TROVE: [SUPPLEMENT TO THE SYDNEY MAIL BASKET BURIAL]. (From the /Saturday Rcvicw .)
The waning amusements of the season liave received
an interesting addition 'in tlie exhibition of coffins at
the Duke of Sutherland's. There arc few things
which in these days have escaped being made the sub
ject of a competitive display, but it has ne^er before
occurred to any one, as far as we are aware, to ask
people to spend a summer afternoon in looking at
coffins, and considering how they would like to be
buried. Yet none of the shows of the year have
proved more attractive than this one. Oil Thursday
afternoon the umbrella -tents at Prince's were deserted,
and the pai*k passed by, while the fashionable world
crowded the terrace at. Stafford House,
engaged in an inspection of. various illustrations of the new form of sepulture
invented or recommended by Mr. Seymour Haden,
and in discussing its sanitary, aesthetic, and other
advantages. The bright and animated aspect of the
company, and the cheerful aud even lively tone of the
conversation which prevailed, would perhaps scarcely
have suggested to an unprepared observer the nature
of the subject which had brought the sprightly
throng together ; but some allowance may be made
for the gratification of discovering a novel topic of
fashionable gossip. After all the bills of mortality
are not likely to be increased by a change
in the method of burial, and, on the other
hand, there is at least sometliiiig new to
talk about. The skeleton of the feast may be
taken as an appropriate symbol of the new phase of
social excitement. The ladies, when . they retire to
the drawing-room, will exchange views as to the last
sweet tiling in shrouds or coffins, while the gentlemen
below will occupy themselves over their wine with
cheerful dissertations on the relative merits of cremation and interment. It would appear that the painful
sensitiveness on the subject of mortality which at one
period afflicted the French Court, so that no reference
to it was tolerated, has passed away from
good society in England at the present day.
The question of the nicest way of being buried is
discussed with perfect frankness and equanimity, and
a considerable part of life promises to be spent on the
consideration of what is- the most picturesque and
poetical fashion of decay. It seemed at one time
as if the question was going to be dropped, or perhaps
we should say buried, for Mr. Haden's second letter
certainly did not excite anything like the same interest
as' the first, and although he promised another in a few
days, weeks elapsed without even tlie slightest refer
ence to the subject. Mr. Haden has now, however,
finished his letters and opened an exhibition into the
bargain, and he may expect at least the proverbial
allowance of nine days for his wonders.
The specimens of coffins exhibited at Stafford
House are about a dozen in number, and notice is
given that they are merely suggestive, and do not
practically fulfil all the conditions essential to their
principal use. They are all made of osiers, either
white or stained, and in shape are similar to an
ordinary coffin, except that they are rounded at the
end6. They have, in fact, very much the appearance
of extra-sized bassinets for very large babies. Some
are of a perfectly plain character, and are recommended as 'inexpensive,' while others are of a
more ornamental character, with stripes of blue,
or black and gold. But, of course, they are all
much less costly than the boxes in present use,
though this is a consideration which to most
people will appear comparatively immaterial in such
a case. The question is not one of expense, but of
decency and sanitary wholesomeness. A double
basket is provided for cases in which charcoal is required, the powdered dust being placed in the interval
from two to three inches — between the two baskets.
In most of the examples the meshes of the wicker
work are too close for the conditions of speedy disintegration ; and thus one of the practical difficulties of
the experiment is how to make the coffins sufficiently
open for this purpose, while at the same time strong,
and capable of retaining a proper hold of their contents. The solution of the problem may possibly be
found in the use of a temporary outer covering while
the body remains in the house, which will be removed
when it is deposited in the earth. No attempt was
made on this occasion to illustrate the manner of
filling up the baskets with ferns, lichens, mosses,
fragrant shrubs, evergreens, and so on, as pro
posed by Mr. Haden, but there were a
couple of coffins in which the wicker was
lined inside with a surface covering of
moss, and which certainly looked snugger, as a lady
observed, than the naked wicker-work, which rather
suggests cool summer wear. It is admitted that in
special cases linings of some imperishable material for
a few inches upwards from the bottom will be necessary, and in other cases some modifications of the
ordinary form, in order to insure a complete inclosure
of the body in wool, charcoal, or other disinfectants.
In appearance the wicker coffins when tilled up with
foliage must, we should think, be less gloomy and
repulsive than the wooden ones ; and to some minds
t'lere may, perhaps, be a sentimental feeling of relief
in the idea that screwing down is dispensed with.
On tlie whole, it may be supposed that any one,
judging by his feelings when alive, might prefer, as a
matter of taste, to be lightly swathed in herbs and
osiers rather than screwed down roughly in a hard,
tight box ; but, after all, the question of the fittest
mode of interment concerns the survivors rather than
the departed one, and it is necessary to recognise at
the outset that, where there is anything like natural
feeling, it is hopeless to think of reconciling the misery
of the event with any kind of aesthetic enjoyment. And
it is here that Mr. Haden has strangely erred. In his
second letter he seems to suggest that some measure of
consolation will be found for bereavement in the occupation of decking the body -with flowers. ' The men,'
he writes, ' are away on the business of the dead, the
women are left ; the mother, the wife, the daughter,
the stranger even that is within their gates. The dead
is in theii- keeping. Simple flowers and pleasant
memories suggest the grateful nature of their task.
Who that knows tliem will doubt their pious employment r ' In this passage Mr Haden strikes a discordant note which is surely contrary to the ordinary
feelings of human nature Affection for the dead is
usually mingled with a natural awe of the remains,
and nothing can be more repugnant to ordinary feelings than the notion of getting pretty and picturesque
effects out of the decoration of a bier. The associations of death must necessarily be dark and painful,
and they are only likely to be made more so by any
attempt to disguise tlie gloomy reality by fantastic
ornament. All that is required 'is respectful usage of
the dead, and reasonable consideration for the health
and feelings of the living. Some means must be taken.
. to prevent the spread of infection while the body is
at home; but there is no reason why the period should
not be shortened at least by prompt removal to a
mortuary, if not by actual interment ; and it is on this
and other sanitary points that Mr. Haden's remarks
are chiefly valuable. It cannot be denied
that he has established a strong case in favour of less
dilatoiy burial — and the positive statement which has
been signed by the chief surgeons aud physicians conclusively sets at rest the vulgar delusion with regard
to the risks of premature interment — and also in
favour of the disuse of envelopes for the body which
resist the natural processes by wliich it would other
wise be harmlessly resolved into its elements. He has
further demonstrated very clearly the danger of accumulating great masses of decaying animal matter in
unsuitable soil, and in the midst of a crowded population, as is the case with more than one of our
principal cemeteries. Whether or not a coffin can be
devised by which the secure confinement of injurious
emanations while the body is in the house can be re
conciled with facile natural resolution as soon as it is
deposited in the earth, remains to be seen. At present,
Mr. Haden's proposal, as far as it has assumed a
specific shape, is still in a purely experimental stage ;
but there can at least be no doubt as. to the soundness
of his views as to the course which should be followed
in regard to actual burial.
Why do we say Coffin? The Greek word
kophinos meant a basket.
As distinct from the
Egyptians, who embalmed and buried
their dead with great
ceremony, the later
Greeks preferred to
cremate the bodies and
then deposit the ashes
in an urn, which was
much reverenced.
The kophinos was
the temporary rush-basket in which the
body was placed on the funeral pyre.
BURIED IN A BASKET: Mr. Samuel Barrington Tristram, of England, who died last August, , left -
fil9i396. : He directed that he should
be buried in a wicker basket, not more
than two feet below the ground? and in
an-unblocked grave in a country church
yard. A codicil made' in '1899 stated
that he had fear of being buried, or
cremated, alive, and therefore asked that his executors see that a main artony was opened After bis apparent
death, or that some steps be taken to
ensure t5he destruction of life. He begged that his body mighit not be interred in a leaden' coffin, or deep in the earth.
He said he had no preference for consecrated ground, and that he wished to
be buried in a wicker basket on a slope
of the South Downs, facing the. south
of the sea. A further codicil directed
that his body should not be removed
for burial until the medical attendant
should have given a written certificate that he had severed the jugular
vein, and the place of burial be not in
a churchyard, but on the Steep Down
Sompting. No solicitor, stockbroker,
stockjobber, or any future husband of
his wife is to be appointed a trustee
of his will!
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