Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-05-26
al - the Dead, Custom That Must
Soon Pass Away.
r.lla Whcelrr Mid,

IN the midst of life wesre in death.
ana Tue disposition of mortal remains
must concern the living.
Only silegorically can the "dead
bury their deed.
IN bomoay, India, dwell 10000 of
the 100000 Parsee people OF the werId.
lie Parsee worship the clement
hre' water, earth. They will net puh-
ute IRE by cremation, or water or earth
oy letting them touch the body from
waieh the divine spirit had fed.
SO they place their dead on hiuh
tnwers called 1.-THE towers of Silence y
and there the awful vultures eonore.
. re and, in an hour, strip the dead Of
all save the skeletons, which are ouiek-
ly reduced to ashes by the combined
effect of chemicals and the torrid tropl-
cal sun.
rms awful custom must pass away
before the century reaches its noon
tine. Already the progressive Parsee.
the younger generation are discuss.
ing cremation, realizing that the fire
they worship, does not, in the modern
method of cremation, touch the BODY
of the dead. Ii only produces a con-
Stunning heat.
To bury all the dead in the Orient
would be to fill the earth with pesti-
ience, so vast is the population, so
many the deaths each year aud so ever
recurring the vlrulent diseases peculiar
to the tropics.
Among the many things which Ger
many has done for the world, one of
the best was the introduction TO the
country, less than a half century ago
of crem alton of the dead
The innovation was met with horror
and indignation at first; then with toll.
Grafton; and now it is upheld by the
intelligent and progressive people Of
the land.
II is cleanly, it is economical, it is
hygenic, it is sensible, and it does all
that can be done to rob the disposal of
the body of lite horrors.
The writer has seen two pear and
dear beings pass INTO the hands OF
those whose business it wast to cremate
human remains, and through a natural
course of reasoning these two dear ones
seem much less ''dead' and much
more spiritual than those friends
bodies remain under the earth.
Since the final returning to dust in
the end of all created things, Why not
hasten the process by the cleanly
methods of intense heat?
An hour achieves what 1t may re-
qaire ten years or twenty-five years to
accomplish in the grave. With the
dong away with the burial of the dead
we 90 away with the morbid habit Of
sitting by cemeteries and mourning
over tombs.
The less we think of our dead as re.
posing in graves the better for us and
for them.
Have you not known the mother of 9
family 10 bring gloom and sorrow and
unhappiness to living mem bers of hel
family by her continual visits TO the
Gem etery where reposes some lost mem.
Der of her household.
There is nothing sacred about this
kind of sorrow; it is morbid and un-
healthful, and should be forbidden by
law.
And there is no res pect foFthe head
in such grief. The best respect we can
show the dead is to give all the hsppi
ness and healthfulness possible to the
living who were dear to the dead.
1t is time the tradition of the GENE
tery passed away. Another tradition
which should pass is that of erecting
costly and useless marble shafts to the
memory of some hero. The land il
filled with soldiers monuments, paid
for by the people, and adding nothing
to scenery or sentiment. How much
better to erect fountain for the benefit
of thirsty animals, and to make it an
object of beauty to the eye and call that
a memorial for heroes.