000_1882 Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings Vo 1, 2005.120.001

8

BURIAL LAW.

We are indebted to Mr. John H. Corwin, of New York, for a copy of his very interesting and scholarly brief in Johnston v. Marinus, 18 Abb. N. C. 12

The action was brought by the brothers and sisters, only next of kin, of Emma Marinus, deceased, against her husband, the board of health of the city of Brooklyn, and the Greenwood Cemetery Association, to prevent the removal of her remains from the receiving vault in said cemetery and their interment in the burial plot of the husband in Cyprus Hills Cemetery. The action was held not maintainable. Mr. Corwin, as counsel for the defendants, submitted a brief, going very learnedly into the cases on the subject, where we have not space to follow him, and must content ourselves with the following extracts:

"Everybody feels that the husband is the natural guardian of the sacred dust of her whose honor it was his duty to defend in life. The burial places and remains of the departed have ever been sacred in human history. The policy of our laws, statutory and unwritten, protects their sleeping places. There has been no change in these human sentiments of reverence and regard for the sacred dust of the dead since the time 'When feelings were young and the world was new.'

"To cast so much as dust upon the remains of the dead has been a sacred office from the burial of Abel to the mariner who talked with the ghost of Archytas, and from then till now. The living have desired 'beauty for ashes,' and in their life-time taken infinite pains to secure an undisturbed repose in death.

"Shakespeare's bones would long ago have been enshrined in Westminster Abbey but for this epitaph:

'Good Friend for Jesus' sake forbear To digge Y-e dvst Enclosed H E R E Blest be Y-e Man Y-t spares T-Hs Stones And cvrst be He Y-t moves my bones.'

"The history of mortuary customs from the earliest times confirms the husband's right of sepulture. Abraham was none too faithful a husband to Sarah, for he twice said, for fear of Pharoah and Abimelech, 'She is my sister,' and resigned her thus to the embraces of other men, but we are not told that his next of kin adduced this as a reason for intrusion upon his right of burial. The purchase of the field of Ephron for a private cemetery is the first recorded mercantile transaction; as touching a story for the sentimentalist and as interesting to the economist. There Abraham buried Sarah, his wife; there Isaac buried Rebekah, his wife; there Jacob buried Leah. It was Jacob, and not the children of Laban, who set the pillar upon the grave of Rachel; 'that,' says the sacred historian, 'is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day,' and six centuries later her sepulchre was still preserved. I Sam. x, 2. And so have men continued to bury their wives and to be buried with them ever since. So that the memory of man 'runneth not to the contrary' of such a custom. Few, if any, have been those who dared to assert a right in opposition to it; to the credit of human nature, 'for sorrows humanize our race:' and so husband and wife, with rare exception, have been laid beside each other 'in mother earth's cold, silent bosom,' and it has been thus that those who were 'lovely and pleasant in their lives,' in death 'were not divided.' * * * Unto this day every instinct of humanity, every sentiment of religion and decency, suggest that it should be Jacob's pillar, and not another's, upon the grave of every Rachel.

"The husband's exclusive claim is sustained by the few text-writers who have given the matter attention. Such is the view entertained by John F. Baker in an interesting article 10 Alb. L. J. 70, entitled, 'Legal Custodian of Dead Bodies -- Who is?' cited above. Mr. R. S. Guernsey, who has written several learned, and in some lines exhaustive, articles upon the burial law, is of the same opinion. His articles, with many others, are cited in a manuscript note by W. H. Winters, of the New York Law Institute, to be found in a copy of 'Wickes on Sepulture,' in the library of the Institute, and here given in full. Its value merits a wider dissemination. The claim of the husband as against the next of kin is amply sustained by these writers. See particularly interesting articles by R. Vashon Rogers, Jr.: 'Funeral Meditations,' 18 Alb. L. J. 458; 'Dissection and Resurrection,' 28 id. 106. No writer has asserted the contrary except Mr. Moak in his note to In re Bettison, 12 Eng. Rep. 656.

"The ancient Greeks and Romans were particular to carry out the directions of the deceased respecting the disposition of his body. Democritus wished to be embalmed in honey, and it was done. Thucydides says that the bones of Themistocles, by his own command, were privately carried back from Magnesia to Attica, and buried there; and Plutarch tells us, that

at the request of Lycurgus, his ashes were thrown into the sea. A similar story is related of Solon by Diogenes Laertius. Demosthenes (Timocr.) recites Solon's funeral law as follows: 'Let the dead bodies be laid out in the house according as the deceased gave orders,' etc. The body of Muna was not burned, as was the usual custom, because he himself forbade it, as Plutarch relates. In modern times universal regard has been paid to these mortuary bequests, though some of them have been whimsical enough, the most noted perhaps being the well-known disposition made of his body by Jeremy Bentham as a dried specimen in a medical college.

"The law of New York more than follows these unwritten and ancient customs and the law of Solon, for by a recently-enacted statute it is provided that 'a person has the right to direct the manner in which his body shall be disposed of after his death, and also to direct the manner in which any part of his body which becomes separated therefrom during his life-time shall be disposed of.' This remarkable law provides for a man, minutely, down to his teeth and toe-nails, and certainly admits of splitting a hair if one be so inclined. It protects us from the rapacity of the surgeon, the dentist, the chiropodist and the barber. Henceforth we may be buried, cremated or preserved in alcohol. One may devote his intestines to fiddlestrings or his skin to be made into parchment.

"In the case at bar the husband's moral claim, if not his legal, is strengthened by the testimony that he gives as to his wife's request to place her body where it now lies, and afterward to remove it to a place where, when the summons comes to him, his dust may repose beside her own. She has said to him almost in the language of Bryant:

'Leave at my side a space Where thou shall come at last To find a resting-place When many years are past.'

"This was the highest evidence of the mutual affection and kindly existing between this husband and wife. Hers was that deep love for her husband with which Ruth clung to Naomi, saying: 'Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people; where though diest will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.'

"The place to which the defendant intends to remove the body is a suitable and permanent place of interment. If weeds have grown upon the defendant's plot, it is hardly a matter of enough import for this court to consider, besides who made your honors arbiters in matters of taste, however appropriate such a selection might be? Weeds upon a grave, neglect of the spot of burial, the absence of a monument, are no necessary signs of want of reverence or affection for those who lie beneath the sod:

'Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent.'

It may be-- 'There is an eye that could not brook A moment on that grave to look.'

One who can say: 'I will not ask where thou liest now, Nor gaze upon the spot; There flowers or weeds at will may grow So I behold them not; It is enough for me to prove That what I loved, and long must love, Like common earth can rot; To me there needs no stone to tell; 'Tis nothing that I loved so well.' "

Mr. Corwin appends the following list of "Law Literature of Burial Grounds Burials, etc.," by W. H. Winters, Esq.: Grave-Yard Law, C. B. Elliot, 16 Cent. L. J. (1883) 161-167. Law of Funerals and Graves, R. V. Rogers, Jr., 18 Alb. L. J. (1878) 485-488. Property in Cemetery Lots, William C. Schley, 19 Am. L. Reg.

Albany Law Journal Mch. 9. '89

MOUNT AUBURN SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Just sixty years ago to-day - Sept. 24th, 1831 - I was present at the consecration of Mount Auburn (until then known as Sweet Auburn) a very romantic spot and visited only by those who sought retirement and solitude. I remember the day and the associations connected with it distinctly. The exercises took place about three o'clock of a Saturday afternoon. I was then a boy of only seventeen, but seeing the crowd wending their way thither, I eagerly followed, and was well repaid for my long walk to the spot where I found workmen busy making ready the rustic seats in Consecration Dell, where the services took place.

The day was one of the finest of our autumnal days, bright and warm, the showers of the morning made all things fresh and pure, and when the procession arrived from Elmwood (where the corporation had held a session) with the old Brigade Band, the music and the scene was truly inspiring. The address was by Judge Story, and his name alone is sufficient to say that it was pertinent to the occasion, and was listened to with perfect silence by the vast multitude, enabling him to be heard at the most distant parts of the beautiful amphitheatre, and then the hymn, in which not less than a thousand voices joined, as it swelled in chastened melody, found an echo in every heart and pervaded the whole scene. It was a day and scene never to be forgotten.

What changes have sixty years produced! The native wildness of the place is now softened and subdued by the hand of labor and art. The native flowers now mingle their fragrance with the flowers planted and cared for by the hand of affection, and most of the trees found in our forests are here to be seen. The visitor now sees the marble urn and the obelisk marking the spot where repose the relics of departed relatives or where the living have provided restingplaces for themselves and families. Where but a few years ago was the habitation of the fieldmouse and the squirrel, is now a city of the dead, and in its ample bosom repose the reverend pastor, the venerable statesman, the accomplished jurist, the rich merchant, the soldier, the philosopher and they who have earned their bread by the sweat of the brow.

"There softly lie and sweetly sleep Low in the ground. The storm that wrecks the wintry sky No more disturbs their deep repose."

The natural features of Mount Auburn are admirably adapted for the purpose for which it is held sacred. There is not in all the untrodden valleys of the West a more secluded or more appropriate spot for the religious exercises of the living or for a Garden of Graves. When the hand of taste shall supplement the luxuriance of nature, we may challenge the world to produce another such residence for the spirit of beauty. Where else shall we go with the musings of sadness or for the indulgence of grief; no sweeter spot for the whispers of affection among the living; none lovelier for the last rest of our kindred and loved ones.

September 24th, 1891. J. L.

9

FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.

A Lively Meeting of Trustees Expected Today.

Some of the Lot Owners Think the Present Board Has Made Itself Into a Close Corporation- John S. Damrell a Candidate for Mr. Charles M. Clapp's Position.

Today, at 11 A. M., at Union Hall, No. 18 Boylston street, the annual meeting of the proprietors of the Forest Hills cemetery will be held, for the purpose of electing a trustee in place of one whose term has expired; to consider the expediency of petitioning the Legislature to increase the number of trustees from seven to 12 with the term of service limited to six years; and also to act upon the resignation of Hon. Samuel C. Cobb, one of the trustees. The meeting is likely to be one of much moment and fruitful in surprises. For some few weeks past there have been mutterings in the air of a controversy, which has almost reached fever heat, between two distinct elements in the board. The trustee whose term of office expires is Mr. Charles M. Clapp. He is a determined candidate for re-election. Another candidate for the vacancy is Mr. John S. Damrell, inspector of buildings. While personally holding the warmest respect and friendship for each other, they and their friends are engaged in a spirited contest for the capture of the coveted office. So much has been said as to the contention going on in the corporation that the HERALD was led to make a few inquiries, to ascertain, if possible, its extent. Several gentlemen were seen, but it was with difficulty that they could be induced to break the seal of secrecy. One gentleman, who is in a position to know about how matters stand, and who was prevailed upon to talk a little only on the condition that the HERALD would withhold his name, said: "Yes, there is quite a little controversy in progress among the proprietors of Forest Hills cemetery. A number of lot owners express a good deal of dissatisfaction at the present board of management, claiming, among other things, that the board is becoming altogether too close a corporation, and that a great many lot owners have no representation at all therein. This is one of the reasons why it is desirous that the board of Trustees Should be Increased from seven menbers to 12, so that a more general representation of the proprietors may be secured. Another thing that has excited the ire of the dissenting party is the action of the board of trustees in securing the appended amendment, Jan. 31, 1888, to the charter of the corporation:

"Sec. 1. The trustees of the proprietors of the Forest Hills cemetery shall annually choose one of their number to be president, who shall also be president of the corporation, and shall annually choose the treasurer and secretary of said corporation, either from their own number or at large. Said trustees shall nil any vacancy or vacancies that may occur in said board of trustees, the person or persons so elected to fill such vacancy or vacancies to hold office only from the time of election by said trustees to the next annual meeting of the proprietors of the corporation.

"Sec. 2. Said trustees shall make such bylaws, not inconsistent with the laws of this commonwealth, as may be necessary or useful in conducting and controlling the affairs of said corporation.

"Sec. 3. All acts or portions of acts inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of this act are herby repealed.

"Sec. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

"It was claimed at first by the opponents of the board that the latter acted illegally in pushing this amendment through the Legislature, inasmuch as it was one of the privileges of the lot owners as a whole to assist in petitioning the Legislature for such an amendment. By the adoption of this amendment, it is argued, the board develops all the more strongly into an exceedingly close body, since it has the exclusive right and power to choose the treasurer and the secretary of the corporation, without the slightest appeal to the proprietors as a whole. In a general way this covers the ground which the objectors of the present board of management take in their opposition to the latter. Now, on the other hand, the present body of trustees, in the first place acted under legal advice in counsel in submitting the petition to the Legislature for an amendment to the charter, so that there was no illegality in that respect. Due notice was given in the daily papers of the petition for an amendment, and when the legislative committee in charge of such matters opened the hearing on the granting of the same there was but one person present to address the committee in favor of the petition, and not one remonstrant

to oppose it. as a natural sequence, even though it is the purpose of the Legislature to broaden rather than to narrow corporations and the duties of their trustees, the committee unanimously granted the request for the amendment. The argument used was that the board of trustees, having such a large amount of property, approximating in value $500,000, under their control for which

They Were Directly Responsible. it was no more than perfectly natural that the trustees should feel absolutely sure that the powers invested in a treasurer would fall into the hands of a man who would be unquestioned as to integrity, ability and thorough competency. As they were responsible for the property, the trustees felt they should have as treasurer a man in whom they had the sublimest confidence, as any breach of faith in the latter official would have to be borne by the board. That is why, some months ago, after the death of the former treasurer, Mr. George Lewis, who occupied the position for years, the trustees submitted the petition to amend the charter. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Lewis the trustees appointed Mr. E. B. Reynolds treasurer pro tem, and on adoption of the amendment Mr. Reynolds was regularly elected.

"You see the passage of the amendment precluded the possibility of any lot owner from exerting himself among the proprietors of the cemetery to procure proxies in behalf of the election of that lot owner to the treasurership. To one of the proprietors this was a disappointing measure. He was a candidate for the vacant treasury chair, but he did not possess the support of the board of trustees, as he had at meetings of late years been outspokenly opposed to the board and its methods of conducting the affairs of the corporation. At last year's meeting the opposition to the board de veloped into proportions of a more substantial nature than was observed at previous meetings. A few months ago this opposition began to bear fruit in the way of solicitation of proxies by the dissenters for Mr. John S. Damrell's election as trustee, in place of Mr. Charles M. Clapp. A couple of weeks ago, friends of Mr. Clapp discovered this state of affairs, and they began at once

To Put in Solid Work to counteract whatever effect the labors of the opposition may have on Mr. Clapp's candidacy for re-election. There has been a strong canvass made in Mr. Clapp's behalf, and his adherents are quick to assert that his re election is undoubted. Still, the faction supporting Mr. Damrell have had the advantage of the labors of weeks, while Mr. Clapp's friends have only put in a few days."

The resignation of Hon. Samuel C. Cobb as a member of the board is of very recent date, not longer than 10 days ago, and it is ascribed to the uneasiness and criticism expressed against the trustees. He is quoted as having voiced himself as being "utterly disgusted with the whole business," and as saying that if it were not that he had a large amount of money invested in the cemetery and a monument erected he would withdraw entirely from the corporation and identify his interests with Mt. Auburn cemetery. An effort was made to see Mr. Cobb, but he was confined to his residence, No. 235 Boylston street, by illness, and, by the advice of his physician, refuses to see callers. It is likely that an election of two trustees may occur at today's meeting. If Mr. Cobb's resignation should be accepted, there certainly will be two chosen. Mch 25. 89.

FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.

Annual Meeting of the Proprietors This Morning.

Report of the Trustees--Financial Condition--Claims That the Last Amendments to the Charter Were Obtained in an Irregular and Unusual Manner --Directors Elected.

The annual meeting of the proprietors of Forest Hills cemetery was held at Union Hall, Boylston street, at 11 A. M. today, and was very fully attended. President Joseph W. Balch called the meeting to order the said he was unaccustomed to preside over such a large body, and asked that he be allowed to name Hon. Alexander H. Rice to preside. This request was concurred in, and Mr. Rice took the chair. After the reading of the records, which were approved, Mr. Boyd moved that the secretary of the meeting be sworn, and Mr. Faunce moved that Mr. Potter be chosen secretary of the meeting, he already being secretary of the corporation, and to simplify matters this motion was put and carried.

Mr. Frank Boyd then moved that the vote he offered at the last annual meeting, and which was laid on the table then, for the appointment of a committee to inquire as to how the trustees came to apply to the Legislature of 1888 for an amendment to the charter of the corporation be taken from the table, but this was lost, 58 to 68.

Mr. George O. Carpenter then moved that the annual report of the trustees, which was submitted in print and sent to the proprietors be accepted, and this was carried.

The report showed the cemetery to be in good condition, and substantial improvements have been made during the year past. A large number of beautiful monuments have been erected, and foundations for others have been laid. The average number of men employed last year was 63, and the perpetual care fund was increased $21,755, making it now $394,878, while the general fund increased $13,650, making it now $122,421. There are about 185 acres of cemetery grounds about one-third being used for burial purposes, the remaining two-thirds being occupied for lakes, avenues, paths, etc. In 1888 there were 710 interments, making the total number interred 22,215, and the sale of lots 3956.

The treasurer reports that with $19,947 on hand at the commencement of last year, the receipts have been $227,155, and the disbursements $217,301, leaving $9853 balance.

Mr. Clement K. Fay, the counsel for the opposition to the present management of the corporation, said that the vote just taken was a refusal to give the objectors a hearing. This he thought was un-American, and he hoped the matter would be thrown open for discussion and acted upon. He had a motion to offer, when it was in order, that a committee of five should be appointed to represent the corporation before the Legislature, and to report at least one week before an adjourned or annual meeting. He thought that the last amendment to the charter obtained from the Legislature was obtained in an irregular and unusual manner.

Then a lot of motions were presented, and many members of the corporation made speeches, after which it was voted to proceed with

The Regular Order of Business The report was accepted. Maj. George O. Carpenter moved that a committee of four be appointed to receive, sort and count the votes for trustee for a term of seven years, in place of Charles M. Clapp, whose term of office expired, which was the next business in order. The motion was carried, and the following committee was appointed: G. O. Carpenter, P. B. Smith, C. M. Seaver and E. E. Ingraham. The balloting was then proceeded with. While it was going on, Mr. Francis Boyd asked the privilege of making a personal explanation. He was given unanimous consent to proceed. He said that in the report for 1888 he found the record of an act amending the charter of the corporation that had passed the Legislature, and of which he and several other proprietors had never heard before. He found that notice of the intention to ask for the legislation was published in the Boston Post, a paper in which the advertisements of the corporation had never appeared before. He thought the matter was carried through in an underhanded manner, that the advertisement was placed where it was so that the proprietors should not see it, and in order that the trustees might have their own way without the interference of the proprietors, by whom they were never authorized to take such action. In the Legislature the matter was referred to the committee on mercantile affairs. It might as well have been referred to the committee on fisheries. It should have gone to the judiciary committee. He charged that the whole thing was a conspiracy, and said that the proprietors had just voted for one of the conspirators for trustee for seven years. They had the votes, but they had not seen the end of the matter yet. He said that a circular sent out to solicit votes for the re-election of Mr. Clapp as trustee belonged in the same category as the previous action of the supporters of the present board of management, and that Hon. S. C. Cobb had resigned from the board of trustees because he was disgusted with their action and preferred to withdraw rather than stay and fight them.

Mr. Boyd then reverted to the manner in which the legislation of which he complained had been passed through the Legislature, and he declared that the usual notice to interested parties had not been issued by the committee to which the matter was referred. The proprietors used to have the right to elect their own treasurer and secretary. If the trustees had openly asked the proprietors for authority to select these officers, he would not have objected, but he did object to being robbed of his rights in the way they had been taken away from him. He wanted to appoint a committee to take all the points at issue into consideration, to codify the laws and reach a result that

Would Satisfy All Parties. He did not believe, from what he saw at the meeting, that this could be done; "but, mark me." he said, "the end is not yet." He said that the trustees had been sworn to conduct the business of the corporation according to law, and they had not done so, thus rendering themselves liable.

Mr. Boyd was asked by Mr. George A. Jones if, at the time that Treasurer Lewis died, he was not a candidate for the treasurership. He replied, in substance, that he thought of becoming a candidate, but the bonds were so large that he gave up the idea.

Hon. William Gaston arose and said that no member of the board of trustees was responsible for the legislation complained of, but that he was personally responsible, because he thought it was for the best interests of the corporation. He advised the trustees to petition for legislation similar to that of the Mt. Auburn Corporation, giving the trustees power to appoint the secretary and treasurer, because, until the present quarrel arose, it had been almost impossible to get a quorum of the proprietors present at the meeting to transact business. The legislation was asked for in the way laid down by the laws of the state, and there was no fraud or conspiracy in connection with the matter. He would not make any threats, but he was satisfied that he had friends present who had confidence enough in him to believe that what he said was true. He thought that Mr. Cobb had retired from the board of trustees, not on account of any trouble in the board, but because he did not care to take part in our annual quarrel at the corporation's meetings. Ex-Gov. Gaston was loudly applauded as he took his seat.

Mr. Clement K. Fay said he was glad to have so clear a statement from ex-Gov. Gaston. He had not intended in anything he had said to reflect on any individual member of the board of trustees, but he thought that the trustees should consult the proprietors before taking any action so important as that under discussion. He therefore offered the resolution which he had spoken of before. It read as follows:

Resolved, that a committee of five be appointed to consider the expediency of amending or repealing any laws relating to the corporation, for the purpose of simplifying the same and more clearly defining the respective duties and powers of the trustees and proprietors of the corporation, said committee to be allowed its reasonable expenses and to report in print to the proprietors one week at least before an adjourned or special meeting.

Ex-Gov. Gaston could not see why this resolution should be adopted unless new legislation was to be asked for. If a repeal of the present act was to be sought, then the committee might be useful, but unless such action was to be taken, he could see nothing for the committee to do. He hoped those present would take action to end the quarrels that had occurred at the recent meetings of the corporation.

Several proprietors made speeches, in which they said that there had been

No Intention to Reflect on any individual trustee. Then a motion be Mr. Clement K. Fay that a recess be taken until 3 o'clock was lost. The chairman, as soon as this matter was settled, read the letter of resignation of Hon. S. C. Cobb from the board of trustees. Hon. John J. May, moved that Mr. Cobb be requested to withdraw his resignation, and the motion was carried unanimously. The announcement of the result was received with loud applause, and Mr. May was appointed a committee of one to notify Mr. Cobb of the action taken by the meeting.

The committee on balloting sent in word that it would be ready to report in half an hour. While waiting for the committee, Mr. Francis Boyd arose and said he had been told that, in the heat of argument, he had made statements that were construed to be threats to carry the matter in dispute into court for a legal settlement. He did not intend to say anything of the kind, and if he used words that might be so understood, he withdrew them.

The committee on balloting reported that the whole number of votes cast for trustee was 1273. Of these, Charles M. Clapp received 721, John S. Damrell 541, George S. Bullard 3, and 5 were blank, and Charles M. Clapp was declared elected.

The article in the call of the meeting to increase the membership of the board of trustees to 12, and to limit their term of service to six years, was next taken up, and, on motion of Mr. Charles B. Fox, it was voted to lay it on the table. Then Mr. Fay again presented his resolution that a committee of five be appointed to consider what changes, if any, should be made in the laws governing the corporation, and it was adopted by a vote of 42 to 29. Mr. Fay moved that the matter of increasing the membership of the board of trustees and limiting their term be taken from the table and referred to this committee, and this was also carried by a vote of 41 to 34. It was voted that this committee be appointed by the chair, that the chairman of the meeting be the chairman of the committee, and that the committee have power to fill vacancies in its membership.

Mr. May reported that Mr. Cobb had consented to withdraw his resignation from the board of trustees. This announcement was loudly applauded and then, at 1:35 o'clock, after passing a vote of thanks to ex-Gov. Rice for the able and impartial manner with which he had presided, the meeting adjourned.

10

REFORM IN CEMETERIES. _____

Innovation at the Brookline Cemetery of Walnut Hills. _____

Conspicuous Monuments Not Permitted and White Marble Tabooed-Simple and Artistic Gravestone Required -The Tasteful Designs by a Boston Architect.

What is known as "the rural cemetery" is a peculiarity American institution. It originated in a desire to surround the resting places of the dead with pleasanter associations than those obtaining in the ordinary "burying grounds," with the desolate dreariness attendant upon the traditions of a grim Puritanism that taught us to regard death in the light of an awful warning, giving it an environment of horror and dread. Mt. Auburn cemetery was the first example of the new departure, and its success was so great that it made the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, with whom the idea originated, the richest organization of the kind in the world. It was intended that pleasant scenery, with gentle lawns, beautiful trees and groves, with curving driveways and rambling paths, should form an attractive spot with an aspect of peace and repose. The idea became very popular, and the example of Mt. Auburn found a following in nearly every part of the country, while that celebrated burial place became one of the show-spots of Boston, where strangers were taken to behold what we could accomplish in the way of good taste.

Artistic Failure of the Mt. Auburn Plan.

But after awhile we were awakened to the fact that it was altogether too much of a show, and that our great example of cemetery reform had become a thing itself sadly in need of reforming, a place where bad taste was to be seen in its most concentrated manifestations. Little restraint had been laid upon the proprietors of the lots as to what they were at liberty to do with their possessions; they were free to follow their own choice as much as were the holders of real estate upon a city street. The result was a patchwork conglomeration of bad stone carving and gaudy floristry; a competitive exhibit of ostentatious monuments, each individual proprietor unregarding of the effect of his work upon his neighbor or upon the whole. The rural aspect became quite subordinate to the marble cutter's expostion feature, and admiring crowds flocked to gape at the technical achievements in the latter line, together with the horicultural gorgeousness, just as the same people would go to wonder at a waxworks show. From the old buryingground idea to this was like escaping from the infliction of a two hours' sermon under the old regime at "Brimstone Corner" into the highly contrasted precincts of an opera comique. Nearly every rural cemetry in the country has had a history like this, and the expansive lawns of such places, bristling with an irregular assortment of intensely white marble tombstones and monuments, suggests to an observers from a distance the disruption of some huge charnel house, and the promiscuous scattering of its ghastly contents of bleaching bones. Thus we have the unpleasant associations of death that first induced our revolt against the Puritan burying ground, with a replusive flavor of the grotesque in addition. Indeed, some of the ancient burial places, under the friendly touches of the soothing hand of time, have become very pleasant spots. For instance, the old Granary burying ground, on Tremont street, is a most beautiful example of a simple urban cemetery. Looking from the busy street into its quiet recesses, the gray old slabs of slate in their unordered positions seem as much a growth of nature as the tall and graceful trees that spring between them and mantle them with the soft obscurity of their shadows. Only a discordant note has for the past few years been struck by the gayety of the floral foreground, with high colored tulips, geraniums and hollyhocks in succession performing a sort of horticultural ballet dance over the tombs. Flower beds are a most obstructive feature in such a spot.

A most successful example of a tastefully maintained rural cemetery exists at Cincinnati, and its influence has been admirable. Our beautiful Boston suburb of Brookline has also made a notable departure in this respect, and its success ought to go far in bringing about a most desirable change in other institutions of the kind. One reform in rural cemeteries has already pretty generally been adoped, in correcting the disfigurements caused by the stone-curbing of lot boundaries, concerning which the latest number of Garden and Forest says: "Now in all cemeteries where modern notions prevail no lot is sold without the special provision that the purchaser cannot in any way define its boundaries except by corner stones sunk below the surface of the ground. The monument, however, remained, and, as wealth increased, developed from year to year into a more hideous inappropriateness and vulgarity: and it became evident that, without some active control in such matters on the part of the managers of cemeteries, they must fail in those very directions where, it was believed. American cemeteries were better than those of any other country."

Tasteful Gravestone Designs.

Garden and Forest goes on to relate what has been done toward a reform in this direction at the Walnut Hills cemetery in Brookline. The cemetery belongs to the town, and is governed by a board of trustees elected by the people. The trustees prescribe the manner in which monuments can be erected in the cemetery, and have a number of tasteful designs for tasteful gravestones, made by Mr. J. A. Scheinfurth, a well known Boston architect. If a person wishes to a buy a lot, he can do so only upon the condition that he will select one of these designs, or, if none of them suit his taste, that he will submit some other to be approved by the trustees. There are 25 of these designs, and eight of them have been reproduced in Garden and Forest. "The first thing to be remarked in these stones is their simlicity; and it need hardly be explained that this is the most important quality they could possess. There may be many places where highly ornate sepulchral monuments are appropriate, but a rural cemetery is not one of them. But, on the other hand, simplicity should not mean crude ugliness, even in the smallest and most thoroughly rural burying-ground. Stones should be at once unobtrusive yet artistic, plain yet beautiful. Good taste should speak not only in the restricted use of ornament, but in, its tasteful application and skilful designing."

These designs differ from the simple tombstones of the past in having an artistic quality which the former lacked, carefully studied proportions, graceful contours and the suggestion of a style of lettering easily executed and read, and also decorative. One design is a flat slab, which is belived to be the earliest form that the Christian monument assumed when it was placed in an open, grassy spot. "It seems the most natural and expressive form, explaining its purpose and marking the site it consecrates more exactly than an erect stone can do. Its inscription can be easily perused by these who stand beside the grave; and the fact that it is invisible at a distance may be counted a merit, as the last hint of ostentation is thus avoided. *** From the point of view of the repose and sanctity of effect which a cemetery, as a whole, should have, flat stones are palpably preferable to all others." One which utilizes the form of the cross - one of the very earliest of Christian gravestone forms reduced to its simplest elements - shows the combination of the cross and the circle, the emblem of Christ conjoined with that of eternity, which more constantly appears than any other design in the oldest sepulchral monuments of northern Europe. Some designs give opportunity for several inscriptions on one monument; a single monument for several individuals being often more desirable than many, being less obtrusive as well as less costly. One simple and beautiful design, with a sword used in the decoration, is for the grave of a soldier, and a companion design is intended for a sailor, or naval officer.

It is suggested that where is is proposed to follow the example here set, an architect rather than a sculptor will be found the proper person to execute the design; for, quite apart from the fact that well trained architects are more frequently found in this country than well trained sculptors, it may be explained that a sculptor's training does not prepare him to deeal with formally shaped blocks of stone and their architectural ornamentation. This is said to be the first instance in which an artist has be called upon to design a whole series of tombstones.

Cemetery Ethics.

The idea that underlies this system adopted at Brookline is an extension of the same that has done away with prominent bounds in cemetery lots. "It is the idea," says Garden and Forest, "that no individual lot owner has the right to do anything on his lot which will injure the aspect of the cemetry as a whole. The Brookline trustees have further declared, on the same principle, that no monument or headstone of white marble shall in future be erected in the cemetery; they regulate for the general good the selection by lot owners of plants, baskets and other decorations, and discourage expensive architectural tombs. There is no extravagant horticultural establishment connected with the Brookline cemetery; no beds of glaring flowers, no novel or mis-shapen trees, no attempts at display. It relies for its attractiveness upon natural woods carpeted with wild flowers, native shrubs and well kept lawns, bordered here and there by noble masses of natural rocks, after the striking feature of much New England scenery."

Sunday Herald April 28.[18]89

RECOVERED HIS WIFE'S REMAINS ____

A New Yorker Bring Suit Against a a Cemetery Corporation.

(Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald)

NEW YORK, Oct.2, 1889. Julia Frances Dickie, the wife of Edward P. Dickie, a retired glass importer, who has lived for many years at the Windsor Hotel, died on March 12, and three days later her remains were buried in the family plot of the heirs of the late Charles D. Barley in Greenwood cemetery. Dickie had a family plot of his own at Guilford.Ct., but it was not in readiness for an Interment, and, as he says he availed himself of the offer of his wife's relatives. Subsequently he expended nearly $4000 in beautifying the Guilford plot and in erecting a monument to Mrs. Dickie's memory. The work was finished some weeks ago, and Dickie applied to the cemetery trustees for a permit to remove his wife's remains to Guliford. The trustees refused to grant the permit. Mr. Dickie then learned for the first time that Capt. G. E. Overton of the 6th United States cavalry and A. R. Overton, brothers of Mrs. Dickie, had filed with the trustees a formal protest, as next of kin to the deceased, against the proposed disinterment and transfer of the body, and had warned the cemetery association that they would hold any one legally responsible who disturbed, or permitted the disturbance of the remains. Mr. Dickie, claiming that the interment in Greenwood was only a temporary burial, made at the suggestion of his wife's relatives and simply to please them, promptly brought suit for a mandamus to compel the cemetery trustees to give up the body. In the supreme court, today Judge Barrett granted a mandamus compelling the trustees to allow Mr. Dickie to disinter the remains whenever he chooses

See also 130 Mass. 422. 18 R. I. 155

PROPRIETORS OF MT. AUBURN. ____ Their Annual Meeting Only Takes up Seven Minutes of Their Time.

The proprietors of Mt. Auburn cemetery don't waste much time at their annual meetings.

They held the 49th of these gatherings in Horticultural Hall yesterday afternoon, and just seven minutes elapsed between President Spelman's request, "Please be in order, gentlemen," and the announcement, "This meeting is dissolved."

In that brief interval the reports of the trustees, superintendent and treasurer were submitted in the form of printed pamphlets and accepted, and David R. Whitney and Richard M. Hodges were re-elected trustees for six years.

In their account of their stewardship the trustees stated that the receipts from sales and other sources have been larger than in the previous year, while the expenses have not been proportionatley increased.

The exhibit of the various funds is as follows: Repair fund, $643,700.28, an increase of $42,747.10 for the year; permanent fund, $298,108.55, a gain of $11,226.69; gen[e]ral fund, $74,488.54, an increase of $6107.65.

During the year the secretary has prepared an abstract of the deeds of the proprietors which fills three thick folio volumes, and is intended for c[o]nsultation and use in the Boston office. The original volumes have been removed to Cambridge and stored in the brick fireproof vaults of the corporation.

The superintendent reported that 484 interments had been made in 1890, and that 55 bodies had been removed. The total number of interments in the cemetery is 28,149.

Accompanying the report is a plan of the cemetery, showing the location of all the roadways and the bodies of water.

Herald Feb. 3.[18]91

DURING the past year 31 bodies were incinerated in the crematory at Germantown, Pa. They came from all parts of the country, and it is probably safe to say that this number is fully one-third of all those who were cremated in this country during the year. These figures do not indicate any great growth of the cremation idea, notwithstanding the distinguished encomiums it has received from the living. 1891.

MT. AUBURN CEMETERY. ____ Annual Meeting of the Proprietors - Report and Statistics. ____

The annual meeting of the proprietors of Mt. Auburn Cemetery was held in Horticultural Hall yesterday afternoon. Mr. Israel N. Spelman, the president, occupied the chair and the meeting was of short duration. The term of two trustees, J. Montgomery Sears and Charles F. Choate, having expired, they were unanimously reelected for another term of six years. The full board of trustees will meet later. The fifty-eight annual report showed the corporation to be in a most prosperous condition. During the past year the repair fund has gained $37,547.09, which brings the total amount to $600,958.18. The permanent fund gained $8875.28, making a total of $286,881.86. There has been an increase of $7502.[?] in the general fund, and that now amounts $68,380.89. Among the items of "other property of the corporation," the Coolidge [?] is mentioned for the first time. President Spelman said that this piece of land contains about six acres, and was situated in the [rear?] of the cemetery in Watertown, and [ran?] through to Grove Street. The trustees thought it best to accept a favorable offer for the purchase of this land, which may at any time be connected with the cemetery for interment purposes by consent of the town of Watertown. It is now held like other property outside the cemetery limits, and the small expense of maintaining it is for the present more than compensated by the sods and other material used by the corporation. By the widening of Brattle street in Cambridge, the city took 3000 square feet of land, for which the corporation received $1800. The amount of new work in grading during the year has been slight, but as a result of the work of previous years, 500 new lots have been laid out and posted and are now ready for sale in the part of the cemetery formerly known as the "Watris lot." Other necessary work has been done to keep the cemetery in good order and removed all those traces of neglect and deterioration which years constantly bring about as the age of the cemetery increases.

The superintendent's report showed there had been 536 interments during the year making a total of 27,610 since the cemetery was opened. There had been sixteen removals from the cemetery and forty-one bodies received from other places of internment. The treasurer's reprt showed the receipts for the year to have been $100,306.13; which incuded balance of $15,779.60 from the proceding year. The expenditures have been $85,852.40 leaving a balance of $13,453.65. The land expenditures included an investment of $1[?] 000; $4613.30 for the Coolidge lot and $5790.66 paid into the permanent fund. Other propety of the corporation not specially mentioned in the treasurer's report consists of nearly 136 acres of cemetery grounds, with avenues and paths, water works for the supply of fountains and watering places, underground pipes and drains, chapel and statuary, observatory, receiving tomb, gateway and other structures reception house and 5620 feet of land on Mt. Auburn streets;superintendant's house, greenhouses and 61,170 feet between Brattle and Mt. Auburn streets; the Stone meadow on the east side of Coolidge avenue, containing about five acres, on which are located the stables and other buildings.

The owners talked over the advisability of getting up a new catalogue and also a diagram of the cemetery as it now appears. This was left to the trustees for action. The meeting then adjourned.

Boston Post Feb.4.[18]90

CREMATORY PROGRESS ABROAD.

Although there is no crematory at Kensalgreen cemetery at present, says a London journal, the authorities have determined to provide a magnificent receptacle for the dust of those who have been disposed of in this manner. They have decided to erect a "columbarium" for the reception of cinerary urns, the structure forming a prominent object in the centre of a hall of some magnitude containing accommodation for 42 urns. Three tiers of compartments on each of the four sides will be inclosed by a metal frame, each one having a leverlocked door filled with plate glass. The fronts will be in finest Caen-stone, with panelled pilasters at each angle and moulded base and cornice. Between the compartments are shafts of polished Sienna marble, and the panels in the pilasters are filled with polished rouge royale marble. In fact, all the luxuries of moden art will be requisitioned to make the columbarium an attractive resting place.

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THREE POUNDS OF ASHES. --- All That Remains of Robert Leiber, a Boston Brewer. --- His Body Cremated in Germany, and the Dust Brought Home by His Wife - This Precious Memorial of the Dead to Be Inurned in a West Roxbury Cemetery.

Three pounds of ashes, all that remains of Robert Leiber, a Boston brewer, will soon be inurned in the little Germany cemetery at West Roxbury.

It is a singular case and one that will be made much of by the society for cremation which has recently been revived in this city. Robert Leiber, in his lifetime, was a man of substance, and held a responsible position in Roessle's brewery on Pynchon street, near Roxbury crossing. With his wife he lived in comfort at 118 Cedar street, not far from the brewery.

Robert Leiber was an atheist, and the fate which he deemed omnipotent was strongly illustrated by the circumstances of his death.

He had long been a believer in cremation, claiming that its practice was the duty of the present generation to the generations which are to come. The cemeteries, as they are in Europe, and in old and populous cities like Boston, he considered a menace to health. He belonged to a cremation society, which was to have erected a cemetery in Worcester, but failed because of the lack of sufficient number of subscribers.

Leiber and his wife, some time ago, went abroad to travel in Europe and Germany - their native country. He found that in Germany cremation had been very widely accepted. Urner halles, for the reception of the ashes of the dead, had been erected at great cost.

The Magnificent Architecture made them objects of public interest, and within the spacious interiors the friends of departing Germans had erected pedestals, as elaborate as their means would warrant, and upon these placed the handsomely inscribed mortuary urns.

With the urns hermetically sealed, their precious contents could remain for centuries undisturbed in those silent corridors, without fear of the desecration of the remains of the dead, or of danger to health or comfort of the living.

Robert Leiber died abroad, and his good wife, carrying out his last wishes, had his body cremated in one of the largest of the German establishments.

To her it did not seem an uncanny thing - the burning of a human body.

The crematory was a very handsome structure, built in an appropriate style of architecture. The inevitably recurring words, "Dust to dust," did not sound out of place on this occasion, as the arrangements were such that it really seemed to those looking on as if the body was being placed in the ground.

The friends of the deceased were comforted with the thought that, though it was sad that Robert Leiber must die, yet it was the kind of fate to let him die in Germany, where his body could be disposed of according to his own desire. They did not consider that he was burned up, for everything is indestructible, but the impurities passed off harmlessly to mingle in other forms, and that which remained to them was a memorial of the dead rather than the dead himself. Mrs. Leiber brought the Ashes of Her Husband back with her from Germany for interment near the family home. The dust so precious to her was easily transported from the continent without trouble or inconvenience, and she arrived in Boston about six weeks ago.

Five weeks from last Sunday night the German friends of Robert Leiber held a celebration in respect to his cherished memory in Turn Hall, Middlesex street, and now the family is only awaiting the completion of a suitable urn and pedestal to deposit the relics of a life so dear to them in the German cemetery.

The chosen resting place is near the Martin Luther orphan home, a little over a mile west of West Roxbury station. It is rather a lonely location, but the surrounding scenery is varied and beautiful. The old houses of the first residents are falling in decay but slowly and surely the buildings of a new generation are encroaching upon the old farm lands.

The site of the Leiber urn has been selected, but no grave has been dug, the only preparation being a brick foundation for the base of the urn to rest firmly upon.

It is expected that within two or three days the final inurnment will take place with very simple ceremonies.

Robert Leiber's position in Roessle's brewery is taken by his son, Albert Leiber, and to the son descends also the father's strong convictions on cremation. He does not think that one less body buried in Boston would make any material difference, and believes from this cremation others will follow.

LAWSE'S PRIVATE CREMATORY. ____ A Canadian Has a Right to Burn His Dead in His Cooking Stove.

[SPECIAL TO THE WORLD.] MONTREAL, Que., Ont., Feb. 18. - One Adolph Lawse, who lives in St. Cunegorde, a suburb of Montreal, recently lost a child and burned its body in a cooking stove to save funeral expenses. Magistrates were applied to, but they held that he acted within his rights.

The Rev. Father Sequin called upon the Lawse, who said in defense of his act that both in France and in the United States dead people were burned in big ovens and accordingly he thought he was justified in burning his dead in his own cooking stove.

He also urged that he had a right to bury his children in his backyard or in his cellar, which he appears to have done. He contended that he had known such things to have been done by people with whom he was personally acquainted in Paris.

SUIT OVER A BODY. --- Novel Point in an Equity Case in Court at Providence

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald] PROVIDENCE, R. I., June 10, 1891. An interesting suit in equity was held in the supreme court this morning. It involves a widow's right to the custody of her husband's remains.

In the fall of 1889 Thomas F. Hackett was married to Arella G. Smith in Warwick. He was a Roman Catholic, and she a Protestant.

In December of that year he died, and she prepared to place his remains in a Protestant cemetery, according to his expressed wish that she might rest beside him, which could not be the case should he be buried in a Catholic cemetery. His family objected to this, and by the advice of her friends and to prevent a disturbance and a scene at the funeral, she gave in to them, stipulating however that, when all was quiet, she should insist upon an interment where she pleased to have it made.

The body was placed in St. Mary's cemetery in Crompton, and on July 1, 1890, she obtained a permit from the town authorities and the consent of the superintendent of the cemetery to remove the body. She had it placed in a lot in the Riverside cemetery at Pawtucket which she had bought.

The Hackett family did not learn of this until the interment had been made. They began a suit in equity to compel the Riverside Cemetery Association to return the body, and to restrain the widow from interfering with its return.

The court decided today that the Riverside corporation could not be made a party, as its participation had been strictly legal; neither could that corporation go upon the lot owned by the widow and interfere with the body, or restrain her from preventing others from removing it.

The case then rested solely on the rights of the widow, and on this point both sides made long arguments. The respondent set up proof of her husband's request that his body should not be interred where hers could not be placed beside it, and that she had never given her full consent to the parents to bury it where they pleased. The petitioners asserted that next of kin in law did not mean that, in the ownership of a body, the wife had rights superior to those of the family of the husband.

On this point the case will be decided.

The court held the matter for advisement.

18R.9.155

WAS BISHOP BROOKS A CREMATIONIST?

It is stated in a volume on the history of the cremation movement in this country that Bishop Brooks warmly approved of the society and was its first vice-president. His letter of reply to the invitation to take a part in the work is published, and it would seem as if he were one of the ardent advocates of cremation to any one who reads it. And yet, though he died of what was called a contagious disease, he was buried under the usual forms of interment, and the fact that he was a cremationist has been quietly kept out of sight by those who have stood near to him. The fact, however, is not to be denied, though it is not known that he had ever expressed a wish in regard to his own cremation.

COST OF BURIAL LOTS --- A Last Resting Place is Quoted Very High in Washington

It is more expensive to die than live in Washington, to say nothing of the inconvenience of it, according to the Post of that city. The question of cemeteries is always a perplexing one to growing cities like Washington, and while the disposition of a man's body is of little moment to him after it is ready to be laid away, it perplexes the brain of many of the living.

The public is not yet educated up to cremation. Though this method goes far back in the centuries for its origin, and is today advocated by many of the more advanced thinkers, yet many shudder at the thought of having loved ones incinerated and their ashes placed in an urn, no matter how fancy the vessel may be. The dis ciples of the cremation theory contend for its adoption on the score of health, urging that many of the epidemics are traceable to city cemeteries. Many other sound arguments are advanced by adherents of the ancient custom, but still the people are not ready to accept it. They prefer to have the bodies of friends and relatives lie under the sod, or shut up in walls of stone or brick, and left as food for time and worms.

Washington is credited with 52 cemeteries, sufficient, it would seem, to accommodate all demands. A large number of these, however, are private burying grounds. The five principal cemeteries are Rock Creek, which is the oldest, having been used as a burial place since 1719; Glenwood, the Congressional, Mt. Olivet and Oak Hill. These cities of the dead are attractive enough, and contain the remains of many of Washington's most noted citizens. There is still room in them too.

The question which confronts the middle class of Washington's citizens, however, is a serious one. The wealthy can always find a suitable resting place. To them price is no object, but to those of less plethoric bank accounts it is a momentous one. The prices of lots in any of the fashionable cemeteries is $1 or $1.50 a foot. A lot 10x20 feet would therefore cost $200 or $300. The middle class can not afford such an expense, and are driven to seek a resting place in the Potter's field or "God's acre," as some term it.

Many of the cemeteries are inconvenient by reason of distance from the city. This question of cemeteries is thus becoming more perplexing as each year drops off into the abyss of the past. People are looking round for more convenient and less expensive place.

RECOVERS HUSBAND'S BODY. --- Suit Decided in Favor of the Wife at Dover, Me.

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.] BANGOR, Me., March 16, 1893. A queer suit has been decided in the supreme court in Piscataquis county, it being a contest over a man's remains.

It was the action of Mrs. Elizabeth T. Palmer againts her late husband's relatives to recover the remains of her husband, which are buried at Dover, for the purpose of removing them to her home in Jersey City, N. J.

A. B. Palmer, the plaintiff's husband, was a native of Dover, but lived in Jersey City until 1891, when he removed to Dover and lived there until his decease, shortly after.

He was buried in Dover, and when, last year, his widow attempted to remove his remains, to take them to Jersey City, his family objected so effectually that this suit was brought to recover.

Meanwhile her husband's brother had died and left an estate to be divided between his heirs.

The defendents in the suit claim that in the settlement of the estate the plaintiff renounced all claim to the lot on which her husband was buried and also to his body; that the relatives were buried here, and that it was his request that he should be interred in the family lot.

The plaintiff claims that she has never relinquished her claim to either the lot or the body; that the deceased had erected a monument on her lot in Jersey City and that it was his request to be buried there.

The judge's decision is in favor of Mrs. Palmer, who will take her husband's remains to New Jersey.

THE VALHALLA OF NEW ENGLAND

The illustrated article on Mt. Auburn in the June New England Magazine is notable for its presentation of the prominent features of that burying ground. One goes in this city to Copp's Hill or the Old Granary burying ground or to the burial place around King's Chapel for the resting places of the notable departed of two centuries ago, but the homes of the departed from Boston for the last hundred years are chiefly to be found at Mt. Auburn. They have rap-

[Column 4 of 4]

idly gathered there in the last fifty years, and this article brings out in a striking light the prominence of Mt. Auburn in the life of New England for the generation that has just gone. Except that Concord contains the resting places of Emersen, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Alcott and Mulford, Mt. Auburn has more the distinguished men and women resting in its sacred inclosure than any other part of New England, in every notable walk of life.

One of the first persons to be buried in Mt. Auburn was Hannah Adams, who was the first American woman to make literature her vocation, and another of the early notable ones was Dr. John G. Spurzheim. Still another was the eminent Universalist, Hosea Ballou. There was a time when the great ones of Boston were rapidly gathered into this harvest field. Washington Allston is buried near to Dr. Channing. Anson Burlingame, Dorothea L. Dix, John Pierpont and Dr. S. G. Howe are names familiar to every one. The graves of Agassiz, Everett, Choate, Sumner, and Robert C. Winthrop are places where pilgrim feet like to wander, but it is to the resting places of Longfellow, Lowell and Holmes that the pilgrimage is more frequent, and the path is most worn to the grave of Phillip Brooks. There are many tablets to indicate that persons should have been buried here who have died elsewhere. The tablets to Motley, to Margaret Fuller Ossoli and to Robert Gould Shaw are eloquent in their silent expression. The graves of Francis Parkman, of Jacob Abbott, of James T. Fields, of N.P. Willis, and of his sister "Fanny Fern", of Jared Sparks, of President Felton, of John Murray, the American founder of Universalism, of Worcester the lexicographer, of Palfrey the historian, of Charlotte Cushman, and of Mrs. Hemenway, are places where one likes to tread with reverent step. Dr. Asa Gray and Prof. Horsford and Edwin Booth are also persons whose resting places no one will forget.

It is not surprising that few persons who visit Boston are satisfied until they have been to Mt. Auburn. We have no Westminster Abbey in New England where we can bury our dead in an historical sepulture, but nature had done for Mt. Auburn in the growth of forest trees even more than the hand of man has done in Westminster to make the place beautiful and attractive. We can never think of the great ones departed as entirely gone when their bodies are resting in the old burial places in Boston and in Mt. Auburn. These notable men and women had consecrated these places forever, and generations yet unborn will flock to Boston and Cambridge to look with their own eyes upon the places where the bodies of these great ones have turned to dust. In this sense the departed are still with us, and much of the charm of life in Boston is due to the traditions of these men and women who have made life brilliant and remarkable in other days. This part of New England stands in the eyes of the whole country for an antiquity and an intellectual character which made it for a long time the most notable spot in America, and nothing could exceed the joy of both pilgrims and natives when the ancient burial places in the heart of the city were thrown open to the public a year ago. The grass has not yet grown again in front of Paul Revere's tombstone, but thousands of men and women have been thrilled with high emotion as they stood by it and by the gravestones of other noble ones in our earlier history. There is something in these sacred inclosures which touches the hearts of men to the quick, and they will never lose their attraction.

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FIRST CREMATION IN BOSTON. --- Body of Lucy Stone Burned at Forest Hills Crematory.

Dying Wishes of the Deceased Complied with at the Yet Incomplete Structure of the Massachusetts Cremation Society - Nothing to Mar the Solemnity of the Occasion.

According to her oft-expressed wish when alive, the remains of philanthropist Lucy Stone were cremated Saturday afternoon in the new crematory at Forest Hills, and the ashes were delivered to Dr. Blackwell yesterday.

In 2 ¹/₂ hours the body of the great thinker and leader among women was transformed into a little pile of ashes, to be properly preserved in an urn and guarded.

Among the few permitted to witness the incineration were Mr. Henry B. Blackwell, husband of the deceased, Miss Blackwell, her daughter, Mr. Frank J. Garrison, Dr. James R. Chadwick, president of the Massachusetts Cremation Society, John Ritchie, treasurer, and several of the directors, with Mr. L. S. Ipsen, the architect of the crematory building.

The remains, which were placed in the Forest Hills cemetery receiving tomb Oct. 21, were taken away Saturday afternoon in the casket to the new crematory. There were no services.

Though taken to the preparing room, the body was allowed to remain in the original casket when it was placed in the retort, or furnace, which was at a white heat. Heat was produced by massive oil burners. There was no odor, no smoke - nothing, in fact, to lead the outside world to suspect that "ashes to ashes" was being accomplished as quickly as it could be. No inusual incident occurred to mar the solemnity of the extraordinary occasion, and the cremation made a profound impression upon the witnesses.

The crematory is not yet completed, but it was Lucy Stone's dying wish that her body should be among the first consumed in its fiery furnaces, as she was herself foremost among the advocates of this method of disposing of the dead.

One retort was barely ready for the great event.

The building, while ready for use, is noot fully finished inside. It is hoped to complete the chapel in the spring.

The Massachusetts Cremation Society, under whose directions the first cremation of a body in New Englands has been accomplished, was organized for the purpose of building and maintaining a crematory for the people of New England. Other sections of the country are already provided with such buildings.

The society has about 1 ¹/₂ acres of land on Walk Hill street, opposite the rear entrance of Forest Hills cemetery, and upon this lot the crematory stands.

When completed the crematory will be a handsome building of rough stone known as felsite, which is quarried at Mt. Hope.

There are eight other bodies which are to be incinerated at the crematory as soon as arrangements can be made. Some of these will probably be cremated this week. The bodies have been kept packed in ice, and some are in the receiving tomb.

Herald, Jan. 1, [18]94.

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THE REVIVAL OF CREMATION.

Now that this city is about to have a crematory, it is well to note that the progress of this method of disposing of the dead. The first cremation of a human body in a closed receptacle took place at Milan in January, 1876. Before that year, in 1869 and a few years later, cremations occurred at Breslau and Dresden, and the first of theser were under the charge of Professor Brunette. Italy has always been an encouraging field. In 1888, 500 bodies were cremated, and 250 at Dresden. Since that year, the custom has increased in Germany, and, under the encouragement of Sir Henry Thompson, has received much indorsement in Great Britain. Denmark has legalized it this year and stirred up the illwill of Dr. Johannes Clausen, bishop of Aarhus, who has recently written a pastoral to his clergy about the introduction of what he finds no better term for than a heathen rite. In Gotha, a crematorium disposes of 600 bodies yearly, and now two more are in operation, one at Ohlsdorf and the other at Carlsruhe. Even Australia has had this subject discussed in the House of Assembly, where it failed to be confirmed, though it was carried through and universally indorsed by the Legislative Council. The clergy, for some reason, have not meddled with this matter.

The church congress at Manchester discussed it, and a member put forth the plea that the introduction of such a custom would endanger belief in the resurrection of of the dead. The reply of Lord Shaftesbury silenced any further doubt when it asked, "What, then, had become of the holy martyrs who were cremated?" Others found in the burial service of the Episcopal Church, in the words "ashes to ashes", enough to convince them that this method of consuming the dead had a quasi indorsement. The chief objection is a religious one, but it is now an ascertained fact that in peculiar circumstances even the Jews allowed cremation, and their descendents today in Berlin, Spain and Portugal are practising it.

The sanitary side of this matter is gaining friends every year. It is no longer a question to be settled upon the revelations of the past. What difference does it make to be told that the Greeks and Romans burnt their dead, and that Christianity inaugurated the necessary change of interment to make more apparent some special teaching of its own? Nothing is really affected in Christian teaching by cremation. There is a sentimentality about burial which easily could be removed to cremation. When Sir Henry Thompson writes understandingly of the dangers encircling burial, especially with reference to zymotic diseases, one feels inclined to hold one's breath and wonder whether the risk of infection and contagion from corpses is duly considered. Be this as it may, the clergy are no longer silent, and one of their number, holding a prominent position in an adjoining city, has allowed his name to be associated with this method, and written with good effect in favor of it. Other conversions like the recent one of the Duke of Westminster may assist in disarming prejudice, and if the clergy can speak the wise word from a sanitary point of view, there may spring up the reverence and sacredness which has long been associated with burial around a "crematorium," the buildings where last sad but impressive rites may be performed.

[Column 3 of 4]

THREE TIMES BURIED SINCE 1889 --- Husband and Father Unable to Agree Upon Grave of the Former's Wife

The deceased wife of Austin B. Merritt of 2 Belvedere place, Lynn, and daughter of Warren Daniels of Salem has been interred three times so far, since 1889.

It is all through a family quarrel and the matter will probably have to be settled in the courts. Mr. Merritt declares his deceased wife's remains will have to be moved again. Mr. Daniels wants them to repose in Greenlawn cemetery, Salem, which Mr. Merritt wants them nearer his own home, in Saugus.

For two hours yesterday the body remained in front of the Salem City Hall in an undertaker's wagon, until a permit could be obtained to reinter the body in Greenlawn cemetery. Mean time such a crowd gathered that Mayor Turner was compelled to ask the undertaker to move on, which he did.

Mrs. Annie J. Merritt, it seems, died in Marblehead in January, 1889, and was buried in Greenlawn cemetery. A week ago last Tuesday the husband, who has again married, visited this cemetery and had the body removed to Saugus, where it was placed in a grave.

On the following Thursday the father visited the cemetery to place flowers on the grave of his daughter. He was horrified to find the grave open and the body gone. On making inquiries he discovered that his son-in-law had removed the remains.

Yesterday morning with a local undertaker he visited the cemetery in Saugus and started with the body toward Salem. He arrived there just before noon and then learned that under the conditions of the new burial permit he could not reinter the remains. Mr. Daniels sought legal advice and later obtained permission to bury the remains under the old permit. The body is now again reposing in Greenlawn cemetery.

Merritt, so it is said, married his first wife's aunt and they are now living happily with his three children.

Merritt says "Daniels did not pay the expenses of my wife's funeral. I did, and have papers to prove it.

"I will have the body back in the cemetery in Saugus. I will compel Daniels to bring it back too."

HERALD Feby 26th

CREMATIONISTS CELEBRATE. --- They Rejoice the Incineration Idea Is Steadily Growing.

[Special Dispatch to the Boston Herald.]

NEW YORK, July 21, 1893. Nearly 500 persons were at Fresh pond, Long island, today, taking part in the dedicaton of the new Columbarium recently erected there by the United States Cremation Company.

The Columbarium, which has been in the course of erection during the past year, has just been finished, and the directors of the Crematory Company though it would be fitting to celebrate the 1000th cremation.

When the guests arrived at the crematory they naturally turned their attention immediately to the new marble Columbarium, which was the centre of attracttion. It is a handsome two-story white marble building. It is 60 feet long and 40 feet deep. The building is entirely of stone, marble and yellow brick, and is thoroughly fireproof, the cost is said to have been $25,000.

Louis Lange, the chairman of the cremation company, opened the exercises with an address. He said when cremation was first discussed in this country, the people laughed at the idea. Many who smiled then admit now that cremation is the proper way of disposing of the dead. Mr. Lange also said: " In the pas 10 years in the 15 cities that have crematories, the increase has been fully 50 per cent, in each city." This statement was received with applause. The New York Arion Mannechor of the 50 members then effectively rendered several selections of appropriate music. Among the speakers invited was Prof. Felix Adler, who is an enthusiast on cremation; De Long Scudder of New Jersey, John Storer Cobb of Boston and Kate Field.

[Column 4 of 4]

HEDGED ABOUT WITH LAWS --- Many Formalities Necessary in Cases of Cremation. --- Permit Necessary Every Time the Body is Moved and When the Ashes Are Taken Away - Remains Must Be Viewed by a Medical Examiner Before Incineration - Peculiar Case.

It is impossible to procure a "through ticket" to the grave, via the Massachusetts crematory.

This is not intended as a facetious statement on a subject too serious for joking, but as a statement of fact in the language of the day.

The old burial laws were marvels of simplicity and directness compared with the formalities surrounding this new method of disposing of the dead.

The statement is not made as a criticism, however, for it is not easy to see how they could be made less stringent withour danger.

Take the case of Lucy Stone, for example.

After her death it was first necessary to get a permit from the board of health to have her body removed from her home to the cemetery. Then when her friends desired to have the remains removed to the crematory another permit was necessary, and when her ashes were conveyed from the crematory to the grave still another permit was in order. This is the re quired formula.

Another interesting feature of the cremation ceremony is that before the body is disposed of in that matter, it is necessary that it should be viewed by the medical examiner.

This is to provide against the disposition of bodies in cases of foul play and the like.

Supposing that a person was poisoned, and was buried without that fact being discovered, and that in the course of a few days or a few weeks suspicions of foul play were aroused, these suspicions could be verified or disproved by the medical men after the body has been exhumed.

After the body has been incinerated, however, the scientists are powerless; hence the precaution.

Seven permits for cremation have thus far been given out at the health office. In six of these cases the ashes of the person incineration have been buried in cemeteries.

The seventh case was an exception, and quite a peculiar one, too.

A few days ago a lady called at the office of the health authorities and said that she desired to removed the ashes of a friend who had been cremated.

She was told that no permit would be given to any one who was not a regularly licensed undertaken, notwithstanding the peculiar disposition which she proposed to make of the ashes of her friend, which were to be strewen, according to the wishes of the deceased, about the old New Hampshire home in which she was born.

The lady had to go to an undertaker, and the ashes were then scattered according to the desire which the testator had expressed in life.

Herald, Jan. 17, [18]99