Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-08-24
Posthumous Pride--FuneraI Ex-
trayaEance.

Inc late popular Joseph HoXIe, on
once being asked, during his palmy
days, what was his greatest ambition,
Immediately replied: ITO have big
funeral" A few years since an elder
ly physician, living south of Lockport,
n. Y, selected the spot in the country
cemetery where he desired to be bur
led, and erected at the head of the in
tended grave a full life size marble
statue of himself The three thousand
dollars expended in the work embraced
all he possessed in the world, with the
exception of his small farm and his
children, along with others, sneer to
this day ut what is termed the old mans
folly. In the village of Cumberland,
not far from Troy, dwelt an old couple
for many years. The husband was
first taken away; now the wife has
followed, leaving will in which three
hundred dollars, or one fourth of the
value of the property, is set apart for
a monument, not to her husband and
herself, but to herself alone, Nancy
Marcellus. 1t was the dying wish of
the old lady that n pretentions slab
should loom above the humble head
stones in the Cumberland burying-
ground. After living in a tenement
house and driving peddler's cart all
her life. Mrs. Killoran, an English
widow, has recently, in accordance
with a previously expressed determin
alton and promise, been buried in state
at an expenditure of over two thous-
and dollars. The undertaken of a
Congregational church in the suburbs
OP 4Io
plot of ground for his own grave, and
placed q stone at the head upon which
was designated his vocational blank
space being left to record the time of
his death and the number of individ-
uals he had buried. He is still alive,
and apparently takes satisfaction in
looking forward to the large burial
statistics which will figure on his
tombstone.
We smile at such cravings for
Posthumous display, and wonder
whether the persons who manifest
them can be in their right mind. And
yet, hos, much more sense do people
generally now manifest in their fun
eral rites and displays? We are told
by Sir John Lubbock that in China q
COAAH ID oIl
present for an aged relative, especially
if he or she be in bad health. Very
large sums of money are expended
| for these coffins, but, as we learn from
Rev. John Nevius' recent volume on
the. Chinese, they constitute but a
small part of the funeral expenses
Owing to them, many families are bur-
dened with debt from one generation
to another. In order to furnish, tor
a few days, an ostentatiOus and empty
display in honor of the dead, the sur
viving descendants are embarrassed
and distressed for a lifetime The
funeral ceremonies are continued for
forty nine days, during which period
large company of priests are employ
ed to chant short prayers for the de-
parted spirit. We are accustomed to
think and speak of the Chinese as
heather, and we send missionaries to
convert them but how much do we
differ from them in the above customs,
so far as prodigality and excess are
concerned
The desire for display on funeral
occasions keeps pace with the pass on
for expensive weddings, until some
people have come to act as if they
thought all of ones worldly goods
should be expended in commemora-
ting his marriage and death. A few
Years ago simple coffin, plain hearse,
and few carriages were looked upon
as q sufficient manifestation of respect
and regard for the dead. Now costly
shrouds and appointments, the mos
expensive coffins, and long trains o.
carriages are regarded as essential t.
''genteel'' funeral. Those who have
wealth can make these outlays withou
infringing upon their actual wants.
Fashions dictates, however. lead many
thousands to pursue a similar course
when, by so doing, they rob them
selves of the necessaries of life. How
many widows devote to their funeral!
more than half the funds left by hus
bands; and how many children, in dis
playing filial regard for dead parents
encroach upon their bread money !
AS the young married couple will
squander hundreds of dollars on
snowy wedding tour, and return to TAX
lodgings in the sky-parlor of cheaI
clearinghouse, so will widows anC
children often devote to a husband
and parents funeral what is actually
required to keep soul and body togeth
er; and all to conform to custom anC
be ''genteel."
Undertakers are frequently like 81
many leeches, who improve the-occa
sion OF their mourning and grief t.
defraud people. Assuming that Their
will be no demurrer to bills upon sucl
occasions, they make exorbitant charg
es for everything. Go, for example
into almost any warehouse, and it will
: be found that coffins which should b.
sold for from twenty to forty dollars
= are held at all the way from one hun
dred dollars, upward. Livery men ant
grave diggers practice similar extor
tions. In fact, here in New York on,
; talrly runs a gauntlet of sharpers be
/. fore he can deposit the remains of
friend in their final resting place. Thi
, is due to the prevailing disposition t,
yield to custom. If people, instead o
thinking it improper to protest at sue
!, times, would order undertakers out O
the house when they assume a stand
S and deliver attitude, the scale of fun
eral charges would materially diminish
Denades once condemned an Athena
undertaken to long Imprisonment fo
t demanding unreasonable profit. ]
: might be well, perhaps, were Athena
justice to be enforced at the presen
> time.
We have sDolxen 1,loiDIv on +his euL