Looking forward

by Arthur Bird

In 1899 the popular idea about cremation was erroneous and was largely the cause of prejudice against this method of disposing of the dead. A vast number of people believed in that year that bodies which were cremated were literally roasted or reduced to ashes over a fierce fire. When people, however, began to learn the truth of the matter, that cremated bodies were placed in the retort of a crematory and were reduced to ashes by an exceedingly high temperature and not touched in any manner by fire, then prejudice let down the bars and cremations soon became common.

As a result of cremation and the law of 1999 which compelled its adoption as the only legal method of burial, undertakers Undertakers Wear Long Faces. were deprived of large revenues they often derived from the sale of caskets. Caskets were no longer in demand because, as a wag in 1985 observed: “There is nobody to bury.” A seven foot casket of the 1899 pattern, however gorgeous, would have been absurdly too large and meaningless to enshrine the ashes of a departed relative. Such contrivances were good enough in the backward age of the nineteenth century. Burials in 1899 were made under ground, while in 1999 they were all made above ground. In 1899, immediately after death in a family one of the first duties was to purchase a casket and arrange with an undertaker for the funeral. In their unhappy frame of mind, with hearts bowed in grief, undertakers often made terms their own way with mourners. Few mourners are in a state of mind to drive a bargain in such moments, and they too often yield to the blandishments of the suave casket-broker accepting any terms he may offer. Cremation did away with this, and unscrupulous undertakers had to come off their perch.

Hearses were not abolished in the days of cremation. The style of the hearse entirely changed. In the place of the pompous affair of 1899, bedecked in its towering plumes, rich in silver appointments, massive The Twentieth Century Hearse. structures covered with plate glass, driven by an awe-inspiring individual perched on a high seat, the hearse of 1999 was a far less pretentious affair. It weighed no more than a light, racing sulky. It had four wheels. In the centre of the vehicle, which, of course, was propelled by electricity, was constructed a small platform about three feet square, the sides of which were elaborately trimmed in gold and silver ornaments. The platform was covered by an open canopy supported by four elaborate silver pillars. The metallic case containing the ashes of the deceased seldom exceeded 9 × 18 inches, 4 inches deep, and weighed about four pounds. These metallic cases were of exquisite designs, usually in highly burnished silver or gold. Those which contained the ashes of the wealthier classes were often covered with precious stones and brilliant gems, presenting a most artistic and attractive appearance. These burial cases looked like jewel-boxes of an elaborate pattern. In looking at them death was robbed of its terrors. A beautiful jewel-case, 9 × 18 inches, containing the ashes of some loved one did not strike one’s imagination with the horror of a long burial casket with its inanimate tenant.

There was everything about cremation to appeal to loftier ideals. The light, portable character of the little cremation cases became more popular than the heavy casket. The heart-rending accidents that too often occurred under the old system of burials, became impossible in the brighter and better days of cremation. In 1899 it sometimes happened that in lowering a body into the grave the bottom of the casket gave way. The rest can better be imagined than described. It sometimes happened that Sample Horrors of 1899. while a funeral procession was on its way to the cemetery, the hearse team got frightened. In the thrilling runaway that followed the casket fell out of the hearse and breaking open the corpse rolled out on the ground. The horror-stricken relatives and friends would remember the sad scene through life, mentioning it only in whispers.

These horrors of the old-style, so-called Christian burials, were rendered impossible in the cremation regime. Not that alone, but cremation removed from earth the most horrible experience that can be endured by mortal man and that is premature burial. The practice of burying bodies is a relic of barbarism. Its horrors and possibilities are without limit. No civilized community should tolerate it. Custom and tradition are the forces that maintain it. It does not possess a single point in its favor, while, on the other hand, there are scores of sound arguments against it.

No person who ever spent a minute in the fierce temperature of a crematory ever Can’t Bury them Alive. lived to tell the tale. The ancient method of burial is not so certain—many cases have come to light where people, supposed to be dead, revived after interment. Imagine the horror of the situation. Can any human experience be more dreadful than this one? Many cases have come to light in the nineteenth century proving beyond a shadow of doubt that unfortunate men and women had been buried alive. In graves opened many weeks after burial the scratched face, torn hair and imprint of terror upon the features told only too plainly what had happened and of the final anguish of the unfortunate one. Such horrors were not possible in the cremation process. If there is anything the world appreciates it’s a “sure thing”—and that salient feature of cremation did not escape its attention.

On the day following the death of a person, after the remains had been viewed for the last time by relatives and friends, the body was taken by night to the crematory where it was immediately reduced to ashes. These were carefully deposited in a small metallic burial case and returned to the No Hurry for the Funeral. mortuary residence. The date of the funeral was agreed upon and notices were sent out to the public. Sometimes it was deemed desirable to hold the funeral one or two months after death. In cremation funerals everything passed off in the most leisurely manner possible, accompanied with the highest effects of art. A funeral could be held a week, a month or a year after death. There was ample time to make arrangements, or to postpone a funeral on account of the weather. On the day of interment when the ashes were to be deposited in the family vault in the mausoleum, at the appointed hour, friends and relatives gathered at the mortuary residence. The small metallic casket containing the ashes of the deceased was usually placed in the centre of the room, resting upon a light bamboo stand, covered with black velvet. The stand was usually surrounded with choice flowers and floral designs. The tiniest caskets used in the old burial days were double in size of the beautiful silver and gold cases sometimes holding the ashes of a person who might have weighed, during life, over three hundred pounds. The absence of the large casket used in old burial days and the substitution in its place of a small jewel-size case containing the ashes was an agreeable innovation. Otherwise, all funeral services in 1999 were substantially the same as in 1899. Although the surroundings were far more pleasant, the grief of the stricken ones was none the less profound. When funerals in 1999 were held in a church, the exercises were about the same as in the days of the old burial system. Instead of six bearers, only one became necessary.

There was a marked contrast between the funeral processions of 1899 and those Funeral Procession in 1999. of 1999. The great, cumbersome hearse had disappeared, and in the line of carriages that followed the small, light electric hearse, no horses were to be seen. All mourners’ carriages were propelled by electricity. The automobile containing the minister, led the procession, then followed the hearse and carriages of the mourners. In 1999, when a funeral passed by, people on the streets at the time were always careful to remove their hats as a mark of respect to the ashes of the deceased. This was a concession to common decency almost wholly unknown in the days of burials. People living in 1899 should not be too severely criticised in their lack of respect for the dead in the matter of uncovering as a funeral procession passed by. The entire system was a relic of barbarism and people were hardly to blame for denying this mark of respect to such an objectionable mode of burial.

It was at first thought that cremation would destroy the sacred memories and observances Memorial Day in 1999. of Memorial or Decoration Day. In a few years, however, it was discovered that these fears were unfounded. People in 1999 were loyal to the sacred memory of departed ones, and on Memorial days the interior of the mausoleums and doors of the vaults were garlanded with flowers, presenting a most beautiful appearance. The old graves of the nineteenth and preceding centuries were still cared for by loving hands.

These were decorated as in the good old days of 1899 and were not in anywise neglected. Many families in the twentieth century took up the remains of their ancestors and caused them to be cremated in order that their ashes might rest in the same vault. It was conceded that the ashes could never perish in a vault and another supreme advantage in favor of the cremation system arose from the fact that they required no care.