Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-02-07
A GRAVE MATTER.
THE WORLD is NOT ONE VAST
CEMETERY.
An Old Poetic Fancy Disprovcd
by Figures That Arc Grouped
Together In Clear and
Picturesque Manner.

that the world is not vast cemetery
deep laid with human bones is ovidsnt
from the following article by William C.
Prime, LID, in the New York Journal
OF Commerce.
Again and again this old poetic fancy
of tho earth rs one great cemetery buried
several times deep with dead men and
women and children, hns been rcfutcd by
figures. But great is error and will pre-
vail, unless the truth be we'll and stead
lily upheld.
The population of the earth is now
| about one thousand five hundred millions.
Suppose the human race to have existed
for 5000 years, aud to have been always
rs great us now. In 5000 years you have
sixty centuries. In each century you
mny count three generations of mankind,
Or $50 generations in all, each being a
! generation of ono thousand five hundred
millions. Now lay out cemetery for
one generation. II will be II huge csti-
mate to give to every man, woman and
childa grave five feet by two, or ten
square feet. You want for your grave
yard then 1000 million square feet of
| ground. A square mile contains some
thing less than $4,000, 600 square feet.
You want then II graveyard not iifty-iivc
miles long by ten wide for your whole
, generation. Now multiply this by $50
aud you have your burial ground for
! 5000 years of mankind! Tint is, n strip
of land 1900 miles long by iifty-iive miles
wide will he ample. In other words, II
cemetery containing 100, 600 square miles
would he sufficient for the entire human
race to lie side by side.
The estimate which have given you
of continuous population is obviously
enormously large. The estimate of the
size OF each grave is very lnrge. A strictly
correct estimate would reduce the size OF
the required cemetery more than one
hnit. But enormous as il is, you could
lay out your battle-ground for all men
who hive lived on earth, so that thcy
could lie side by side, in Arizona or in
California, or you could ny it out in
Texas large enough TO accommodate the
race of 5000 years past, and also the Iacc
for 5000 years yet to come, all sleeping in
the soil OF flint one State OF this Union.
But some one says tho race Of man has
been on earth 100, 900 years. That is n
pure imagination, and there is not, so
far MS know, fnct on which to rest il.
But suppose it is true, and suppose the
| population always what it now is. You
hive provided for 5000 years of il. You
want nearly seventeen times M lnrpc II
cemetery for the generations of thou
sand centuries. That is you want /,
700, 900 square miles in it. Lay il ont
wherever you please, 100 miles long by
1000 wide. II is but part Of the Uni
ted States And so enormously large
have been the rough estimates thus far
used, il is safe To say that il the human
race has been in existence 100, 600 years,
n separate grave could be provided for
every individual of the race within II
part of the United States east of the Mis-
sissippi River.
The fact is, my friend, you need but Il
very small piece of the carth's surface to
lie down in And you occupy but II very
small space while you live. Stand in II
corner, with your back TO the wall anil
your shoulder against the side wall. Put
Il book against the wall outside your
other shoulder, close TO it. Let some
one hold II stick across in front of your
| body. So you will measure how much
room you occupy when standing up in II
crowded assembly. You are II large man
if you require two squire feet The
average requirement of generation Of
men, women and children is not one
square foot and half. More than 1S, =
900, 900 persons can stand on su,lnre
mile of surface. Now, see how small n
crowd after all would be an assembly of
all men ont of all ages AMI kindrcds and
peoples, were they gathered together.
Carry your arithmetic still further
You laid out cemetery for the one
thousand five hundred millions of man
kind now living. Build II city for them
to dwell in. Average families nj five
| persons to II family, and give each family
house and lot twenty feet by a hundred
Your cemetery gave five persons fifty
square feet Of graves. Their city lot is
forty times rs large. Your city must
therefore be forty times ~ large us your
cemetery. Add twenty per cent for good
streets. I will not save You or your
school going child the trouble of "doinr
the figures" Impress the truth on your
mind by three minutes Wort. with pencil
and paper, that the whole living human
race could be gathered in city so small
i'll comparison with what you have i'm
agincd.
And now remember that all the csti-
mates on which we have gone are too
large. This city lot might MS well be
twenty by fifty. People live in flats
without back yards, and in stories one
above another Your. city, modelled
after the latest fashions in cities, need not
be n quarter the size our estimates have
made it. When you have built your
city, inquire and be surprised to find the
vast space for gardens, fields and forests
you have left accessible to it, whence
could come all the necessities and
luXurics of civilized life.
To Dry an Umbrella.