Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-07-25


difficult to find a single instance where
money is spent more fOOlishly and lIber-
ally than IN the ostentatiOus display OF
the modern funeral and the subsequent
memorials to perpetuate the name of the
deceased. Amid the TX ages, when the
devOtee had been educated to believe that
all hopes of immortality and happiness
consisted in the preservation of the eZ-
ternal form of man after death, there was
good reason that precious spices and the
embalmers art should be brought into
requisjtiOn and added to the massive
mas OnUy, and that the tomb should be
heWn out of the solid granite, guarding
with vigilance the dust, that 1t should
not come in contact with the baser eI6-
ments of mother earth
AS We look at the preserved mummies
of the pyramid builders, the mausoleum
of the mound builders, our awe is tinct-
ured literally with derlsIOn. In our
boosted state of civilization We see that
applied science and Christianity alike
have combined to teach us differently;
nevertheless the powerful chains of that
old superstition bind US still, and as we
advance each link seems to be the fiTmer
welded, else why should the gathering of
costly woods, the drying working and
polishing, decorating them with silk and
precious metals, merely to be put where
hidden destroyed and forgotten in the
shortest possible time, be such an i'm
pOrtaEt and growing industry as it is?
The study of fashions and improvements
is indeed a pleasant task, but when
placed in the show window of the under
taker how distastefuI and repulsiVe the
task! Yet how lovingly we examine them
how careful to select the finest woods
and most costly fabrics to be seen for o
day and then buried from sight forever.
The labor of undertakers is a labor of
money. In the gilded trappings and
costly equippages of the dead is the
money which rightfUlly belongs to the
living. How many q mOUrner has re-
turned from placing loved one In cav
ems deep and wide, beneath the clOds of
the valley, to find a Iarder empty, physi-
clans and apOthecary unpaid, and want
and penury staring him in the face?
Still, peoples tastes, depraved as they
are in this respect, must be catered
to, but the work required in supplying
is simply wasted. Undertakes bills,
though often unpaid, are among the first
to be recognized, for above all things it
would not do to have the last sad rites
tarnished with debt.
Again, after all the pomp and display
of burial, as if to keep the deception
complete, we must have some of the
heTaldic blaZOnry, some OF the scUlptUTed
pOmp of woe, with fount uplifted to per-
petUate and honor the name of the loved
one gone before. Oh, what a display Of
stoncutting, of sculpture, may be seen in
all burial places. The ideas and subjects
would never have been accepted by poets,
architects, or even the wage workers of
patterns; only manufacturers of scuIp-
tured woe would ever use them. Perhaps
the mOurner may derive comfort, perhaps
they who pass by may learn lessons from
the broken column, a stone teapot turned
upside down, with q stone napkin hung
over it, q flower dangling from a broken
stem, and though hard to make, of what
Is a willing plant, an unknown flower,
with such an arrangement of coxveIa.
calyX and petals unknown in botany-Of
what, say, are allthese emblematic? I'm
projections and monstTosities, who wishes
to IowIy bend and silently weep over
graves marked by such a talisman?
Then the Obelisk. Egypt was fond of
these; so are We. They meant something
to them besides marking the place of
burial. What do they mean to US? They
had a place for them in their finely
graded and religiOusly graduated ave-
nues leading to their temples, and on far
up the eye was invited to the grand
prOpyl@um. They covered them with
hierOglyphics, that he who hurried by
might learn his doom and where rested
honor, greatness, and devotion combined.
In the time of the InquisitiOn, Hindoo
devotion, human sacrifice, revolving re-
lgiOus exercises, and the grOs sest super
stitiOn, the people had the sarcOphagus;
so have we. This manner Of burial has,
indeed classical authority. 1t had its
uses, but when placed over a grave as We
place it, how does the definition We gave
it apply?
On a visit to any cemetery one may see
attempts at all Of these and more. One
may see them made in imitation of buck
sts, churns, tables, steps, doors, disks,
and some partaking of all the innate love
illness of a country fire. place and a cast
iron stove. Yes, our burial places are
full of these, little Obelisks, big ObeIisks,
big red granite and gray, white marble
and sandstone, zinc, glass and iron,
crOWding and jostling each other amid
the green turf and iron ratings, the lat
ter emphasizing by their allegOFies the
Wholesale repetition of the same symbol,
for when we desire to see inverted urns
by the dozen, and torches by the score,
90 to the city of the deaf for the study
No NIGHTMARE can be worse. These
things are not pleasant, but We should
not make pleasure grounds Of. burial
places
Happy people prefer not to be remind
ed Of death at all, hence those seek their
sylvgn retreats, their places of park-like
beauty; they care but little for the names,
and rarely, If ever, estimate the cost Of the
composition of the epitRph, still less heed
what lessons are contained therein. The
mourner within the gates desires solitude,
quiet and meditation, the heart bowed
down, feelings humbIed, and heart strings
are bleeding and torn; but think you the
wound is not torn agape afresh when an
enemy who owns the adjoining lot has
erected a taller shaft containing more
abnormal flowers and vines on whittier
marble than ours?
Far be it from thought even to attempt
TO detract from the desire and taste dis
3layed in the embellishments Of a loved
5ne's tomb, or the surroundings thereof;
but we would have this display and taste
in accordance with good, honest sense
and convictions. Deliver Us from the
desoIate horror of the rural burying
ground and neglected country graveyard;
cattle, sheep and hogs, wing with rep
tiles Shiny and vile, in the work Of deYas-
tation and ruin. Deliver Us from the
deserted city cemetery, abandoned for