The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1895-10-11


dead at the expense of the state. Collins
and all other necessary articles are fur
nished on application to certain under
takers designated by the government.
Everything connected with the inter
ment is absolutely gratuitous inciud-
ing the grave and the service. Rich
and poor are alike entitled to the bene-
fit of this law, and all classes avail
themselves of il freely. or the l,6Zl
burials which took place in the year
1893, 1874 were at the expense OF the
canton. The execution OF the law is
entrusted to an official Of the sanitary
department The accounts OF this de-
partment for the year 1898 show that
the cost to the canton arising from the
gratuitous burial of the dead was as
follows: Collins, $2,3SS; burial ex-
penses, $5,52S; salaries, $685. care OF
cemeteries, etc, $1,000. Total, 1854.
The law has been in operation only
a few years, but has from the first been
regarded with great favor, even by
those, who, as tax payers, are most
burdened by it.
In the other cantons OF the country
great diversity exists. some Of the can
tons having not yet adopted the new
method. All seem likely to do so.
Irving r. Richman. consul general,
says:
Graves, generally, are only to receive
one body, and are not to be opened for
the reception of new bodies until after
the lapse OF such number OF years as
is assumed to be required for the COM
plete decay of the body, which varies
in the different cantons from three to
twelve years for children and from
twelve to twenty years in the case OF
adults
Wherever free burial has been intro
duced, it was done on the principle that,
death making all men equal, there
ought to be no distinction in the burial
of the departed. 1t f. assumed that all
the citizens and residents, high or low;
rich or poor will avail themselves OF
| the provisions of the enactment, and
that all the funerals and interments
will be equally plain and unostenta-
| tious.
The course pursued by the authori-
ties of the city of st. Gall in each case
of free burial is given in the following
extracts from the municipal police reg
ulations: An attendant calls at the
house of mourning, after verbal notice
of death has been given at the police
office, and receives a further notice in
writing. He attends to dressing the
body. gives notice to the coroner, to the
officer of vital statistics, to the clergy
man, the bell-ringer, the undertaken
and the grave-digger. The attendant
must also issue the invitations to the
funeral, and must be present half an
| hour before the time of burial. The
undertaken and grave-digger must, af-
ter receiving notice, go at once to the
house of mourning, measure the corpse,
provide the coffin, and place the corpse
therein. On the day of burial, they
must see that the body is taken from
| the house of mourning and placed in
the funeral car. They must escort the
car to the grave, take from it the cof-
| fin, inter It, and cover the grave. The
coffin must be black. and capable of be-
| ing Theoretically sealed. The sexton
must SOW the grave with rye grass.
In front of the house Of mourning an
urn must be put. on the day of the
burial, for the reception of cards OF
| coincidence.