American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-05-08
Funeral Reform.

There are two occasions in the life O
most families when they are apt to b
more or less ostentatious, and that i
where one of their number marries or dies
No matter how ill people can afford it. tn
marriage or the funeral must be of kim
to impress heirneishbors. This is consid
cred being married or being buried in
proper and becoming fashion. OF cours
there is more excuse for an expensive wed
ding than for an expensive funeral. Th'
former is natural occasion for rejoicing
and holiday making of any sort is usually
accompanied by some display and tinery
Prudent people might say that the bride
ought TO wear a dress which will he o
use to her afterward, and that the bride
groom ought not to incur expenses which
may seriously hamper his immediate fu
ture. But then people are not always in
clined to listen to the dictates of prudence
Marriages are comparatively rare occur
rences in the history of most families, and
few grudge the money.
But there is far less excuse for the os-
tentation of our funerals. against which a
late conference Of the Methodist pastors
of this city has justly protested Every
body is agreed that funerals, as at present
carried on, are expensive in the extreme.
An ordinary funeral involves an outlay OF
from 500 to 800, while that which is a
grade or more removed from this is pro-
portionatelv higher 1t is not the under
takers who are to be specially blamed for
this, but the relatives of the deceased per-
son. However much they may be, at
other times, in favor of economy and
simplicity in such matters. few have the
moral courage to act on their convictions
They fear that their neighbors may i'm
agine that some slight is being put on the
memory of their departed brother or sister
At such moment they do not count
the cost The tall black feathers,
for instance, on the top of
hearse are quite as expensive as they are
ugly: but then, they say, other people
have them. and why not We? In many
cases the first violent shock of grief makes
people strangely sensitive to outward
opinion. They wish all the world to
know how deeply the deceased person was
beloved. To haggle about expense at
sort of sacrilege. They cannot inquire
into the undertaker's charges: on the con-
trary, they generally expect him TO have
everything done well and becomingly, so
that the last tribute of respect shall not be
wanting. Naturally, the undertaken has
his traditions regarding what is well and
becoming; and, as a matter of course, he
has his little profits out of the loan of the
huge feathers and the silver mountings.
that the ostentation of modern funerals is
rather desire to awaken the admiration
of the spectators than an evidence of grief.
Many proposals to reform this state of
affairs have been mooted; and here and
there certain of them have been adopted
and put into practice with more or less
success. In Chicago it is proposed, first,
to begin with the religious centers-the
churches of the different denominations.
A al ff,I
take the initiative in this reform by hav-
ing vaults built in some convenient part of
their respective places of worship The
funeral services may be held either at the
residence of the deceased or at the church
to which the person belongs. In the
event of the funeral being held at the
church the remains are to be quietly con-
veyed from home to the sanctuary, where
the last rites are performed. The casket
is then deposited in the vault. the mourners
are dismissed, and in few days, or few
weeks at most, the body is removed with
out display or ostentation to the cemetery.
This simple service will do away with all
needless expense for carriage hire, show,
etc.
In London and the other large English
cities funerals are still more ostentatious.
Sashes of silk and Grape, boxes of gloves,
sham mourners with slaves, and other
barbaric &c trappings of wo'' largely tend
to swell the aggregate Of the undertaker's
bill. Our English cousins are, however,
not satisfied with mere pecuniary reform
they propose also to lessen the gloom
which surrounds their funerals, and for
this purpose the so-called "Christian
Burial Societies. have lately been Or
ganized. According to their prospectus,
they intend not only to avoid the serious
expense of funerals, which is often a seri-
Gus strain upon the pockets of people |
who can i'll afford it, but they
will see that the burial of the dead,
F." while losing none of its solemnity,
shall be made, by means of flowers,
music, ETC.. as bright and cheering as
possible. The emblems of Christian faith
and hope shall not be, as they now are,
by their absence; the hue of
grim despair and wretchedness is to be
if not superseded altogether, by
colors grateful to the eye, and more in
keeping with the Christian belief concern
ing the death in Christi
We trust this hint may not be lost on
our own reformers. Death is sad enough
in Itself
oh, It is a cruel thing
To see the human soul take wing,
In any shape, in any form.
Why then not take lesson from the
ancients, who represented death as an
angel with an extinguished torch, and not
as hideous skeleton with a scythe =
Chicago Inter-Oeean.