May 8, 1858
…Nature has made it very difficult for us to do anything pleasant with a dead body. God knows best; but I wish he had so ordered it that our mortal bodies, when we have done with them, might vanish out of sight and sense, like bubbles. A person of delicacy hates to think of leaving such a burthen as his decaying mortality, to be disposed of by his friends; but, I say again, how delightful it would be, and how helpful toward our faith in a blessed futurity, if the dying could disappear like vanishing bubbles, leaving perhaps a sweet fragrance, diffused for a minute or two throughout the death chamber. This would be the odor of sanctity! And if sometimes the evaporation of a sinful soul should leave a smell not so delightful, a breeze through the open windows would soon waft it quite away.
I REALLY like this idea!
ReplyDeleteIt beats Soylent Green anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting idea, I have never read Nathaniel Hawthorne, but he seems an elegant author.
ReplyDeleteYes...if only. It would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "burst one's bubble." ;)
ReplyDeleteben, i concur!
ReplyDeleteglebe, yes this is a much better fate than soylent green.
paul, you should definitely check out more of hawthorne's work, he's awesome!
elizabether, good one...haha.
I will do Aguilar. Happy New Year.
ReplyDelete