The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-20
OF ONE OPINION
Eminent People Give Views on
Cremation.
TESTIMONY OF ALL CLASSES
Men and Women Ministers and
PrieStS-M any Present Their
Reasons.
TESTIMONY Of ALL GLASSES

These expressions OF opinion on ere
matlon are cui4ed iron a compilation
oI several nunaleQ.
views IL i4-4er.s NllisuEd, the
1915 fIo~a440ht Cl uA4e W o1u04I onrls-
D.l>Ii eli LoIaIl~0 Union, as Expressed
~ 4ior u---npses OF tlGCy ea4s:
i nave cAe purpose 10 heip Forward
prCgI esaIye3 NOV eultnoS, even III my
IaUtSC hours, and nelnce hereby decree,
GhaI the 6drClly mamie winch L Shan
drop ere 1onS, Wn6n my r6al SeIf pas
SEES Onwa ard tnlo Lhe word unseen,
snau Oe swiftly enrolded III flames
and rendered poWerleSS, narmfulIy 10
affect the healUh of the living. Let
no friend of mine say aught 60 prevent
the cremation of my cast-of body.
The fact that the popular mind has
not come to this decision, renders 1t
all the more my duty, who have seen
The light, TO stand for it in death, as
l have sincerely meant in life to stand
by the great cause OF poor, oppressed
humanity"
Miss Wizards remains were cremat-
ed at the crematory in Graceland
Cemetery, Chicago, Ill.,, April 9th, 1875,
and the ashes inferred in the Willard
family plot at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Charles Francis Adams, Boston:
L have never been able to under
stand any of the arguments against
cremation. The religious argument
certainly has no bearing On the sub
ject. AS matter of sentiment. / fail
to see why we should rather cOnSign
the remains of those we love, to the
tender mercies of worms, than TO the
tender nercies of heat"
DR.. A. Buccellatti, Catholic Priest,
and Professor of Theology at the Uni
versity of Pavia, one of the most
learned eccleciastics of Italy, in let
ter addressed to Professor I@Olli, at
Milano, says:
You enquire of me in what rela-
ton cremation stands to religion. AS
a reasoning Catholic, free from any
prejudice, / do not hesitate for a mo-
ment TO openly declare that cremation,
asfyou and your colleagues understand
it, is not inconsistent with the teach
ings of religion
Rev. Joseph May, Philadelphia:
1T gives me much satisfaction to
have an opportunity to express pub
licly my earnest approval of crema alton
as a mode of disposing of the bodies
of the dead. l strongly desire to pro-
mote this reform.
while it costs. at present. some
moral effort to adopt the method of
cremation, am persuaded that 1T will
ultimately come to seem. aesthedically,
even more attractive than burial We
cannot now let our Imagination follow
the remains of our dead. By the sys-
tenn of cremation they pass through
no process Of decay, but by a purest
conceivable mode of dissolution swift
ly exhale. In several instances with
which / have been familiar, the re-
mains of persons, who had themselves
so directed, have been disposed of by
cremation. In each case, their rela-
tives have assured me very emphati-
cally of the refinement and tenderness
of all the incidents of the process as
actually conducted, and of their full
conversion to the reformed method.
I urge it upon all, as duty to the
public. to encourage its adoption"
Chas. w. Wendte, Oakland, Cal,
Superintendent Unitarian Churches
for the Pacific Coast:
'tThe true disposal Of our dead, is
cremation, rather than earth burial.
1t is associated with feelings of the
modest kind, with veneratiop and ten
derness for the departed. with the re-
the thought of immortality
sit does not contradict Christian
teachings or compel the alteration of
a single line of the burial service. 1t
conduces far more than the usual prac-
tice of intermemt to the comfort,
health and safety of the living. For
this reason it is commanded by all
sanitary authorities and men OF
| science. 1t is also far less offensive
to the imagination and feelings OF
| man. Finally it is recommended by
considerations of utility and economy.
For these and many other reasons it
should be adopted
The late Lucy Stone, of the Ameri-
can Woman Suffrage Association,
Boston:
81 am decidedly in favor of Crema-
ton; on sanitary grounds alone it
seems to me to be wholly desirable"
(Hers was the first body to be Gre
mated in the Boston Crematorium,
January 4th, 1S94)
Rev. Robert Ritchie, d. D., Rector of
st. PauPs Church, Oakland, Cal:
Being asked for my opinion in re-
gard to Cremation, I can only say that
1 approve of it without qualifications.
There can be no objections against it
on religious grounds-save in the way
Of conservatism that is the result of
sentiment rather than reason. A Gus
tom or usage supported by Christian
antiquity is of weight provided that
it commends itself also to modern
needs and eXigencies; but this, the
practice of burying the dead, does not
always do. AS the world grows older,
and more and more of its inhabitants
are returned TO its bosom in natures
last sleep, the problem especially in
our large cities, of disposing of the
dead presses for solution
The Rev. Edward Everett Hale, ID.
D., Boston:
81 have no doubt that Cremation Will