Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-06

are not so great as those of Greenwood,
Mount Auburn, Spring Grove, and many
other cities of the dead in the United
States, and though few tombs in each
of the latter may equal any of these
in point of elegance, yet, taken as
whole, there is nowhere in North America
such an aggregate display of wealth in any
one burial ground-such luxurious inter-
ment OF dust to dust-as here. This is by
all odds the finest in South America 1t
has monumental entrance and very
costly and elaborate chapel, which alone
represent the expenditure of 8, 900, 900.
The chapel has an ornamental dome, floors
and inner walls of purest marble, beauti-
full alabaster altar, ,candelabra and ornaments
of gold and silver, and basement of equal
elegance wherein some of the more Illus
trous dead,-such as Bishops and Presi-
dents-are inferred.
Rose of Marble Faced Vaults.
The cemetery is divided into three sec
tions and surrounded by walls 25 feet high,
being continuous series of vaults, one above
another, each vault having an opening just
large enough to let in casket. Each of
the innumerable little inches is fronted by
marble tablet bearing in letters of black
or gold the names OF those whose mortal re-
mains were deposited inside. So precisely
alike are all of them, save the slight differ
ence in lettering. that if it be true spooks
walk abroad at ''the witching hour when
graveyards yawn," it must be as perplexing
for each to find his especial niche again as
for the occupants of those endless rows of
red brick houses with marble steps, alike as
so many peas in pod, that characterize
certain streets in Philadelphia and New
York, to distinguish their own doors when
coming late from club or caucus in the be-
fuddled condition that sometimes confuses
shoebuttoners with latchkeys.
T. To reach the upper cells, collins are wound
up by means of portable stepladder and
elevator combined-a creaking apparatus
that swings and .iolts and bumps the cadaver
about in q shocking manner, while the pail
bearers skip up the ladder to receive it and
shove it into the narrow receptacle The
whole surface of the walls is garlanded with
fresh flowers and hung with wreaths of i'm
mortslles and decorations made of black
and white beads. and long streamers of rib
bon, all of which show TO the best advant-
age against the white marble facing.
Not q Continuous Resting Place.
But, alas! As everywhere else in Span
ish America, the vaults are not owned ab-
solutely by families, but are rented for
term of years, or for as long time as the
friends continue to pay a stipulated amount
Der annum; so that the helpless dead are
not sure of a '1ong home" however much
display of wealth NAV be made at the time
of interment In case the family move
away, or die without having left provision
in their wills concerning the grave for all
time to come, or from failure to pay the rent
from any cause, the remains are evicted and
dropped into the common pit and the vault
rented to other comers.
The ground floor, so to speak, of the vast
cemetery is fully occupied with private or
family vaults {owned, not rented), all of
them very costly and elaborate, crowded
close together with narrow, wellpaved
streets between. Such an array of splendid
monuments, and exquisite works of art,
done by the sculptors of Rome and Milan,
may perhaps be equaled in some European
cemeteries, but certainly nowhere else in
the Western world. The vaults are all
built up from the ground, of marble or
alabaster. bake-oven shape or in the form of
temples, and most of them have plate-glass
doors back of the gilded gates of OPEN
WIOuSut EuONIuS tHc lutcflOfs
The inner walls are covered with pictures
and other adornments, profusely decorated
with flowers in costly vases, and everywhere
are crucii1es and burning candles.
APAinting That serv-s a Purpose.
noticed several tombs furnished like
parlors, with carpeted floors and upholstered
furniture; and in one was startling oil
painting of the Blessed Virgin, seated on
raft which foated in q sea of fame, engaged
in the philantropic work of pulling souls
out of purgatory. The agony depicted on
the faces of the poor things in torment,
who are pleading for succor with uplifted
arms, il warranted to haunt the most
hardened for many a day; and torcible
argument in favor of Hasser for the dead,
is set forth in the Virgins attitude, who is
portrayed as watching the prayers on earth
and efecting rescues accordingly.
i do not imagine that Uruguavans mourn
their dear departed more deeply than the
people of the other parts of South America
where cemeteries are neglected. 1t is merely
a matter of fashion; in Montevideo the style
has gone to such extremes that not intre-
quently families imporerish themselves in
making the irresponsible dead keep up
grewsone rivalry, vieing with one another
in pious luxury and magnihcence OF sur
Considering the crowded space,
the vegetation of this cemetery is remark
able. Besides the usual yews, and willows,
and cypress trees, there are blossomlng
shrubs of many kinds, while the multitude