The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-05-02
What Il Costs to Die.

| The Observer of this week shows how
costly thing i, is to die in the city Of
New York. 1t shows:
We have had our attention called by
several correspondents of late to the ex-
travagance of funerals, and there seems
| to be some degre of justice in their strict
ures. A physician who was commits
| stoned to convey the rem aims of q gen.
tleman, diving suddenly in this city, to
his home in New England informs us
that he was obliged to pay nearly three
| hundred dollars to the undertaken for his
services and attendance, before the coffin
was placed in the train for transportation.
| Another writes tha. in a country town,
where it was formerly customary to pro
vide with simplicity and economy for the
last repose of the body, while the neigh
| bors bore it on bier to the churchyard,
now it has become the fashion to send
| to the eitv, ten or twelve miles distant.
| for a showy burial case, hearse and
| carriages, and the usual accomplishments
of metropolitan funeral. In cities, the
| simplest funerals are often heavy bur-
dens upon families in moderate circum-
stances, and the items of the under
takers bill, which delicacy and propri-
! ety forbid the bereaved from disputing,
swell the amount to serious proportions.
| 1t is indeed costly thing to die, AS
| we'll as to live, in such city as New
York. where we have known of a child s
simple obsequies costing more than twice
| as much as the previous three or four
years Of its happy life
In some countries lti often the ruin
-.
for the father to die; all the members of
the household, including servants, must
be provided with full mourning those
that attend the funeral are provided with
suitable badges of grief; costly enter
tainment is served for their refreshment,
and long trains of half filed or empty
carriages follow, in mock solemnity. the
nodding plumes of the hearse to the
cemetery.
We regret to notice the importation of
such wastefu1 and extravagant customs
into the country. Some years ago the
Roman Catholic Bishop of New York
prohibited the use of moro than six car
riases at funerals in his jurisdiction :;
but the prohibition has been removed or
it is disregarded by his flock, as the long
lines of hacks that daily cross to Calvary
Cemetery will bear witness.
In this connection we quote some re-
marks from the National Freemason,
bearing upon this subject and heartily
indorse the concluding paragraph as
containing the teaching of Christianity
as we'll as Of Missionary upon this mat
ter:
"a bill of funeral expenses for New
York brother, who died away from home,
was shown us few weeks ago, sent by
the lodge of a distant jurisdiction,
amounting to six hundred dollars. We
have heard of the funeral expenses of
brothers amounting to two, three, four,
five, six, and even nine hundred dollars.
In the first case mentioned it was in
tended to honor the lodge in New York,
whence the brother allied. In the other
cases it was done. we doubt not. out of
true affection and regard. But it is, new
ertheless, a mistake, and should be intel
ligently corrected.
s.Plain, quiet, unobtrnsive funerals are
always in the best taste. Masonry also
teaches that charity suggests to spend
less money in mere outward demonstra-
ton, and give more to the widow and or
phan deprived Of a protector and friend
Honor the deceased brother by shedding
tears of affection over his grave, by imi
tating his virtues, and by cherishing his
surviving family"