The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-03-18
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD IN
CITIES.
Burial Near PopuIous Town Should
BE Prohibited.

prejudice of early Christians against
the Roman pyre. But even the won
derful ingenuity and lavish expendi-
ture of the Egyptians have been un-
availing to preserve mummies eternal
ly, and IL we could, II is questionable
whether we would make the dross we
leave behind after a slow death the
permanent habitation of our immortal
souls. The prospect of remaining in
body tortured by disease or decrepit
with senility is not alluring.
Yet we set aside valuable tracts OF
land for the stowage of such bodies;
until, regardless of the sacred promise
of their perpetual rest" and inviola-
bility. municipalities seize the room.
when needed and fling the remains up
on dung neap. Almost every page
of the records of London and Paris
contains examples of the desecration
of abandoned graveyards, and there Is
hardly city in the old world that
has not disturbed at least one Of these
resting places OF their whilom inhabi-
tants. In our towns of rapid growth
the cemetery Of today becomes the
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demolition of graveyards in New York
and Boston has been frequent occur
renee until 1t fails to attract attention.
When the Colon cemetery of Havana
became overcrowded, the Cubans
found IL necessary to clear 1t of skulls
and promiscuously shoveled them into
common boneyard. II presented an
aspect so ghastly that General Wood
concluded to cover the pit and to re-
open IL only for the next overflow of
skeletons, expected in about five years.
In certain cemeteries in London
corpse3 are buried In standing pos
ture because no room Is left to lay
them down. Bodies of the poor gen.
orally are packed over each other in
tiers. and the trench is kept open un-
til filed. In the poverty corner of
Calvary cemetery this has been the
customary treatment OF the remains
of paupers. Newtown, where Cal
vary is situated, harbors 80 corpses
to every living inhabitant. The con.
venient villages of Corona, Elmhurst
and Wocdside, once parts of Newtown,
which now are annexed to New York,
and constitute the geographical centre
of the enlarged city. might increase in
population If 1t were not for the prox-
unity of vast and dreary charnel fields.
law relating to public health pro-
videj 40 years ago that no grave be
dug or opened south of seth street,
and that no cemetery be opened in
any part OF the city and county of New
York. This law should be enforced
and applied, not to greater New York
alone, but to the territory within ra-
dius of one hundred miles around
every populous town. People who in
sist on their inanimate bodies remain.
ing inviolate should have them car
ried to a distance where they can
neither inconvenience nor fnjure the
living, who need the room and are nat
ural heirs of the departed. Famous
intermural cemeteries, like Mount Au-
burn. Boston; Greenwood, New York,
and Laurel Hill, Philadelphia, could be
transformed into admirable parks.
Monuments of architectural beauty
might remain undisturbed. Others
might be replaced by trees, with suit
able tablets to mark the spot of those
upon whose dust they grow. The
Turks, 10th to desecrate the grave of a
Mussulman, have adopted a similar
custom, and thereby have made the
cemeteries Of Constantinople attrac-
tive to strangers. Two hundred city
lots are now required to bury in the
old-fashioned way the seventy thou
sand persons that annually die in
greater New York. We probably could
save more than a hundred and fifty
of these precious lots II ashes OF the
seventy thousand were placed in urn
cemeteries, preserved in inches of a
Columborium, or strewn on the waves
of river. AS cemeteries are exempt
from taxation, the municipality would
derive an income from the lots, which
the living then would use, and from
the improvements they would make
upon them.
Another important advantage would
accrue to every needy mourner, in
saving him from useless extravaganza.
He incurs at present the expense of
$50 at least for a plain funeral; land
values in the suburbs of cities preclude
reduction in the cost of burial. The
expense Of cremation is only S25, and
could be largely reduced IL the GUS
tom became more general.
Let our intelligent population
set the example, as 1t does
in San Francisco, where al
most a thousand bodies are annually
cremated, and the ignorant masses
will be cure to follow. Considering
the marvellous progress We have made
in every other direction, It is strange
that we have failed to adopt the most
rational means for the disposition Of
dead bodies. We hardly are abreast
of Homer's contemporaries, who real
lied that, however well cemetery
may be managed. corpscs can do harm.
but ashes never can. True religion
does not and never can teach that 1t
Is godly to injure those we leave be-