Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-25
BRITAIN'S GREAT BONES.
Westminster Abbey overcrowded-.
Plans to Relieve the Congestion.

iauS " aSLeNe the ConReStlon-
From the New York Globe.
The business manager of Westminster
Abbey was heard to remark the other day
upon the decision to bury Sir Henry Irv-
ing there that he wished men were like
jellyfish, and when they died there was an
end of them. He particularly deprecated
the idea that there was anything great
about bones:
Great Caesar dead and turned to clay,
who stopped a hole to keep the wind
away" or whose elements helped to stiff
fen the backbone of some later man, was
of practical use in the world. The be-
gllded and bewreathed phosphates with
drawn from circulation and monopolzing
space worth many pounds per square foot
in Westminster Abbey were of none what
ever. Collecting all the bones of great men
into one place might have advantages from
the museum point of view, but il led to in
vidious comparisons and overc-o wding.
There was always the possibility, not to
say certainty, of row as to whose bones
were greatest.
Several of the deans predecessors have
criticized the character of the bones un-
der their charge. Nowadays no one would
consoider "Old Parr" or 'Steenie" or Henry
| VIII or George !, who loved nothing but
punch and fat women or a number of the
other tenants of the abbey, worthy of
inclusion In hall of fame. ''Old PARIS"
ike the BrOnt0SauruS, skeleton Is INTEREST,"
ing as curiosity. and some of the others
would hold the attention for a moment in
the rogues' gallery. Even thirty years ago
Dean Stanley called attention to the very
uneven quality of the greatness in the es-
Establishment and the dubious honor which
some of his tenants would consider such
company The place was, he indicated
very considerably diluted with royalty born
insignlfcance and successful villainy.
Such a result, however, seems inevitable,
ami no one has dared to suggest with the
possible exception of the present sub-dean,
Canon Duckworth, that the unworthy skele-
tons be thrown out to make way for more
deserving bones. The canon believes that
everybody destined for Westminster ought
to be cremated was Irving. When, as
in the case of Mr.. Gladstone, there has also
room to be made for the wife's remains the
abbey grayedigger Is confronted with
puzzle problem worse than one of De Nor
gan's paradoxes.
That these difficulties will not diminish
with time is self-evident. There are more
great men coming along every day (see
publishers aunouncements), and unless
Westminster is enlarged II will, says the
London Times, lose its distinctive position
as the final receptacle OF Bntain's greatest
sons. Almost every yard of space on the
abbey floor is occupied now. and what
are the coming generations to do" asks
the Times, "if they wish to pay the last
high honors to the iliustTious deadf IL
seems the proper time to revive considera-
ton of the problem whether some chapel
might not be built sufficiently close to the
abbey TO rank as portion of 1t.
This scheme has been proposed on sew
eral previous occasions, but never met with
popular favor. AS the abbey bulges more
and more with each new accession, how
ever, some solution becomes increasingly
imperative, and as many OF the ancestors
of our own greatness are buried there the
United States has at any rate sentimental
interest In its settlement.
of westminster School into the country,
and the building of new chapel on It's
site This would, at least temporarily,
solve the difficulty and In a way least cal
culated to shock the national traditions and I
preiudices which have hitherto prevented
any relief of the situation.