The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-04

a whole some six hundred acres are
required annually. And modern ideas
demand certain character of soil fol
burial which is not so easily found in
all sections of the country. 1t requires
twenty-five years for the decomposi-
ton of the body under average condi-
lions OF cemetery burial but where the
SOIL is light and porous the process can
be accomplished in about five years
| for porous soil, as you know, ad-
mitS of air and this hastens decompo-
s1tton materially.
AS the kings of the Sythians died
large trench was opened and their
wives and their concubines were bur-
led with them, as were also their chief
cook, groom and baker. At the end
or year fifty more of their chief
favorttes were strangled and buried
with them. 1t is said that the wives,
concubines, cooks, walters, grooms and
faVorites thought it an honor to be
disposed Of in that way but am glad
the custom does not prevail in Kansas
on account Of the health of Governor
Stubs, who is not very robust In
India, until the year 1929, when one
rajah had thirty or thirty-five living
wives burned to ashes with him, the
custom prevailed and was only stop
ped by the British government on ac-
count OF this horrible circumstance.
Suffice is not practiced any more and
nothing remains of it but the CHATS
where cord wood was piled up and the
people burned. Wives of today are
no less loving but few of them, 1 fear,
would care to stretch themselves out
upon. a CHAT and see themselves burn
ed up with their old man. They pre-
fer, think. to put on mourning, collect
the insurance and keep a sharp look
out for another husband.
Graves of the Famous.
In addition to the tombs 1 have al
ready mentioned, 1 have stood beside
the bodies Of many other immortals.
1 have always had a great desire to
visit the grave of William the Con-
queror, but owing to a mistake I was
denied that pleasure. William sub
dued England and founded a great civ
ilization, but it is a singular fact that
his body was denied burial in a Nor
man churchyard until his son came
across with the price of grave in ad-
vance. $500
To me the most interesting grave in
the world is that of st. Peter, who was
laid to rest in the circus of Nero with
in short distance of that famous lit
tie farm from which Cincinnatus was
called from the plow to save Rome.
His bones rest under the hight altar
of the great church dedicated to his
name and before it is a statue in
kneeling form which seems to me to
be one of the finest pieces of sculp-
ture in the world. Many torches per-
petual1y burn around the grave and
there is an atmosphere of solemnity
about the place that stirs the soul.
Not far from the grave of st. Peter
rest the remains of Bonnie Prince
Charlie and two other claimants to
the throne of the House of Stuart.
James the Second is himself buried in
France and is one of the three or four
English sovereigns whose bones lie in
foreign soil.
The grave Of Cardinal Richelieu also
made a deep impression in me as it
did in Peter the Great. who, 200 years
before, stood beside it and said he
would give half of his empire if he
could govern the other half as Richie
lieu governed France.
No man of sentiment can stand over
the coffin of Napoleon without getting
a thrill of pride. It is in the 'twell'
Of the tomb of the Invalides and the
light falls softly upon it from the great
dome. Around him, but on the floor
level, are the tombs and monuments
of many of his best marshals-the men
whose exploits in battle gave to him
imperial power and made him one of
the six great captains of history.