The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
HISTORIC PERE-LACHAISE.
The Paris Cemetery Where Nearly All
Her uIustriOus Dead Sleep.
Chicago News.

Chicago News.
In the center of the most populous and
hardest working part of Paris lies the
Pere-Lachaise, the city of the dead. All
walls of this silent spot. which has its own
fete twice a year. Within less than a CEN
fury this cemetery has become the abode
a part of the domains of the bishopric OF
Paris, under the name Champ-LeVeque.
Under Louis XIV it was known as Mont
Louis. AT last, May Il, 1904, the official
opening of the new metropolis took place.
The white mausoleums among the green
trees remind the visitor of an Oriental city,
but it is estimated that in twenty years
there will not be space enough tor one lone
dead man; at even the present time there
are SO,25O tombs. A calculation has been
made which would point TO the fact that
the sum of $50, 600, 600 is represented in these
last sleeping places of man. Even though
the French may not always be grateful
during the life of their illustrious children,
there is d mighty attempt after death TO
prove appreciation. Among the famous
men VINO are to-day lying calm and beloved
IN Pere-14achaise are Rossini, Bellini,
Chopin, members of the famous Carnot
family, Moliere, La Fontaine, Delacroix
and Balzac, and the great Rachel, and
where Bernhard will sleep.
Here the tomb of Heloise and Abelard is
visited continually by large numbers of pill
grims, and there is never an end TO the
Sentiment around the Gothic monument,
rising from the bright hued geraniums and
roses. Notwithstanding the iron railing,
many a lover carries from the halloWed
spot a petal blown across by the obliging
breeze. Except for one section, where a
considerable number of artists and authors,
brothers in beauty and inspiration, are
grouped, the tombs succeed each other
without much order. There is a single
monument erected by the state to the SOL
diers killed in the siege OF Paris, and this
pyramid is the Mecca of q countless num-
Der OF bIack-clad women, who slip close to
it's base, as if trying to get nearer TO the
husbands, sons and lovers persisted so long
ago.
Although there are only a few Moham-
medans in Paris, a little portion of Pere-
Lachaise has been set aside for their dead.
The Mussulmdn cemetery, true to the GUS
tom of these people to pay little regard to
the body after the soul is gone, has no
wreaths, no flowers, and there are in all
only four or five tombs. The most conspic-
uous structure is the mosque. Among the
people of this far Eastern country sleeping
in the French graveyard is the Queen Of
Dude. who was dispossessed by the En-
glish and died in France in 1858.
The crematory in Pere-Lachaise was es-
tablished in 1883. and during all that time
1t has never suspended operations. While
the number of the dead brought by private
individuals is great. many of the subjects
received AT this famous place are the UNI
claimed bodies from hospitals and medical
schools. Each such unclaimed body is
placed in a wooden coffin and they are
burned by threes. The ashes are then
placed in a portion of the cemetery set
aside for that purpose. During the exist
ence Of the crematory $4,000 bodies have
been reduced to ashes.