CORRESPONDENCE.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 64, 14 September 1908, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE CEMETERY SITE

(To the Editor.)

Sir, — I was greatly relieved to sco by your, last report of the County Council meeting, ' 'that the Council has abandoned that abhorrent idea of utilising a portion of the abattoir grounds for the Darinevirke . Cemetery. I see now it is proposed to select a site adjacent to the racecourse, and that this also )ias met with objections, which one of the councillors suggested could be dono inyaySvith by the planting of trees as a screen between the cemetery and the racecourse. Whether the trees wore to serve- as a blotter-put of the places of the dead, during the'excitement and joys of the race> or to act as a veil to the spirits of the dead on the indifference of the living to the solemn sadness of the tomb, was not stated in the proposition. It probably was intended as a dual accommodation. Whatever the ingenuous councilor meant, his sentiment. is well worth recognition, and if the site in question be decided on, it is to be hoped no time will- be lost in planting the trees, that they may produce the shelter desired in the smallest possible modicum of time. Some poor souls may -in their aversion to the world's pastimes consider it sinful to bury the dead within sound "of the cheers and shouts for the winning horse, but be that. as it may, Sir, Fwould rather choose a grave, within sound of merriment and .loud . hurrahs, than within hearing of the cries of wretched animals being slaughtered day after day, and .within sight of skinned blasts reeking with the smell of blood. Not that the. poor dead bodies know anything of what goes- on in their surroundings, but loving friends "are not all devoid of the sentiment, Avhich desires to make the spot in which their dear ones have been left in death's oinbracer— a spot untainted by the pollution of slaughtered beasts. Those who would visit the graves of their lost ones should not be exposed to the circumstances of seeing cattle driven nast to the slaughter yard. The slaughtering goes on. all the year — the racing only at long" intervals, and when so many other- days would, be available, on a race" day visits might ; be. postponed. It would be a bit upsetting, though, to one's sense ,of decency if a funeral had to take place on a race day. After all, what does it matter? Between business and sentiment nowadays the former takes the cake. — I am, etc., ■ - '

M.A

Dannevirke, September 14