Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-09
GREETING THE RISING sun.
The Great Army Of the Dead Face
Eastward.
ARELIc OF sY-eoNe DAYS WAS HE
The Sexton of Fairvicw Cemetery
Talks of an Ancient Custom
1t Was Old when the
Hills Were Young.
Philosophy of Gravc-Diegine.

VI buo inuIy UCdubiiuh ppoo' Az e''"'
lovely city of the dead, Fairview ceme-
terry, where two generations of Council
Bluffs citizens are sleeping their
dreamless slumber. On the dusty. busy
streets it was not and dry, but on the
cool grass fecked by streaks OF sun
shine that struggled down through the
dense foliage of the trees which spread
their protecting boughs over the graves
in lovely Fairview, there was cool and
refreshing moisture that cooled the
throbbing temples and soothed the rest
less heart. 1t was not yet late in the
day and had not yet read my BEE. l
pulled it from my pocket and began TO
read the latest reports from that awful
Johnstown horror, but before [ had
gone through one Of the half-dozen
columns devoted for the day to the
greatest calamity that has occurred In
the civilized world, was interrupted
by the appearance Of man carrying
pick, spade and a ten-foot pole. He
came almost to the spot where was re-
clining and deposited his tools. He re-
moved his hat to wipe his brow and
/ saw 1t was the venerable sexton
whose sturdy arms and bright spade
have constructed ''the chambers in the
silent halls of DEATH" where sleep
thousands of the old and the young and
middle aged of Council Bluffs. Resting
for "a moment only he drew from his
pocket plat of the grounds upon which
he stood and studied it lntently. Then
depositing it on the ground he pulled
out tapeline and carried one end OF 1T
to the east few feet where he fastened
with stake driven through the ring.
Then drawing the line taut he took
small magnetic compass from his pock-
ct and holding it over the line, moved
backward and forward until the ring
end of the tape pointed straight east.
Then driving stake at the point, he.
picked up the ten-foot pole and proceed
ed to mark off a regulation sized grave:
My curiosity was aroused and l dropped
the paper to ask some questions.
"Why do you use a tapeline and COM
pass to mark out a grave?"
ITO get it east and west" ~'s
"But why east and west? Why not
north and south, or northwest by south
east, or any other direction? Do the
dead object to the direction in which
they happen to he unless 1T be the posi-.
tive east or west, or is it their friends,
or is it merely whim of your own or "a
superstition OF the profession"
'"That's question never thought OF
much and can't answer. No, | don't
know who can, or that nybody can, but
it's custom that's always followed and
is old, old-old as the grave itself, L
guess. There isn't a grave IN this cem-
etery that is not dug this way. l have
laid out or dug every one that has been
made here for the last twenty-six years,
and there has not been an exception.
| No, it is not a whim of my own nor very
often request of those whose friends
are to be buried. It's kind of an in
stinct, guess. 1 think good, sensi-
| BILE horse would as soon think of eating
| icicles for green grass as profess
sional sexton would think of digging a
grave any other way than east and
west, and believe 1 would scream if 1
saw a coffin lowered with the face of the
corpse looking towards the
west West; w,th Xes'we t,e; always tysas plant plant
| ing toward the east. What for? l
the purpose of better enabling them to
| hear Gabriel when he blows his horn on
| the last day. Yes, I've often thought
it would be better if it wasn't the Gus
tom here, for on the west side of the
hill there the dead must lie and look
forever right into the hill itself, when
| it would be SO much pleasanter if they
could turn around and look across the
river valley into Omaha"
| The old sexton returned to his work
and l began to wonder whence the
strange superstition came and how IT
originated. l have looked it up little
and find that it is as old as the earth
the old sexton turned up with his
/ ;crht do hot fro th al
cradle OF the day and night, that mis-
tress of mysteries and parent of US all
the East. You can almost trace it right
back to the first rising OF the first sun on
the first prehistoric man, and the study
of the question opens up to broader
view the problem of man himself, and
| shows us that we have mentally, as well
as physically, the same characteristics
as had the cave e-dweller who girded
himself with the skins torn from the
bodies of animals no sayager than him
self, which he killed with his knotted
| club and upon whose unCOoked flesh he
subsisted. 1t is little bit unpleasant
to think that this absolutely savage man
whose limbs and vertebra were a.
strong as those OF au OK, and whose
brain, protected by bony structure
that would turn a musket ball, was no
larger than that of a setter dog ard hat
but few more volutlons than tina
OF n chimpanzee, originated a custom
that is religiously observed every time
Christian burial takes place in Fair
view cemetery. Yet it is an assured
fact The human eyes through every
age OF the world have turned towards
the east in hope and anticipation.
has been the direction from which
every blessing to the human race
has come, and to-day the Bible and the
religion of Christ teach us Il
look there for the final triumph
THE naked prehistoric savage learned
to look towards the east with the pro
foundest feelings OF alteration, of which
his nature was capable. He had M
means of preserving fire, and wher
after days of storm and cloudy weather
or nights of chilling cold the sun burs
from the east, and its genial rays gave
him light and thawed out his stiifene(
limbs, he naturally worshipped it as the
God that gave him his choicest bless
ings and made it possible for him t,
live. Thus naturally he became sun
worshipper, and all his descendan Il
for hundreds of generations were sun
worshippers for the same reason. Fl
1 Il.