THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
31 
In case from any cause these commonly con- 
structed vases cannot be covered entirely at the 
stalk, as with the park examples, with growing 
plants, then some aid may be rendered by covering 
the boards with rough bark of trees. 
The common ivy may be successfully used in 
part to relieve this bark space, as there is appro- 
priateness of design always' in causing the ivy to clam- 
ber on anything made all or in part of the natural 
bark of the tree. 
Edgar Sanders. 
Woking Crematorium. 
The Crematorium at "Woking has no part or par- 
cel with the great Walhalla to which it is such a near 
neighbor. It is especially for the supercession and 
abolition of earth sepulture that the modern funeral 
pyre has been established. Anything less sugges- 
tive of death and corruption than the Crematorium at 
"Woking it would be impossible to imagine. Enter- 
ing the ample gate which abuts upon the road, there 
is a broad gravel drive leading down a gentle slope 
and lined on each side with shrubs and banks of 
luxuriant bloom. It resembles the entrance to a 
beautful garden and on the left is a cheerful little 
red brick cottage which might be the gardener’s 
home. Swinging baskets laden with flowers hang 
round the porch, and the house itself seems set in a 
cushion of flaming scarlet blossoms. There is 
nothing gruesome in the cheery occupant of this 
cheery cottage, and yet for many years he has had 
charge of all the operation^ which have gone on at 
the Crematorium. He talks in a certain grave way 
about his business, but otherwise is a short, genial 
little person, with twinkling black eyes, and answers 
all questions with the air of a man who has nothing 
to conceal. Going down the sloping road under his 
guidance, the visitor finds himself in a gravelled 
yard in front of a chapel. Here, again, the place is 
enclosed with thick-growing trees and shrubs, and 
is made bright and sunny with flowers. The chapel 
is not large. It contains about fifty chairs, a gal- 
lery, a small desk for the clergyman or minister, and 
a rest for the coffin. But what at once attracts at- 
tention are the rows of stone niches in the wall 
behind the desk. The remains of cremated persons 
are first placed in urns of stone about eighteen 
inches long, ten inches high, and a foot in breadth, 
and many of these urns are again enclosed in costly 
wooden boxes, highly polished, and sometimes 
strongly bound in metal. They usually bear small 
plates giving the name, age, and date of death, and 
about fifty of them stand in the niches at the rear of 
the chapel. It was curious to see the little urn con- 
taining the handful that the fire had left of Nasmyth, 
the inventor of the steam hammer; and in two adjoin- 
ing niches lay the ashes of the late LordBramwell and 
Lady Bramwell, the urn in each case being tied with 
ribbon and sealed with wax. They lie there wait- 
ing for the completion of a receptacle which will 
contain the remains of both husband and wife. I 
found on enquiry that in most cases the relatives 
preferred to take the ashes and bury them in some 
cemetery near their homes ; but there were many 
elected to have the remains interred in the pleasant 
little grass plht behind the Crematorium. The 
“ graves ” there are only a foot deep, and just large 
enough to take the boxes I have described. It is 
not often that there is a great number of people 
present at these cremation services, but the little 
caretaker told me it was rare to see any outbursts of 
grief, such as are witnessed at ordinary funerals. 
"With regard to the religious part of the proceedings 
it, of course, varies according to the body to which 
deceased may have belonged; but in the case of 
members of the Church of England, the “grave- 
side ” passages are either omitted or the clergyman 
substitutes “ We therefore commit his body to the 
flames” for “We therefore commit his body to the 
ground.” After the service the coffin is taken 
through double doors at the side of the chapel into 
the furnace chamber, but a thick wall screens the 
apparatus from the sight of relatives and friends. 
This room is of bare brick, with tiled floor, lighted 
from the roof, and in the center stands the furnace. 
This also is of brick, and is rectangular in construc- 
tion, about 10 feet high and 8 feet across, and about 
12 feet long. The coffin is placed on a long narrow 
“ trolly,” running on rails on a level ■with the floor 
of the cremating chamber, which is already at white 
heat. The massive iron door is quickly opened, 
the trolley is pushed by a long handle down a little 
incline, and when it has fully entered the chamber it 
has left its burden lying upon a series of iron rings, 
where every part is exposed to the flames. The 
trolley is withdrawn, the massive iron door shut, 
and the valves are opened through which pure flames 
pour with a rush from a large furnace, at the end of 
the space where the coffin lies. The operator has 
means of watching the process through small holes 
in the side of the cremating chamber, and at one 
time the friends of the cremated person were per- 
mitted to do so, but this is now forbidden. If the 
friends are willing to have the body consumed with- 
out the coffin the operation is completed in about 
forty-five minutes, but if the coffin is also burnt it 
occupies about an hour and a quarter. The fumes 
from the chamber pass through another furnace be- 
fore being discharged into the atmosphere, so that 
nothing escapes from the tall red chimney, which 
one sees from the railway, but hot air and the pro- 
ducts of coal combustion. There is no difficulty in 
