488 PARK AND CE:ME.T£RT. 
Twentieth Century Methods and Devices for Burial Services. 
One sometimes inclines to the opinion that nothing 
can mitigate the harshness and cruelty of death and its 
attendant details and ceremonies, but this is a mistake. 
Modern methods and devices certainly do much to 
soften the hard necessities of such 
occasions.' And, while this is ac- 
complished so unobtrusively as to 
be seemingly overlooked at the 
time, there is no question that 
good impressions are made and 
that the reasons are recalled and 
recognized later. 
Perhaps these things are espe- 
cially true of present features of 
the interment proper. Various 
methods are resorted to for veil- 
ing or doing away with the awful 
shock of crude clay exposed to the 
view of those with senses already 
aquiver from a trying series of in- 
evitable and overpowering inci- 
•dents — this last being the most 
difficult to endure. Cemetery 
Superintendents favor, some one, 
and some another of several means 
of overcoming this phase of a try- 
ing situation. The accompanying 
illustrations show how the end is 
accomplished at Oakwoods, Chi- 
cago. All bare earth, and even 
the open grave itself is clothed in 
winter by evergreen boughs, while 
palms and other potted plants, to- 
gether with fern fronds serve a 
similar purpose in summer. 
The lowering device, carrying the casket through 
the interlacing greenery, which springs back into po- 
sition and screens the sharp outlines, creates a less se- 
vere effect than the old-time procedure still in opera- 
POTTED PLANTS AND FERNS — THE SUMMER GR.WE COVERING AT OAK- 
WOODS CEMETERY, CHICAGO. 
OAKWOODS 
COVERING. 
EVERGREEN BOUGHS FOR GRAVE A ND E.VRTH 
CEMETERY, CHICAGO. 
