t above ground to become an abomination in the
nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses
and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have
been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston,
and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration.

"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred
teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires
yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands
of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist
atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the
corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers,
then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with
pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the
soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate
of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with
mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the
flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _debris_,
three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line
of cremation fires poisoned the air.

"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to
pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man
in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and
curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of
sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive
bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose.

"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded
me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for
amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying.

"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my
knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say
nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.'

"'What is in there now?' I asked.

"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn
all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you
know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere
pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have
been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile
distant), wher