The Bishop of Lincoln intimated that incineration would keep all future great ones out of the silent company of those who have in former times added lustre to England’s name. It will do no such thing. I cannot comprehend what obstacles could stand in the way of the entombment of an urn containing the ashes of some illustrious personage who chose to be cremated instead of buried, in Westminster Abbey.
Mr. William Eassie says:—
“In the play of ‘Virginius’ the body of Virginia is represented as having been placed in an urn, and when the distraught father inquires for his missing daughter, the vase is placed in his hands by the sorrowing lover. When this scene is presented, the thrill which seizes the audience is succeeded by a sensation of admiration at the eminently superior system of the ancients. I have seen the actor Brooke, in this tragedy, and the effect which he here produced was inexpressible. Many whom I have consulted as to the feelings engendered at this point have invariably declared that they were at the time complete converts to cremation, and that the sense of approval only left them when they began to realize how impossible were funeral pyres in this country. Happily the Siemens apparatus is now at hand, and its suitability proved beyond cavil.”
An eye-witness to the process of incineration says: “I have stood before the crematory with a faltering heart. I have trembled at the thought of using fire beside the form of one whom I had loved. But when, in obedience to his own dying wish, I saw the door of the crematory taken down, its rosy light shine forth, and his peaceful form, clad in white, laid there at rest amid a loveliness that was simply fascinating to the eye, and without a glimpse of flames, or fire, or coals, or smoke, I said, and say so still, this method, beyond all methods I have seen, is the most pleasing to the senses, the most charming to the imagination, and the most grateful to the memory.”
GROUND PLAN OF THE BUFFALO CREMATORIUM.
“Is cremation illegal?”
This interrogation I am obliged to answer with a most decided “No!” In our country, it is true, the legal status of the question is somewhat unsettled, but I do not believe that any action taken in our American courts could prevent any persons from cremating a dead body who wished to do so, provided it was not contrary to the expressed wishes of the deceased. In England it is only illegal to burn a corpse in cases where an inquest ought to be held or has been ordered. In other cases, if the burning is conducted in such a manner as not to cause a nuisance or offense against public decency, there is no rule of law to prevent this mode of disposing of a corpse being adopted. Some time ago a rajah, who consulted Mr. Eassie as to burning the body of his ranee, had to be told that what he claimed as a right in India could not be accorded him in the capital of the Empire except at a risk of scandal. Thanks to the decision of Sir James Stephen, the honorary secretary of the Cremation Society of England would not now be forced to make such a humiliating admission.
There are, I am sorry to say, individuals who think that those who are cremated let themselves be burned only because they are anxious to create for themselves a little notoriety after death. I can but pity the people who believe that Dr. Gross and Garbaldi, for instance, adopted such a means to attract public attention after decease. Those who now order their bodies incinerated after that mysterious power called life is fled, have the courage of their opinions, recognize the many advantages of incineration, and allow their convictions to triumph over local and even family prejudice; they are the true martyrs of cremation.