00_1885 Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings Vo 2, 2005.120.002

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RURAL CEMETERIES. — Conditions that Existed Before They Were Established as a Sanitary Measure—An Unpleasant Side of Old Churches—Incidents in the Campaign Against Custom and Ignorance in London. — Not all the quickening impulses of the new era in which the idea that a strict obedience to the laws of life might enable man to outwit and conquer what had been regarded as an inevitable Fate, had their origin on the other side of the water. It is a pleasure to record that Dr. Jacob Bigelow of Boston initiated the idea of a rural cemetery as the sleeping-place for the dead; and a knot of gentlemen inspired by his influence joined with him in the purchase of the beautiful site of Mount Auburn, which was consecrated on September 24, 1831.

As a medical man, Dr. Bigelow must have been impressed with the evils of interments in the crowded city graveyards. The records of Trinity Church in New York showed in 1776 that since the burying-ground attached had been granted, in 1703, no less thatn 160,- 000 bodies had been deposited in it. It seems as if the instinct of self-preservation would have suggested a different disposal of the dead, but it had taken five years in active, untraditional America, to bring about the desired result in Boston, for the first meeting in reference to it was held in Dr. Bigelow's parlor in 1825. A fine taste guided the selection of the spot, and its subsequent treatment development it into the most beautiful rural cemetery in the world.

The primitive Christians selected quiet spots remote from towns for the burial of their dead, and it cannot be learned when interments began to be made in churchyards: there is one class of critics who say that the priests worked on people's fears, and made these grounds a source of revenue —as the moneys for burials came into their hands, and the departed had no assurance of ultimate beatitude unless his body could moulder back to dust in ground that had been "consecrated" by some priestly ceremony, so that every village church had ground adjacent to it in which those who had worshipped within the sacred walls were laid at rest, with a felling that there was a saving magic in the mere shadow of the church. The Puritans, in their recalcitrant zeal against all ecclestaticism, especially as it could affect the souls of the dead, went almost to the verge of indifference, and, as Whittier says:

"The dreariest spot in all the land, To Death they set apart; With scanty grace from Nature's hand, And none from that of Art. For thus our fathers testified,— That he might read who ran,— The emptiness of human pride, The nothingness of man."

In 1832 began an inquiry by the Poor-Law Commission in England, of which Edwin Chadwick was made Secretary, into the condition of the London slums, and it had one result that the Commissioners had not imagined when it was constituted. In looking into the manner of living in the east of London, which includes Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, and Whitechapel, among other notorious districts, the examiners were shocked at the hideous conditions of life, and horrified at what may be called the conditions of death. In the crowded dwellings, it was found that one room served for one family of the laboring classes—it was the bed-room, the sitting-room, the dining-room, and, where the father did not follow an out-door occupation, the work-room. In this one room these poor creatures were born, and lived and slept, and died; nearly a thousand such families were found, ranging from seven to ten in number. When a member died, and most often that member was the sickly and half-starved father, the body was stretched on two chairs, and if the man died early in the week, the funeral would be attended on the following Sunday, provided the widow and surviving relatives could get enough money together to pay for the burial, but often the funeral was deferred for two or even three weeks. The children would play about wholly indifferent. They would even pull the chairs about in play, as if they were occupied by a log, and often the bottle was hidden behind it on the approach of a stranger. Naturally, whole families were wiped out by smallpox, measles, scarlatina, or the deadly typhus from the body, and, hideous as the picture is, it took nearly twenty years to have such practices abolished by law.

Bas the physical effects were, the moral ones were still more deplorable, as this familiarity with the most solemn phase of mortality made the survivors brutal and reckless. Of course, the next step was to follow these bodies to the place of sepulture, and inquire what were the conditions and what happened there. Although the walls of London had long since disappeared, the term "intramural interments" came to signify the evil that Mr. Chadwick fought for nearly fifty years before his victory was won; and although he had accomplished much, it fell far short of the complete scheme he had marked out for burial and funeral reform. In London the ground set apart for burial-grounds did not exceed 203 acres, and these were closely surrounded by the abodes of the living. In these were buried—when the population of London was 2,000,000—layer upon layer—each year 20,000 adults and 30,000 youths, very imperfectly interred. In Bunhill Fields, 2,323 persns to the acre were buried annually. The vaults under the churches were literally crammed with coffins, and in the churchyards coffins were placed tier above tier, until they were within a few feet—in some cases inches—of the surface, and the ground had in some been raised nearly to the level of the windows of the church. To make room for more interments, the sextons sometimes surreptitiously removed the bones and partially decayed remains, selling the coffin-plates, nails, and handles for old metal.

London at this time was supplied with water from wells that often were proved to be contaminated by the seepage from the graveyards—the houses and yards were closely adjacent to them—and in France it was demonstrated that wells were contaminated through a distance of 335 feet. As to the poison emitted into the air, there could be no measuring it. In the Hospital St. Louis in Paris, which had the most salubrious situation of any in the city, it was noted that if the windows on one side were left open, a horrible odor came in, and it was found that its source was an over-filled graveyard, half a mile away, and hospital gangrene developed at once in the patients on that side. People died of fever contracted by going into churches where persons were buried under or about the building. One case will show how swiftly the poison that produces typhus acts. Mr.

Copeland testified before a committee of Parliament, that he attended a gentleman well known to many of them, who went on Sunday into a dissenting chapel, where most of the congregation, as they died, where buried in the ground or in the vaults beneath. One Sunday he went to this chapel, and on going up the steps he noticed a rush of foul air coming up from the gratings on either side of the steps. The effect upon him was instantaneous; it produced a feeling of sinking with nausea. He could hardly reach a seat, and stayed but a short time, the nausea meantime increasing, and on reaching home he went to bed, and there remained. Mr. Copeland saw him on Tuesday afternoon at once perceived that the case was fatal. He died eight days afterward, and his wife having taken the disease from him, died also on the eighth day of the sickness.

Another case shows how a whole congregation probably had its vitality lowered by going to a church where the following occurred. A pew-opener in one of the large city churches, which had been used for centuries, had a daughter who had just returned from a country school. There were vaults beneath the church still used for burials. The daughter came home on Friday, and on Saturday assisted her mother in shaking and cleaning the matting of the aisles and pews. The mother said this was done once in six weeks; that the dust and effluvia which rose always had a peculiarly fœtid and offensive odor, very unlike that of the dust that collects in private houses, and that it made her ill for at least a day afterwards. In the afternoon of the day the mats were shaken, the girl was seized with malignant typhus —but eventually recovered. This was in 1841 —intramural burials were forbidden in London in 1855. Bacteriology had not come to explain the "how" of all these things; Mr. Chadwick was trying to convince a dull and conservative public, which wanted all things to go on just as they had done, and there was no telegraph, or railroad, or itemhungry press, to diffuse a piece of information that would now find its way to the furthest corner of the kingdom in two days. It is no wonder that the man who had set himself "to remove all causes of preventible disease" pleaded incessantly for "gardens of the dead" remote from the homes of the living; and though his entire scheme of funeral legislation has not been carried out, there were large public cemeteries established to the north, south, east, and west of London, far enough away, where each body can have a separate grave—

Till the last angel rolls the stone away And a new morning brings eternal day.

Wordsworth said a beautiful cemetery must have an elevating and refining influence; Fanny Kemble said, in one of her sarcastic moments. "Americans take you to their cemeteries, to amuse you"—Thirty years ago, they were the best specimens of landscape gardening to be found in the country; for here every considerable town has its safe and sanitary and often beautifu rural cemetery.

Mrs. H.M. PLUNKETT.

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MOUNT AUBURN CREMATORY. — Most Perfect in the World in Some Details. — Rapidity by Which Bodies Are Converted Into Gases One of the Features. — Wonderful Change in Sentiment Since Agitation Began in 1873. — "The question," remarked one of the trustees of Mt Auburn cemetery yesterday, "is whether the edict for humanity—dust to dust—shall occupy, in its process of accomplishment, 20 years of corruption, or 20 minutes of purification."

The subject of conversation was the new crematory established by the corporation at "Sweet Auburn" the euphonious name given to Stones wood by Harvard students three-quarters of a century ago—and the reasons for the new enterprise.

Since the first agitation upon the subject in America, about 1873, a wonderful change in sentiment has taken place. Then the advocates of incineration were few and the opponents strong in numbers and argument.

The custom of the centuries could not be abrogated in a moment. The question of the resurrection was presented by religious people as a reason against it, and to them it seemed to be unanswerable. The proposed burning of the dead was regarded by some with more horror than the suffering of martyrs at the stake. And added to these reasons was the thought that the ceremonies of obsequies could not so well be observed, and that there would be no final resting place for the departed to serve as a shrine for the living. Besides, the Bible did not authorize the method.

But education, slowly disseminated and reluctantly accepted, began to have its effect. That along the lines of sanitary science was chiefly instrumental in the modification of prejudice. Many examples were cited and proven of widespread pestilence traceable to the release of disease germs from burial grounds, through excavation, contamination of water, the burrowing of insects and reptiles and other methods.

Physicians began to investigate, and the more careful thinkers in communities began to listen and read. At last, in 1876, a small experimental crematory was built in Washington, Penn, and in 1884 a larger one, for public use, was established at Lancaster, Penn, and within that year three cremations were performed.

The earliest public notice of this subject in Boston was in form of a meeting of 25 persons called together on invitation of John Storer Cobb. This was in December, 1883. A society was formed, a permissible bill was passed in 1885, and late that year the society fixed its capital at $25,000, but could not dispose of the stock.

After many public meetings a large number of articles in the press and the distribution of much literature on the subject, a crematory was built at Forest Hills cemetery. During the first five years of its operation the number of incinerations increased from 87 in 1894 to 167 in 1898.

In the whole country there were but 25 cremations from 1876 to 1883 at Washington Penn, while from 1884 to 1898 the annual number increased from 16 to

1699. The total number during this time was 8883, while in Great Britain for the same period there were but 1664. — Visit to Paris. The growing demands of the times and the often-expressed wishes of constituents led the trustees to carefully consider the subject. One of the members, on a visit to Paris, made a careful investigation of the matter. Cremation became popular there about 1882, and in that year an institution was established to accommodate those who wished to use this method of disposing of mortal remains. It contained 3000 niches for urns, and it was believed that this number would be sufficient for many years.

The system grew in favor so rapidly, however, that other crematories were demanded, and subsequently the great one at Pere la Chaise was erected. The Boston gentleman obtained a permit from the prefect of the Seine, and visited from the place, where he found an establishment with many thousands upon thousands of niches; that the process of incineration was performed 10 or 12 times daily, and that the capacity was much larger.

His examination of the workings so favorably impressed him that upon his return he became a strong advocate in favor of a similar institution. In this he was supported by other trustees, while they had the hearty indorsement of members of the medical profession.

It was determined to have the most scientific and up-to-date construction possible, and to obviate so far as might be the major and minor difficulties which had been developed in the experience of others. In this they had the cooperation of Prof Robert H. Richards of the Massachusetts institute of Technology, and to him, more than to any other, is due the completion of a crematory which in important details is more perfect than any other in the world.

The especial features of excellence are the rapidity by which bodies are converted into gases and the consumption of the latter, the absolute absence of smoke and odor and the ability to deliver the residuum of ashes to the friends of the deceased in a short time.

The interior of the old building has been so remodeled as to render it fireproof, while its interior architecture, combined with the well-arranged array of furniture and the growing plants in alcoves and along the wall make an appriate place for final obsequies.

In the retorts proper—the crematory itself—oil is used instead of coal or wood, which were at first employed as fuel. This is contained in a tank some distance below the retort wherein the body is placed, and is conveyed by means of water pressure from beneath, the engine being at considerable distance away from the building in order to avoid the disturbance which would otherwise be caused by its noise.

The oil is conveyed to the crematory chamber by a small pipe or conduit, through three burners at the side of the retort. In these burners it is mixed with air, which comes through a seveninch conduit, and under a 17-ounce pressure. — Process of Incineration. The burner has a rifled muzzle or mouth, so that the mixture is thrown in a whirling motion upon a bullseye on the opposite wall, by which means it is atomized so as to render combustion rapid and perfect.

The casket containing the body rests upon a perforated arch, beneath which passes a portion of the flame or heat, thus more rapidly converting the bones and tissues into gases and the gray dust which is left.

All these gases are conveyed by a conduit to a second retort, beneath the crematory proper, where they are so absolutely destroyed in what is termed "the after fire" that not a trace of smoke can be seen from the chimney

stack, which, being one of the towers, is not distinguishable, and not a particle of odor of any character can be detected.

The process of icineration is this, the time of the several operations varying slightly according to circumstances:

Forty-five minutes before the cortege arrives with the body, the "after fire" is started, and 15 minutes later the inflow of oil and air to the upper chamber begins and is ignited. When the body arrives the fires are stopped during the ceremony in the hall or chapel above.

The heat in the retorts has now reached about 3000 degrees, as nearly as can be measured or estimated.

The obsequies finished, the curtain which hides the view of the scene below is rolled back, and the elevator on which rests the bier supporting the casket is lowered, the three sets of doors opened, and the casket conveyed upon rollers in upon the perforated arch of the upper chamber.

As soon as the doors are securely closed air, and air only, is let into the upper retort, under the 17-ounce pressure. Instantly oil and air are both admitted to the "after fire." Ignition takes place immediately, but if there should be failure of its being caused by the heat within, it can be started by mechanical means.

Disintegration of the remains begins at once, although the cloth covering the casket is not even singed until the retort is closed.

The condition continues about 45 minutes, when oil and air both are supplied to the cremation chamber, in order to complete the incineration of the bones and tissues. This is continued for about 15 minutes, while the "after fire" is kept up until all the gases in the retort have passed and been consumed.

In the course of an hour after this the ashes, a whitish gray lime, which represents the bones only—the rest being dissolved into the gases—and averaging about three quarts, are placed in an urn of copper and delivered to the friends of the deceased.

There are several ways of disposing of these. The more common is to deposit them in a receptacle under the monument, or in a place cut in the stone itself for the purpose. The experience of 12 years in receiving the remains of persons cremated elsewhere is that no one has taken the ashes home, but one gentleman took those of a member of his family and scattered them upon the lot which he owned.

The first cremation at Mt Auburn took place on the 18th of last month, and since then seven more have been performed.

FIRST CREMATION AT MT. AUBURN — The New Crematory There Was Used for the First Time This Afternoon— Building Was Formerly the Chapel — This afternoon the new crematory at Mt. Auburn, which is in the building formerly the chapel, was used for the first time, the body cremated being one which has been in the vault for a few weeks. The new crematory is thoroughly equipped according to all the latest knowledge upon the subject, and is thought to be as fine a one as has yet been constructed. A specially notable feature is the careful provision for making the ceremony of cremation as impressive and as free from any feature objectionable to the friends as possible. The old chapel did not have a basement, and in order to provide one the floor has been raised several feet. This upper part is finished in brick, in a manner very similar to the new chapel; it is finely furnished, and is tastefully decorated with potted plants. Around the upper part there is a mezzanine story, of brick, which is intended to be used for the deposit of urns containing the ashes of bodies cremated, if the friends desire them placed there. Exastly in the centre of the main floor is the opening for the lift, upon which the casket is placed and lowered to the floor underneath, in front of the furnace. This is intended to be preceded, usually, by the committal service, and the friends can then, if they desire, stand around the opening and watch the consigning of the casket to the furnace. There are two furnaces, practically alike, and the process of incineration is accomplished by means of kerosene flames, driven into the furnaces at a high pressure. The process occupies about an hour. The cremation today was performed under the direction of Superintendent Scorgie and Assistant Superintendent Allen, and the equipments were found fully to meet every requirement.

MOUNT AUBURN CREMATORY. — Chapel Has Been Entirely Remodeled and the New System Will Soon be in Operation. — [image of a woman walking towards the crematory with a detail drawing of part of the interior] THE NEW CREMATORY IN THE CHAPEL AT MT AUBURN CEMETERY. — At Mt Auburn cemetery the finishing touches are now being made to the finest and best equipped crematory in the world.

The chapel on the hill has been entirely remodeled, the interior of lath and plaster partitions being removed and a new interior of fireproof decorative material substituted, which closely resembles some of the work on the interior of the new public library.

In the center of the chapel floor there is a space for the bier, and after the religious services have been held here the bier disappears through a door in the floor and descend to the basement, whence it is taken to the operating room and furnaces in a rear building.

Here the body is reduced to ashes through the action of kerosene furnaces, supplied with a strong, forced draft

from powerful fans operated by a dynamo.

The whole process is entirely noiseless, doing away with a feature which in the old method of incineration was decidedly objectionable.

The chapel is of granite, the style of architecture composite, with the Egyption predominating.

The interior will contain two waiting rooms and two lavatories, beside the operating rooms in the basement.

A number of requests for crypts have been made, but the trustees of the cemetery have not yet decided whether they will allot space in the chapel for this purpose.

The plans and designs for the remodeling of the interior were made by architect W.T. Sears of Boston.

It is expected that the opening of the crematory will take place about the beginning of next month.

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Boston Herald May 7. 1901

CHAPEL TRANSFORMED — Becomes the Crematory at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. — Demands Made Upon It Are Beyond Expectations. — Skill of Both the Architect and Builder Shown. — About two weeks ago—April 17, to be exact—the new crematory at the Mt. Auburn cemetery was completed. The old chapel was a convenient place, and in the hands of the architect has proved to be an admirable one for the installation. It was planned by the trustees in response to a certain, though only a small, demand which those familiar with the cemetery forecasted would probably amount to about 25 cremations in the first two weeks, thus giving promise of at least considerably more during the year than the original estimate.

The Mt. Auburn crematory, however, is good for even a much larger demand, for, as might be expected, there would hardly be a niggardly provision in this regard. In point of fact, it is as large as any crematory in the country and is provided with all that experience has found to be good in crematory appliances. Not that there is so much that is new, as that commendable features in other plants have been grouped.

The most considerable change in the old structure has been in beautifying the chapel proper, where the final services will be held. The result is an architectural work of rare fitness, which may be dismissed for the moment. The crematory called, however, for a considerable task in the building, in order to meet the conditions imposed. A new basement was excavated, the general appointments so far as the public will ever see, of which might be called luxurious. The fittings, designed on the lines of a subdued taste, betray a generous expenditure. The incinerators do not afford a fertile field for artistic treatment, but are wholly divested of appearances that might be disagreeable. [The?] necessary machinery is in a lower and rather distant room, avoiding the intrusion of disturbing sounds. — The incinerators are, of course, the essential features, and there are some new things about them that may be better understood by a brief review of cremation processes, which, dating back only 24 years in the modern acceptation of the term, have undergone a growth and improvement that is not generally followed up. When, in 1876, the first cremation society was formed in Milan, Italy, by people who had followed the teachings of Albert Keller there, the crematory process was crude and forbidding. The heat applied was the live flame of coal or charcoal, slow in action and attended with details that would have postponed any wide expension of cremation if left unimproved. Better

furnaces were almost immediately devised in Paris and in Germany, by Garini and Schneider, respectively, which, with some small improvements, are in use today. Paris is, perhaps, the greatest cremating centre in the world, but even there, until at least a recent date, the flame of charcoal in one chamber was used.

Technically, this process is one of relatively slow and incomplete combustion, attended with smoke, which latter detail would never do in most of the United States. In this country the use of the burning oil spray has permitted a detail that has removed the objections to the foreign appliances. It is a secondary chamber—an additional retort, as it were—where the products of incomplete combustion in the incinerator are completely consumed. As a consequence of this arrangement, an almost unnoticeable detail, there is nothing apparent to an onlooker suggestive of the process going on within the incinerators. For example, some members of a funeral party watching for something of the kind could not tell where the chimney of the Mt. Auburn crematory was during a cremation a week ago, although within 50 yards of the chimney in full view.

The incinerators are fire-brick lined chambers, 8 feet long, 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. The four burners are each examples of a remarkable mechanical development, attained in the coal regions in other lines of work, where the burning oil jet has been wonderfully improved. The fuel is blown into the chamber in a fine mist that burns readily and completely; a term that implies no smoke. This burning is aided by the introduction of additional air under a pressure of 17 ounces, affording an ample supply of the necessary oxygen. A heat of 3000 degrees Fahrenheit is reached when fully working. To provide, however for a chance of incomplete combustion, the gases escaping from this chamber pass through another smaller one, where the burning jets and the supply of air are duplicated, after passing through which the products of combustion pass into the chimney, in a simple inodorous, transparent form—"purified indeed," as was observed by one of the reporter's informants. — The foregoing may be said nowadays of any first-rate crematory, of which excellent types are to be found at Milwaukee, St. Louis, Chicago and at Forest Hills, though each place is apt to differ in small details from the others, improvements suggested by experience and embodied in the structure at the time of installation, to be perhaps improved upon in later constructed plants. For example, at Mt. Auburn where is a simple provision, the importance of which would not be apparent at first sight, for supplying air under the bier, so that the flame entirely surrounds it. The bier rests on a sort of grating, the bars being of fire clay, hollow and perforated, the additional supply of air coming through the perforations. The device shortens the incineration by 15 minutes, and a subsidiary device of manholes in the side of the incinerator permits of the removal of the ashes within an hour after the beginning of the process. The perfect combustion attained by this arrangement is well illustrated in an experiment made here, when a barrel of excelsior, a very smoky substance when burning, was cremated and nothing found afterward in the retort. Nothing was to be seen coming from the chimney during the process, though it must have been disseminated in very fine dust.

The power needed in compressing the air and forcing the oil through the burners is supplied by an electric motor which, with the air compressors and other machinery, is in a sub-cellar about 40 feet away from the incinerators and reached by an underground passage, the whole being designed with a view to avoiding the intrusion of noise during the final services. The work of incineration begins 45 minutes before the bier is placed in the retort, when the burners in the supplementary chamber are started. Fifteen minutes later the burners in the incinerator are started, the draught having by that time been well established, this step being intended to anticipate the arrival of the funeral party by half an hour. For a few minutes before the insertion of the bier the burners are turned off, the materials cooling down during the interval from 3000 deg. to about 1800 deg., or a condition of blackness, so that a view of the interior does not suggest the intense degrees of heat employed. The incineration is completed by an hour, and though the ashes may be removed after a brief interval, they are not usually removed till the next morning. — The chapel, is renovated, is a triumph in the architectural treatment of a place for mortuary services. The only changes are in the interior, which has been entirely reconstructed, the dominant note being supplied by a reddish colored unglazed tiles, that cover practically the whole interior surface, except the floor. The plan of the chapel includes two arched galleries, looking out into the chapel proper, through arches, giving a crypt effect. This detail is understood to be a provision for a move not yet definitely decided upon, of having a suitable place for the deposit of urns and a view of the arrangement will at once suggest that it is a dignified and appropriate attempt at a problem that will probably press for solution before long.

The growth of cremation in the last few years would hardly be believed until one looked it up, so quietly has it come about. The year 1896, appears to have been a turning point, the number of cremations taking a relatively sudden rise and showing a steady increase ever since. Wider information on the subject is probably the prime cause, but it

has undoubtedly been helped along by mechanical improvements in the process, especially the use of the oil jet, which removes many objectionable features of the earlier methods. Considerations of this kind have an especial emphasis in the disposal of the dead, at a time when the most sacred feelings of manking are most keenly apprehensive and sensitive. Nowadays nothing but heated air touches the body, which retains its perfect shape to the very end, when it falls together in a heap of white ash.

There are now about 30 crematories in the United States and a singular incident of their distribution is that they follow centres of the German population. This is particularly evident in the number of cremations. Of the 1300 cremations in New York last year about 900 were Germans and among the best and most used in the country are those in Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago. Paris still maintains its place as a cremation centre, but the cremation of paupers keeps up the numbers materially. In this countrym the movement is very largely among the comfortable classes, who chose this method for themselves.

Perhaps the most marked result expected of cremation, is that of cheaper funerals. Simplicity is the prevailing note in the preparations for cremation, costly caskets with expensive metal armaments, being altogether out of place. In the West, they have arrived at trolley funerals, the companies furnishing special cars for bringing the party to the cemetery and the cemetery authorities providing a suitable hearse for conveyance to the grave or the crematory, the whole at an enormous reduction in the cost of a funeral. The great expense of a modern funeral, coming as it does suddenly and at a time when among the great body of people, financial resources are at the lowest ebb from the cost of sickness, is expected by those who are identified with cemeteries, to be the great popular incentive to cremation. The cost is more than halved, the expense of a lot being eliminated at once and a costly casket being and almost foolish waste of money, especially at a time when poor people need it most.

MT. AUBURN'S NEW CREMATORY.

Since the completion of the new chapel, near the entrance to Mt. Auburn, the trustees have reconstructed the old granite, gothic chapel into a modern crematory to meet the increasing demands in this country for incinerating the remains of the dead. By this new method, the modern scientific means of converting the remains of the dead into ashes in an hour replaces the old custom of decomposition to dust in a period of twenty years. Forest Hills has had for several years a crematory, incinerating several hundred bodies, and public sentiment has so changed that in the interest of the living the new method has the endorsement of scientific men and women to this end. It is truly "dust to dust" in an hour rather than in twenty years. In Paris the crematory belonging to the Pere la Chaise incinerates about ten bodies a day, or nearly four thousand in a year's period. In the short time that the crematory has been opened at Mt. Auburn ten bodies have been incinerated, and so perfect is the combustion that neither smoke nor odor can be detected.

[detailed image of the new crematory at Mt. Auburn] NEW CREMATORY AT MT. AUBURN.

[Three drawings, two are circular of a building and a church]

[Top circular drawing described as the:] CHAPEL [Main drawing:] RECONSTRUCTED INTERIOR [Lower oval drawing:] THE RETORTS

[Title of drawings:] THE REMODELLED CREMATORY AT MT. AUBURN

SOME HONORED GRAVES (Boston) Sunday Herald. Which Should Not Be Forgotten on Memorial Day.

Linn B. Porter Statesmen, Poets, Patriots and Scholars

Whose Dust Lies In and About the City of Boston.

Though the beautiful and impressive ceremonies of Memorial day have especial reference to the memories of the men who fell in the civil war, it would not seem inappropriate to bring to mind on the occasion of its annual observance some who have brought fame and

[Drawing of a grave with a border of flowers entitled:] THE GRAVE OF LONGFELLOW, MT. AUBURN.

honor to their country in civic fields. The great names of a people embrace many men who never led an army or shouldered a musket against its foes. There is no gainsaying the familiar words of Milton, "Peace hath her victories no less renown'd than war." Men who hae formulated the beneficent laws of a nation, sung its inspiring songs or developed its mines of learning are worthy the laurel and the rose as well as their contemporaries who fought to save what these made great and noble. Perhaps no American city has within and contiguous to its borders

[Drawing of a grave amongst the trees entitled:] RUFUS CHOATE'S RESTING PLACE, MT. AUBURN.

so many noted graves as Boston. On the slopes of Mt. Auburn, along the winding paths of Forest Hills and in those ancient resting places of the dead which are guarded with pious care from every form of encroachment, though long since closed to interments, to many whose names are familiar to every schoolboy in the land, and whose achievements are no small part in our country's history.

No stranger who is inspecting the wonders

full name, with the dates of his birth and death. There is not a line from his poems, not a sentence of eulogy, not a lettered or sculptured symbol of grief. And none are needed. Longfellow is one of those words which are sufficient in themselves. Looking toward the south, we can see the Charles winding along the edges of the Brighton meadows. In two directions small lakes are visible in the grounds. The Craigie house, where he lived, wrote and died, is just over the Cambridge treetops to the east. It is a beautiful and restful spot, well suited to the repose of one who loved nature and his fellowmen, and whose grand stanzas will echo through the human heart while time shall endure.

Returning toward the entrance to the cemetery, let us seek out Walnut avenue, and, after strolling up a somewhat steep incline, pause at a lot inclosed by an ancient iron railing and approached by half a dozen stone steps. A number of small tablets bear the names of members of a great family, while in the centre is a large brown sarcophagus, on which four adjacent trees cast their shadows. Beneath this soil rests the greatest forensic orator which this country has produced, a man who, in an age remarkable for eloquence, had in his own field no rival. When he arose in the forum, judge, jury and spectators sat

spellbound. Here lies Rufus Choate, the author of those words which electrified a loyal people and carried dismay to his country's enemies: "We join ourselves to no party that does not carry the flag and keep step to the music of the Union!"

Nearly opposite the Choate lot we may turn into Pilgrim path and follow it to the foot of the hill. Walking up Spruce avenue, we shall come to a little lake on the left, in front of which lie the remains of Anson Burlingame, that American who, after rendering distinguished services to his native land, became almost a royal personage in the greatest and most exclusive kingdom of the Orient. Honors did not spoil Burlingame. He was to the last a true American, and counted his posi-

tion in China valuable only as it enabled him to bind in closer relations his old and new countries. When the veterans of the Grand Army are decorating their comrades' graves in this part of the grounds, they might well drop a flower for one who, though he drew no sword, did yeoman service on the rostrum and in the halls of Congress for the cause in which they fought.

If we turn up Mound avenue, which is very near here, re-enter Walnut avenue and continue on to the junction of Violet and Sumac paths, we shall find a triangular piece of ground, apparently, as yet, undisturbed by the sexton's spade. It is a bit of grassy lawn,

[Circular drawing of a grassy area, a path edged by railings and trees:] THE UNMARKED GRAVE OF FANNY PARNELL, MT. AUBURN. (Miss Parnell's remains lie in the centre of the lot in the foreground.)

of Boston, considers his visit complete without a pilgrimage to Mt. Auburn, that grand God's acre which lies in Cambridge and Watertown, a mile beyond Harvard University, and less than a furlong from the home of Lowell. Let us pass under the granite arch at the entrance and walk a short distance to the southward. Here is Indian Ridge path. If we follow it to the summit of the ridge, we shall find the stone which is the oftenest

[Drawing of gravestones among the trees:] THE MARGARET FULLER MEMORIAL, MT. AUBURN.

sought out of all within Auburn's gates. Directly opposite Catalpa path is an unpretentious lot, only about 16 feet square, hardly higher than the gravelled walk in front of it. A plain curbing, with round corner posts, the latter flush with the sod, and a single stone step, are the only embellishments to the spot, except the sarcophagus, which bears on its front The Name of Longfellow. On the other face of the stone is the poet's

with no suggestion of curb or fence, and not even the smallest stone to say that loved ones lie beneath. Some one has planted a diminutive rose bush, and two or three pan sies lift their modest heads, apparently undecided whether to try and live in that neglected place. And yet, under this sod is the body of a woman whose memory is precious to millions of people. The family tomb of the Tudors is here, and mingled with their ashes in the vault below is

The Dust of Fanny Parnell, the gifted sister of Charles Stewart Parnell,

the Irish leader. There will be flowers here on Memorial day, as the Parnell branch of the Land League take the matter in charge. Who can stand here without a sigh for the young poet whom death could not spare to witness the liberation of the country whose woes she so eloquently sung? The bluebirds are twittering in the trees near by, the honey bees buzz past, and the gray and striped squirrels, almost tame enough to touch, play