New-York tribune., 1872-01-30
SyJLLrPOX FUNERALS. ).

Cardinal Cullen, we learn, has issued u pas
iOral letter in Great Britain against wakes
and crowded funerals during the prevalence
OF smallpox, "as they frequently emu ID
"riOtOus excess and are sure means OF spread
! " ino coulaoiop.n Common sense has taught
the people in this country SO much Without
any pastoral letter. One OF the saddeSt fea-
lures of the prevalence Of the disease IN a
neighboring city, has been the frequent siSht
of the undcrtaker's wagon driven at iuh
sneed toward the cemeteries, followed some
times by a solitary hack. 1t is more bitter
than death itself to most of us, to feel that
tbe door body so dear TO them now may some
day be an object of disgust and terror TO those
nearest to us, to be hurried under ground
with ayerted faces, and sigh of relief when
we arc out of sight. But even in such a
funeral there are cOmpeDsatOns. The small
Dox patient may be sure there will be no
sham over his grave; the solitary mourner
in tho hack behind follows him ont of a great
love and grief, and not because 1t Is the
fashion, OF for the sake of pleasant drive
Pompous and unmeaninS parade over the
dead became so universal a custom, year or
two ago, from the squabbling, drunken. NOISY
crowds that trailcd their slow length over the
country after Lincoln, Farragut, and Peabody
down to the long array of hacks full OF gos-
sips at village funerals, that The TRIBUNE
called attention to the practice, and expressed
the disgust of all sensible and right minded
people with it, in which expression we were
heartily joined by both press and pulpit.
Since then there has been marked improve
ment in the habit among our higher classes
but it still prevails among those whose social
position il so ill-assured that they seize with
avidity upon every pretext, even the ueatn oi
a husband or child. to display their money, or
style, or fashionable acquaintances to the
world. 1t would be hard to tell for whose
behOof tho nodding plumes, or train or hreu
carriages, or all the other idiotic aping OF griet
is intended, that, under the undertaker's guid-
ance, goes grinning and bowling up to the
very gates of the grave with our dead bodies.
The spectators, 10 doubt, enjoy the melan-
choy Utilization as they would any raree- show;
but few of us would be willing to pay for
their entertainment second time who have
once known what it was 10 he seized by the
iron hand of etiquette and forced to play the
leading part in tho solemn farce at tho very
moment when our souls lay bare in their
anguish before God. who had taken from u.
our best beloved.
The usual apology, We believe, for all this
tawdry and costly display is that it shows re-
spect for the dead to whom it is vaguely sup
posed to contribute a certain pleasure. Now,
there may, we confess, be among us certain
Narcssas, AS in the days Of Pope, who, dying,
would cry:
zone need not sure. be hideous il ones dead;
Here, Betty, givo this cheek touch Of rcd:'
but, after death, having touched that unknown
standing ground where even the soul of Mar
cissa is naked and alone, without rag of
brocade or lace to bear her company; when
the awful reality of her life and Gods mean
ing in it has dawned upon her for the first
time-whcn she has seen Hm-wth what eyes
will she look back to the paltry hired parade
above her open graveP There might, too, we
fancy, linger in her soul some hOmesick yearn-
ing for a sign Of the old love she has known
so long. All the dead, we cannot but think,
turn back hungry eyes, asking, "DO they love
"us yetw If they can see Us wait until we are
decorOusly vailed in crepe to shed our tears, OF
that we mingle with our grief, as we touch the
cold body that will not move again, complacent
admiration of the funercal flowers, or specula-
tions as to the probable bill of the undertaken
what theni For whose pleasure, then, is this
ghastly game played3
--~--