'"M T IOXISG: 11.1 hue TIER question of suburban , intertnentriasettled: It has not
been accomplialied by the'Boaird of Itealth.■ : Organized:philosophy has not been pail:tatted-to cOMPlete its!dwn.work ; Jar: organized phi- losophy soinetimes becomes entangled: with organized office- ' ltputing; incurs the' snapieion which-that, exit:ileitis and, less in- BtinetivelY tiehabieus of niaterial-guarantees;.isrfitradraside. Office, seekingpasienthrtnigh thei trial; 'and illtiinately Midis itself in the agreeable retreats of pension. The original Board of Health broke to pieces,,' bequeathed its funereal duties to be performed by that specie's 'of adminiatration in which our social system is fertile —a trade board inspired- by the life of eeinpetition, bettud to ita' duty by the nexus of dividends. The trading company Is at lei4 as responsible aa the official board; but it is not out of place to remember, that neither :■-vould officials have declared the necessity of the*form, nor would the idea have been matitred' and sub- stantiated for adoption by a trading company, unlesS johilOtiophY had first created it, proved its verity, and made, the En'glish.eon-- seience acknowledge the necessity of adopting it. By'WhateVer means, at last London is rescued from this abode of &Rh: burial-grounds which infect the abodes of life are cloSed;rand the opening of the cemetery at Woking we are secured amp burial-space for generations 'yet to Come. The now' enterprise. Will introduce more than oneehange in OW customs. There is the promise Of a release from the dead weig of funeral charges; the importande of Which can scarcely be ove'- estimated for those very numerous classes who ire beneath thl; wealthy. There is no tax so severe as that for the funeral; there' is none which the taxed is so helpless to resist. " Reaped for the departed" is urged by the undertaker with an eye to his bill; and hpder the paralysis of affliction moral cowardice ,Permits the tradeamaatotyrannize. Thus a sudden calamity often becomes the first germ of continual "indebtedness." The" etiefutnerals" devised by enterprising tradesmen, who started, Probiffily, froin }fumble beginnings, have too often been of a kind to iierb as a foit for the regular undertaker preaching "respect." When a great trading company brings the Whole of these arrangements into oiie uniform plan, the details of which eVerybody can ascertain, an4 Whieb, is guaranteed by the large Means and the regularity of did proceeding-s incidental to great coMpanies doubts that suggest great expenditure as a less evil than the show of disrespect will MC removed. The survivors will be able to select the bliss in Whitg the remains shall travel to their last home, as easily as living pitmen! gerscan classify themselves. The survivors will be able to choMis the amount of black cloth, the array Of feathers, thi namber attendants, and the length of the ceremony. But we presuniii, that the humblest will be certain of order, decency, solemnity, an all the ,essentials of the last "comfortable lodgings." • The veil' Pauper's hones will not,' as Hood's sarcastic -mtise sang, be ratt,14 over the stones with heedless haste.
But how vast the elminge now commeuced, from the system now terminating ! Hitherto, we have but 'slowly departed from the arrangement by Which enefitiefathers were lodged in the church of Our own native town. gengiations have been born, have lived; and have been buried; upon the iSme spot. Henotiforward, the homes of the living are to be 'separate from the broad lands allotted to the dead. We shall be able to map out more histinotly the amount of territory required for each grand. division. ,The jour ney, though not more expenhiVe, .Or troublesome, is to be loaget in distance. ' The novelty- of the:railway train is to have the newer novelty of the.futteral train. Once a day the black line will leave,the Aietropolia for .Woking,; the station will put on a funereal.aspencatutdetith'iVOl take ita turn amid the busiest traffic of life.
We have done,, then, with the old system; the question of In- tramural interments' is closed for ever. The funeral is put into its most perfect shape on the basis of earth-burial; Ave are to ()OW- sign humanity to ellovial depettit' under the most. favourable oik- cumstances. We afford, therefore; the best Starting-point for those prophetic and poetic minds that 'aspire to finer • forms for the dis- posal-of mortal ashes. The coinmeteitil systemmight again sub- serve to the further refortnwhich the 'nitra-rsdical Of burial will still demand ; and whether it be by cremation; or by: any other pro- cess; the instrument seenti already to loOin• in the future—a com- pany, not to bear us to Kensal Green or to Woking, but to dis- pose of us in various modes, as well as classes, according to the dictate of the testator.
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