CREMATION.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 15, 15 October 1874, Page 3

CREMATION.

As cremation (has now, been legalised in New Zealand, -the following extract from the * Chicago Inter-ocean' will be interesting" to our readers :■— " Creina--tionhas touched the: Highest altitude of all ite r greatness., Nothing now remains .but to enshrine its name, in the poetry of life, death, and immortality. A _$rei-c& dheniist has discovered a mode by which the ashes of a deceased, friend may be so disposed as"' to recall the memory of a loved one, and a-t the same, timto to form a graceful ornament to the person. - For some time this ingenious youth had exhibited a handsome seal ring to the lapidaries of his acquaintance, and had even begun to make a considerable income by betting that no one,; after three guesses, could tell the material of which the seal was made. He invariably won, and after pocketing the money would exclaim: ''It is my dear dead wife. I wear her on my finger to keep alive pleasant rev membrances." It was too true. He had condensed the body of ■• bis ! -wife, 7 polished her, and set her in a ring. The fieM for future disposal of the dead in this graceful and handy manner is inexhaustible. A. .widower might be known like a tree, by his ■ rings. . ■ The dear dead first to be worn on the third finger, the sainted second upon the first, ana so on. He might even devote his thumb to the exclusive use of His various mothers-in-law. As a dialogue of the period, somewhere about 1890, we might imagine the following : " What a pretty pin, George; who is : it ?" "Oh ! its only my poor old grandmother— --makes up well, don't she?" Or, perhaps, the following: Gushing Young Lady — " What a love of a pendant! Why it's, not— - — !" " Yes, ie is poor Harry. Could'nt stand my marriage, you k-n ow — prussic acid and that sort of thing $ but the setting is sweet, isn't ii ?," Persons who are partial to what they call family might have all their ancestors done up in seals ; and; be known, like an Indian from his scalps, by the number which hang from a watch pocket. But the idea is too vast to compress within a small paragraph. Cremation jewellery must henceforth be regarded as one of the dead arts brought to life.