The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-03
CARNATIONS IN PARIS
AN AVERAGE OF TWENTY BODIES
REDUCED no ASHES DAILY.


tice.
Paris, Dec. 1.-THE municipality has
just completed the second arcade Of the
great columbarium at Pere la Chalse,
thus doubling Its facilities for the re-
ception of the ashes of cremated per-
sons. When cremation first became
fashionable, in 1882, it was thought that
a building providing inches for 5000
urns would be sufficient for many years,
but before the end of the decade the
space was entirely exhausted. Anoth-
err building was erected, and that, too,
soon became filled. 1t was then seen
that cremation had taken strong hold
upon the people, and that some definite
plan must be made to keep pace with
the progress it was making; then the
columbarium was decided upon.
The two arcades occupy two sides of
the rectangle in which Is situated the
great stone crematory. The location is
just south of the Mussulman cemetery
and mosque, in the new part of Pere la
Chaise, and not far from the Menilmon-
tant entrance. The structures are iden-
teal, being open on one side and closed
on the other, and each Is about $50 feet
long by 20 wide. The closed sides are
taken UP by the inches, Of which there
are ten tiers, beginning at the tesselat-
ed flooring and running to the vaulted
roof There are many thousands Of
these inches in each arcade. When an
urn is deposited in a niche the entrance
is closed with a slab of marble, which
seals the opening Theoretically. All that
is to be seen, then, are these rows of
slabs, upon which are Inscriptions SIM
liar to those upon gravestones, except
that they are as a rule simpler. In
most cases there is nothing but name
with the date OF birth and of death.
Some are fancifully decorated, especial
ly those of artists, the brother crafts
men spending hours Of love in the last
tribute. The small space allowed to
each niche is a serious hindrance to the
taste for decorating graves with artifi-
cial flowers and wreaths made of purple
glass beads which the French have In
common with all continental peoples.
They try to keep up the custom just as
If the inches were graves, with the con-
sequence that upon an occasion like All
Saints day inches. slabs, and, In fact.
the whole wall of the arcade, are buried
from sight in the mass of decorations,
which are sometimes three feet deep,
and always in crowded confusion.
For the last three or four years the
number of persons cremated in Paris
has been about one-thirteenth of the to-
tai dead The statistics for 1895, the
last year available, show: Total deaths
58, $50, burials 5O,231, incinerations ALSO
dissected in hospitals and medical
schools 4539 In 1894 the number OF
| persons cremated was 1892. and in 1896
| 1902. For the eleven months of the
present year the number also exceeds
| 1900. Since 1882, when a law was pass
| ed permitting person to determine
| how his body should be disposed Of at
| ter death, nearly 10000 persons have
| been cremated in Paris.
1t has been commended that one of the
principal causes of the growth Of ere
nation is the expense Of being buried
decently in Paris, but that Is only 9
| part explanation. Funerals, in common
| with most other things, are regulated
| by the government in France. The
! business of conducting them is mo
nopoly, licensed and taxed by the state
! A. single company has the concession
for all Paris, and from it the govern
ment gets large revenue. One may
be buried only by this company, al
| there are no other undertakers. A pri
| t., nd oh ht
contemplated the body would be seized
and the responsible persons be thrown
| into prison. This one company settle:
everything. You must buy the coffir
| from 1t, you must hire the hearse ant
carriages from 1t, and you must pay
through it all the incidental expenses
| of church and state. This applies to in
cineratons as we'll as to interments.
| The charges of this company for flu
nerals are divided into many classes
| If you are a Roman Catholic funera
of the first class will cost you $4,000; i
Protestant the same class will cos
only 81, 500; If an Israelite but 5000, AMI
| If you have no faith at all you will pa,
| but $780, The difference in these price,
does not mean that the government ha
i set up d SLdnudIu Ol ilSHSo, ioNe "
pomp. or even responsibility, according
to religious persuasion. They meal
that the principal expense Is for churcl
services AS matter of fact, Their
were but sixteen first-class funerals II
Paris last year, and the deceased wer
in fourteen cases Roman Catholics, Pro
testant in one and non-believer In one
From the prices named for the frs
class the rates go gradually down t
the ninth, the lowest class in which !
is possible to be buried. In that elias
common deal coffin. hearse to carr.
it to the cemetery and divine to sa,
the last word at the grave, cost $9.5
for a Catholic and $3.50 for Protestant
In all classes the city charges tax
1t is graduated in the same manner
the funeral charges, being So in the frs
class and $1.20 in the ninth.
The funeral charge and the city ia:
must always be paid, whether the bod
is to be put into the ground or burned
so the only saving effected by crema
ton is in the cost of last resting place
In the cemeteries of Paris a plot 0
ground three feet wide by six long cost
from $l4O to $500. For each additions
square foot, length or width, the pric
is about $50. A grave may be rented
however, for five or for thirty years a
reduced rate, plus yearly city tax
Cremation, on the other hand, is fur
nished by the city in eight classes, tn
prica ranging from $50 down tn Eli