The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-28
SOME WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
ar PROCESS OF CREMATION
caAPHICALLY DESCRIBED.


:. 10 Make Good Home Servants.
,,hot society Mt the National Cap
;.oI Is acknowledgements of Well
rno,vn PeOple-Other Matters OF
General Interest.
Avosbington, April 26.-The other day a
oslt1v. middle-aged lady of this city
-..,se later years have been devoted to
..uanthropic enterprises, died here and,
,ording 40 explicit ante-mortem in
strpctions, her body was cremated. Nat
,,ralIy her many friends desired to at
- the funeral; but all experienced a
..o,tal shock, more or less severe, &C
,,r5ipg to temperament, when told that
% 10 so would be 10 see their recent COM
rods reduced to ashes. Nowadays nearly
o,,arvbody is willing to admit the advers-
ohnitv of cremation-for other peoples
tri.rds We subscribe to its sanitary ad-
,..ntaee over the old way, and know that
- ie only a quicker and cleaner return
If dust to dust" But when 1t comes
80 our own precious dead-that lis quite
arot ner matter. We regard with horror
+be burning of the body we have loved
and prefer to tuck it up tenderly under a
coverlet of sod, though knowing that
dreadful process of slow decay must go
on in that earthly bed
The theory of cremation Is all right,
but moor human nature is inconsistent
through its affections, and merely 20 con-
temnIate Il in the case of any one we
have. known cause the gorge to rise like
Hamlets, at the sight of Yorick's skull.
therefore it was a very small party, of
less than a dozen out of the hundred or
50 who were hidden, that gathered in the
crematorium to witness the incineration
If our friend l fancy that few of my
readers ever saw such ceremony, though
all have natural curiosity regarding
what will no doubt be the future method
of disposing of the dead; so l am going
N tell YOU about It, though the subject
is not in accord with this bright spring
morning.
The Washington crema forum is
handsome, four-story brick building, in
busv Pennsylvania avenue, midway be-
tween the White House and the Capitol;
and though there is nothing on the out
side of it, not even a sing-board, to indi-
cate its gruesome purpose-those who
know what goes on inside, but have new
er seen it, are inclined to hurry past,
with dated breath" whatever that may
mean, and to fancy they detect odors-
which certainly do not exist. When you
have once examined it's interior, this
feeling disappears, for there is not
single repellant feature about the place,
except such as are found in all first -class
undertaking establishments, in the way of
caskets whose future tenants are yet pre-
ambulatng the earth.
There is a large room in which funeral
services are conducted; and after The
usual prayer and hymns and eulogy of
the deceased the coffin of our friend was
carried out through a pair of folding
doors at the rear of the chapel-we fol-
lowing, rather shrinkingly, it must be
confessed The second room contains
nothing but a plain, neat-looking struc-
ture of glazed brick, with metal roof and
two large iron doors in front. 1t is the
crematorium. The corpse was taken out
of its fine plush casket and laid in plain
wooden box, with no cover but a cotton
cloth. One of the iron doors of the fur
mace was opened, sending out a lurid
glow into the apartment. The coffin was
lifted by couple of stalwart attendants.
not the pali-bearers, who were friends OF
the deceased, and showed on rollers into
the fiery interior of the oven, whose door
was Immediately closed. At this point
one Of the female special tors became hys-
terical and had to be ledp out of the
room.
Then ensued the most wierd and strik-
ing part of the process. No sooner had
the iron door shut with a dull clang and
the flames begun their work of destruc-
ton on human flesh and bones, than there
arose from the interior of the cremato-
rum long, low wall, as of terror and
agony, wholly impossible to describe.
Each of us clutched his neighbor with
pale faces and staring eyeballs. Shriller
10
sound, until its horror was lost in its
monotony. The person in charge informed
US that it was merely the blast created
by the electric dynamo which intensifies
the atmosphere of the furnace into a
white heat, and moreover disperses the
gases of the consuming body with such
velocity as to render the slightest odor
impossible. And yet that mournful sound,
like the wall of a lost soul, will linger
in the ears of all who heard it for many
days and nights.
There are two compartments in the
oyen-one for the body, the other for the
reception and dispersion of the gases and
odorous vapors. Both in the front AMI
side doors of the crematorium-the latter
facing another apartment occupied by the
stoher OF the furnace-are peepholes, for
tne purpose of viewing the progress of
lnclneration. When the body has been
!" the names about fifteen minutes, the
observation holes in the front door of the
Pematorium were opened, and any one
VINO wishes could look in. At this stage,
Httle more was visible amid the fierce
tumnf of the flames than the beaches
zones CT the ribs, arching over what
iulght be taken for small heap of burn
"s Goals 1t requires an hour and a
quarter so said the master of ceremonies,
LOT the complete reduction of the body to
ashes' At the expiration of that period
tle nre is allowed to die out, and, when
suihciently cooled. the small heap of
Nhat appears to be Stacked lime is taken
OUT ana consigned to relatives Of the de-
ceased.
Cne may take his choice between this
qlck' certain process, and the slower
SOII uptlon OF the grave. Everybody re-
nieinoers the celebrated author, or in
'onlor' as you may call it. of the first
Ss.efn or shorthand. His beloved wife
eu early, and according to her own re-
SueS| was cremated and her ashes
S"h ABOUT the roots of her favorite
t"lIe rose bush ;and thereafter her faith
80 husband was never seen without one
~ nose white roses on his breast Please
10 not recall to mind the horrid old story
srt nc second Mrs. Smith. who literally
e,lihled the dinner with what she sup
a. 70 be excellent white pepper, and
not discover until too late--that she
BLADDER