sery
ice.
Fully TO explain the necessity for the
70 SSe commune, il is necessary for me to
say a word about French gravevards.
They are governed very differently from
ours, and their object seems to be to afford
graves to the millions who are dead, with
out taking too much spacesfrom the mill
ions who live.
In certain parts Of the cemetery, lots
may be bought outright, though at
enormous prices, and remain forever in
the possession Of family. In other sec
tions, the graves are bought singly, for
five years from the date of burial, and at
the end of the specified time, the bones are
taken up and buried in the f0Sse commune.
The tOsse communicable lowest grave of
with our "Potter's Field.-
but it is worse than that, as such a thing
must be in crowded city like Paris It is
q ditch twelve feet deep, twelve feet wide.
and as long as the size of the graveyard
permits. Here the collins are put side by
side in two rows, the heads meet
ing in the center. When a certain
number are in, the ditch is closed,
and on another layer Of earth more cof-
fus are afterward laid. When the ditch is
filed TO the surface, another one alongside /
is opened, and so on until all the available /
space is used. Then the first ditch is re- /
opened, and collins are put in place Of the /
Did ones which have decayed
| went TO the fosSe commune TO attend +
the funeral of an old servant. The day
was bleak and cold: il was early in April. .
The ground was soaked with the spring
rains. and the dull gray sky, the leafess
trees and the keen wind made the drearv
of st. Ouen more depressing
than ever. We found four hearses drawn
Up by a roadway, down which the collins
we're being carried to the open ditch
One Of the collins was that of baby,
and no one followed it but young couple,
the father and mother, who
we're distracted with grief. As | stood
here, l looked at this sobbing couple, and
watched the stolid faces of most OF the
others, while the droniug voice of the
PRIEST read q hurried Latin service, l
ooked into the ditch where the cofins (
we're huddled together, and as / thought
hat each occupant of that revolving bed
lad once been a human being, nv heart
rev sick and cold; but as | turned, NV
yes fell upon the stone cross rising from
IS mound in the center Of the cemetery.
nd comfort came in the thought, that
With all the sorrow, pain and bitterness,
here is a Divine compassion.