The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-09-23

tiles of burial by early settlers and
nearby Indian tribes, but a proposal
to rent a grave was something new
to him.
The voice was that of woman, a
Mrs. de Boissiere. She had come to
Topeka with her husband to live, and
her mother, Mrs. Helen Da Costa Dot
tin, had come to visit them. While
here she became i'll and died. All
were from the island of Barbados.
Mrs. de Boissiere wished to rent a
grave for her mothers body until such
time as she could take it back to her
native country. She was willing to
pay rent, but was much surprised
when told that there was no such
custom in this country as renting
graves. 1t is a quite common one in
South American countries.
1t Was Inferred.
| Mr. Whiting explained that he could
sell a lot in Mt Hope at cheap price,
| but if the woman did not wish to make
a permanent burial, he would accom-
modate her by permitting temporary
burial. The offer was accepted with
| gratitude and the body was duly in
grave in Mt. Hope.
In Spain and certain parts IF France
| where land is scarce, graves may be
rented for definite periods, ard if the
pay is not forthcoming at the end of
the time specified, the graves may be
opened, The corpses elected therefrom
and thrown into public lime pits and
destroyed.
In certain parts of India large cir
cular buildings are erected, with the
tops sloping downward at an angle to
a center. Bodies are placed on this
sloping space and left for birds OF
prey. When nothing remains save the
bones, they slide down the incline into
a pit in the center.
The incident just related provoked
Mr.. Whiting to interesting remi-
niscences of early burial problems in
Kansas.
When L first came to the plains
he said, the pioneers had to bury as
: best they could. A shallow grave was
dug beside the trail, the body shroud-
ed in blanket, coffined in prairie
grass, and a pile of stones was heaped
upon the mound to save it from the
digging of wild animals. A rude cross
told the passerby that there some
wanderer reached his journeys end
Collins were made of wagon boxes
bark of trees and sometimes only E
blanket was available. A spot on some
hillside, a nook near a stream, a high
bluff top, a garden corner, any place
was used. Sometimes a rude en-
closure would be placed around tn,
grave; sometimes it would be left ex
posed, thru necessity
In Branches of Trees.
There was a tribe of Otoe indiana
up in Nebraska whose reservation wa
along the Blue river. Their buria
custom was to bury their dead III
among the branches of trees, anC
wrapping them in blankets, Ieav,
them TO the mercy of birds of pre-.
and the elements.
The Nomadic tribes, having n,
trees in which to bury, would wral
the bodies of their dead in blankets
put them on little platforms of stick
held up by four corner poles boun,
together with thongs, and leave then
on the plains to the mercy of tn
wind and storms, hungering wolve
and other wild animals"
1t was because of the primitiv
methods of burial he found on tn
plains in those days that Mr.. Whit
ing became interested in buria
grounds and cemeteries and cause
MIN to establish Mt. Hope cemetery
with its perpetual care plan, whicl
guarantees to every burial lot an
. grave in the cemetery perpetual care