The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 16, 1900, Page 20

in Lite They Live in e a S Lad i Members of That neient Brotherhood. THE SUNDAY o ath, inseparabl 3 i tage twine, have togeth =g come marchix posites will continue in company through- out all the infinite future. One 1s scarcely less interesting than the other. The new-born babe. that lively lit- tle being so full of great possibilities, is keenest interest and most tender so- @ to the thoughtful & ng Its stages & and growth; while tie rigid of \MUMM|E= o e which marks the Uimit of its intel. 1 cal development, too, concerns us and for many has a morbid fascination and attachment. In, the distant past. and even in our own day, the various dispositions of the dead present striking contrasts. There are innumerable examples illustrative of the thought and care bestowed upon the dead throughout the many centuries pre- ceding the Christian era. In the almost obliterated ruins and-tombs of Assyria, Babylonia and old Persia, those anclent = CAPUCHIN S countries extending beyond the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, archaeolo- #ists are finding evidences which not only prove that the disposition of the dead was & matter of great moment in those early times, but the contents of the handsocme sarcophagi which are being uncoVred ald greatly in unvelllng the secrets of the mighty past. Egypt affords intensely interesting and historically instructive examples along these lines. The pyramids of Ghizeh and the splendid tombs at Thebes and else- where have, after thousands of years, yielded up the parched. shrunken remafns of the Pharaohs and brought this age in- to touch with that early civilization. Dur- ing the lapse of many centuries ancient, Egypt's magnificent tombs have been completely covered by the shifting sands of the great deserg and thus lost sight of. But to-day, descending below the sur- face of that arid waste, by the ald of bright magnesium light one may see in a state of wonderful préfervation some ©f the marvelovs buiiding and Interior painting of those early Egyptlans. As souvenirs of such visits beads, articles of jewelry, pottery, clay lamps, a head, hand, foot or even a whole mummy In its original case and wrappings may be bought from trafficking Arabs, who are glad to sell these ghastly relics as ‘‘real antique” and for much less than they first ask for them. In Greece the tombs of {llustrious and notable anclents are still being discovered from time to time, and in Rome the ram- fications of the now depleted catacombs are to this day explored by students and tourists, In the basement of a Capuchin convent in Rome are accumulated the bones of 4000 deceased of that brotherhood. A long rectangular space under the structure proper is divided into several plats, each of w ch contains a number of graves, and at the head of each mound of rich brown earth is placed a cross bearing ‘the name and dates of birth and death of the buried. The vaulted celling and the walis of this covered burying ground are most fantastically decorated with the exhumed bones of former occupants of these graves. Rosettes are made of the bones of the spine, graceful scroll decorations of the ribs and delicate tracery and floral patterns of the smaller “bonés of .the hands and feet. Arches are covered with pelves, and in recesses formed of the bones of the legs and arms repose skel- etons robed in the somber brown cowl of the Capuchin habit. Chandeliers and hanging baskets uniquely put together suspend from the cefling. Skulls are free- Iy used in the general plan of decoration and naked and dark-robed skeletons in vpright, lying and reclining positions are conspieuous throughout the place. A Bar- barini Princess with her two sons form an interesting group i# one of the plats, and over these hangs a scale of justice cleverly made of human bones. The monks of this convent are always ready to show visitors through this gloomy part of their domicile, and these ascetics are thus afforded frequent opportunity of contemplating the scheme of mural deco- rations of which their bodles will one day form an integral part. Within many of Rome's truly superb basllicas, cathedrals and churches and in (vt o CALL. tts historical F immortal artists, | rave stat men and many of the greatest men t world has seen Jerusalem has its Holy Sepul e. Da mascusg the tomb of Saladin and Stamboul the alleged sarcophagus of Alexander the Great. In Stagkholm Hes vus Adolph whil Par # the last rest- ing place of the ambitious Napoleon, At Aachen and Rouen are, respectively, the tombs of Charlemagne and Jeanne d'Are London has its Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's, with their many lilustrious dead of this and other days. In the sub terranean chambers of an umimposing church in Vienna are the massive metal caskets of the Austrian royal house Under the many dimly burning lamps of the Arsenal Church of St Russian royalty sleeps in an atmosphere heavy with the odor of Incense and the perfume of fresh flowers which are al- ways kept on the costly tombs. One of the most weird collections of hu- man remains s to be seen in a Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Sicily. Dressed in the loosely hanging brown cowl of that order, an aged, tottering monk who bore resemblance to a mummy that might have come to life again, led the way to the vaulted lower regions of the large monastery,. where thousands of dust-cov- ered, grimy coffing of all shapes and sizes and some with broken glass tops fill the niches of the walls and are piled up in the passageways, Placed on some of the coffins, scattered about on the floors and stacked up in corners are large withered wreaths and other floral offerings, to *which are tied long tinsel-fringed stream- ers of ribbons now thickly coated with dust. Here Petersbu is a promiscuous assortment of withered, desiccated, mummified corpses of young and old and big and little of both sexes. There are tiny coffins in which lie infant bodies wrapped in all their baby finery of ribbons and laces now dis- colored and stained. Fancy a dull gray, dried-up, little eyeless baby skull in a dainty lace hood! A number of coffins contain several corpses, some lying head to head and some with the feet of one touching the head of the other. One section of these underground vaulis is reserved for the remains of ecclesias- tics. Like others these are ranged .n njches or hung up against the walls. Wita impressive A peeu f the air In thess chambers smposition, and ail odies placed within them gradually up 4 me mummified. In the eity of Bremen, Germany, a like phenomenon exists In the low portion of the eid Dome Church. Here, too, are a few bodles that have for centurfes resisted Ay, and to test the virtue of the blei keiler as it is called, dead birds, mice and other animals and even flowers are from ti to time hung up. In the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, an underground passage of the Pantheon also cont mummified human remains while at either end of the long passage which is lined with tham the longer mem- bers of the human skdletons are plled up ltke firewood and\ skulls are scattered about in an aimlesd fashion. In Canton, China, “The City of the Dead” is the brightest. cleanest, sunniest part of that awfully congested center of Chinese life. Once within the walls of this silent city a series of neatly paved courts is formed by low, shed-like build- ings with trim, red-tiled roofs. These buildings are divided into suites of two or three chambers each. The outer, a kind of anteroom, contains an altar Jaden with objects holy to the Chinese, and curling upward among the deitles and other accessories of the pagan altar the fumes of smoldering sandalwood and smoking punks permeate the whole in- terior. About the entrance to these suites and in the courts are scattered gr quantities of sacred white and gold paper Within the inner room, reached through a curtained doorway, the dead, in cum- bersome wooden coffins, are temporarily placed until a “nice grave” can be found. These Chinese coffins have convex sides and tops, are painted black and devold of any ornamentation. In an apartment worthy the dignity of the deceased (a Viceroy's wife) was an ex¢eptionally fine coffin. It measured fully eight feet in length by three feet in height and breadth, and was covered and rendered air-proof by a coat of lacquer two inches thick. It iIs sald to have cost $000 and had rested in this apartment f Death. nine years grave ture by the thr day be desecrat and the now reveren be carried off odd pennies, th for the vulgs ture generatior upon a Seti or fore them a F m der Grosse, a Napoleon or some Orie potentate. How Turks Sit at Table. Of late years some Turkish households have bec b rnized n their arra the ways of Paris. Turks frown on such new me consid it i i But conserv gled ways a In a conse Turkish household, rich or poor, no tables are 1 and chairs are unknown, Instead, there s a hugs wooden frame in the middid of the room about elghteen inches high en the family—the men 8nl cushions are brought, frame and on selves t around a The tray av or silver affair, »mbles to dine, placed upon the men seat them- rming a circle the these . plated ncial condition of th is de- posited a capact are ranged sa anchov- ies, caviare ar Inter- spersed with t sherbet, pleces of hot unleave and box- wood Knives 1o not figurs in the se has a napkin spread ug irmed w The bo another dish is a conglom together. try. The mess has 1 cook into portigns, with the aid of a spoc For the host to fish out wing or leg of a fowl and present guest is considered a great compiiment and for a Turk of high degree to roll 4 morsel between his igers and put it into the mouth of a visitor is looked upon as §ood manners,