The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-02-20
AN 11L-1NFoRnrED CLERGYMAN.
DR., Talmage, the sensational preacher,
writes in recent essay in an Eastern
magazine against cremation and in de-

LIZ 4d4ilidBSy lu0 S0ISdtlOIldI preacher,
writes in a recent essay in an Eastern
magazine against cremation and in de-
Tense of burial and cemeteries. He avs :
Some have advocated the chemical reduc-
ton Of the physical system. 1 have, as yet,
been unable to throw myself into Il mood
suthciently scientific to appreciate this pro-
posal. II seems 10 me partially horrible and
partially ludicrous. l think that the dead
populations of the world are really the most
quiet and unharmful. They make no war
upon us; let US make no war upon them.
am certain that all the damage we shall ever
do this world viii be while we are animate 1t
Is not the dead people who are hard to man
age, but the living. Some whistle To keep
their courage up while going along by grave
yards; ! whistle while moving among the
W1de-awake. Before attempting this barbaric
disposal Of the human form as a sanitary i'm
provement, ii would be better to clear the
streets and commons of our cities OF their
pestiferous surroundings. Try your crena-
ton on the dogs and cats with extinct anima-
tlon. think Greenwood is healthier than
Broadway, and Laurel Hill than Chestnut
street, Pere la ChaiSe than Champs Elysees.
Urns, with ashes scientifically prepared may
look very well in Madras or Pekin, butnot in
Christian country. Not having been able to
snake of the Bible notions about Christian
burial, / prefer to adhere TO the mode that
was observed when devout men carried
stephen to his burial.
Unfortunately for DR.. Talmage's senti-
mental considerations, the truth, demon
strated by science, is all against him. To
say that cemeteries are more healthful soil
than are streets is absurd; the latter are not
of necessity Of unsanitary character. In
Brazil and in France it has been proven,
by microscopic examination, beyond all
cavil, that the bacteria of smallpox, yell
low fever, cholera and other contagious
diseases exist in the grave soil to the
very surface for many years, where vicl
Tins of these pests are buried.
So, too, scientific proof is abundant
that decay of the bodies buried in ceme-
terry charges all waters draining through
the soil with deadly character; that the
miasma Of such spots is of character
more injurious to the living than that
emanating from low or swampy lands
and decaying vegetable matter.
Cremation is SO far from being barbaric.
that it was pracdced IN the highest state
of intellectual and art civilization the
world has known, and by peoples refined
in thought and habit, and as tenderly
careful of the loved dead as are we of this
day. Urns with the ashes of the de-
parted are certainly more fitting for
human sight than sunken graves, crum-
bling stones and lettering monuments.
If cremation seems horrible to the
preacher, it is because he is ill-informed
as to what cremation really is. and pur-
posely blind to the horror attendant upon
burial and rotting in the earth. In mod
ern cremation no fire touches the body;
incarceration is accomplished by intense
heat confined in a retort. The body
crumbles to dust in part, and in part is
dissipated in gases that are resolved into
the elements by the mysterious alchemy
of nature, without harm to the living Oh
offense. to the tenderest emotions of the
mourner.
Burial, on the other hand. means con-
signment to the most Ioathsome dissolu-
ton, the rotting of flesh to feed the most
horrible Of crawling creatures; the slow,
long process of reduction to ashes by re-
voting decay, that cremation accom-
plishes in few moments; for, after all,
the two processes result in the same thing
save in the time consumed, and the re-
pulsiyeness of the one and the celebrity
and cleanliness of the other, they are
alike incarceration.