42 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
exhibits all told are here worthy of more than a 
passing mention. 
A foreigner seeing this for the first time would 
certainly have but a poor opinion of the Nursery 
business of the United States, to have done no better 
than this. 
Edgar Sanders. 
Written for The Modern Cemetery. 
A Plea for Cremation. 
In nearly all the countries of Europe it has been 
found necessary to regulate, by legislative enact- 
ment, the distance of graveyards from human habi- 
tations, and at which wells could be sunk. 
In Italy, for example, the prohibited distance 
is about 360 feet. In France and Austria the dis- 
tance is about double that of Italy, but that is found 
to be entirely inadequate, and at a council convened 
at Brussels in 1852, it was held that 1,200 feet was 
the least distance regarded as protective. And af- 
terfurther consideration of the subject, many physi- 
cians regard this as insufficient, and Prussia passed 
an act prohibiting the laying out of a cemetery 
within 3,500 feet of any dwelling. 
To bring the matter nearer home, the report of 
the Board of Health at New York City in 1806, re- 
commended the removal of all graveyards from the 
City. After sixteen years this law was put into 
force. Among the condemned spots was the Pot- 
ter’s Field, which was believed to be the cause, in 
1814, of an out-break of diarrhea and typhoid fever 
in its vicinity. This is now known as Washington 
Square, and even now, says a good authority, the 
atmosphere is affected by the gases which arise from 
the ground and that on this account it is almost im- 
possible to preserve the health of children who are 
brought up in the lower stories of houses which sur- 
round the Square. 
According to the British Medical Journal, when 
the plague visited Barbary in 1873, the people of 
Marah who obtained their supply of water from 
wells in proximity to a burial ground, were attack- 
ed, while the residents of another portion of the 
town, where water from another source was used, es- 
caped entirely from the disease. 
Many other instances could be adduced show- 
ing the injurious effects produced by drinking water 
procured from the neighborhood of graveyards. In 
France and England it has been found necessary to 
discontinue the use of wells near the repositories of 
the dead. 
######## 
Why should Chicago be so far behind other cit- 
ies in this country and in foreign countries regarding 
cremation? There are quite a number of crema- 
tories in the United States, and the custom is 
becoming so common it is ceasing to cause com- 
ment. 
There are those who object to incineration of 
the human body on account of religious scruples, 
and there are those who are sure the custom pre- 
vailed among the Jews, but there is nothing in the 
New Testament to prohibit it. When the objec- 
tion was made that it was opposed to the Resurrec- 
tion, an eminent Christian remarked. How will it 
be with the blessed Martyrs? 
One has only to look at most country church- 
yards and burying-grounds, with the sunken mounds, 
broken, moss-covered stones, and over-grown, neg- 
lected and forgotten graves, to have all sentiment 
of repugnance toward incineration removed. 
It is only a question of time, and perhaps, at 
the farthest, two or three generations, when we shall 
all be forgotton and there will be none to care for, 
or shed a tear over the spot where our poor old bod- 
ies have turned to dust. And how much better that 
the handful of pure, clean ashes should be scattered 
over a bed of pinks, to enrich the soil in which they 
grow, that they might give pleasure to those we 
loved and left behind, than that the slowly decaying 
matter should pollute the air and water and plant 
the seeds of death among the living. 
Yes, let us bestir ourselves, and quickly provide 
the means to return these poor deceased bodies to 
their primary elements, freed from the seeds of dis- 
ease, as soon after the release of the emancipated 
soul, as it is proper to do so. And set the example 
to the world that the protection and defence of the 
living casket in which the precious gem of life is in- 
cased, is of far more consequence than the way the 
dead body is disposed of after the loved spirit has 
taken its flight. 
Louise Rockwood Wardner. 
Robbing graves of flowers is a practice that 
many cemetery officials have to contend with. 
Numerous reports of such thefts have been received 
of late. In one instance the depredator was a 
woman, who visited the cemetery in the early morn- 
ing hours, and after securing all the flowers she 
could well make way with she exposed them for 
sale on one of the principal thoroughfares of the 
city. Here she did a flourishing business until de- 
tected in her nefarious traffic. In the larger city 
cemeteries thieving is by no means confined to 
flowers, but includes almost everything of a portable 
nature that can be taken away without arousing 
suspicion. Ribbon thieves are said to be common 
in New York cemeteries. A woman was arrested 
in that city sometime ago who had made a practice 
of stealing the ribbon from bouquets and floral 
ornaments in one of the principal cemeteries. 
