Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-01-27
Expensive Funerals.


The report that the remains Of Gerrit
Smith, ono Of the best known and wealthiest
men in this country, we're "placed in a
black walnut case, utterly devoid Of orna-
ment,' is worthy Of moments reflection.
In our cities, especially, very few people can
now afford TO die or have death come in their
families. In many instances the expenses
are quite alarming awe read, mot long ago.
about young lady being buried with thou
sends OF dollars worth Of iewelry upon her.
we read another instance of coffin that
cost q thousand dollars. 70 is no rare thing
20 read Of displays Of flowers at funerals
that cost hundreds of dollars. The preva-
lent fashion is 10 turn the funeral into n
public display The management of it is
committed 10 the undertakers who act the
part Of showmen, making the dead face,
which is unable 10 rcbuke the gaze Of the
curious throng, the central figure in the
show. How ofter woman. who was ex-
tremely sensitive reh ing in her lifetime,
has had her face - J.sea in death 10 the un-
sympathiling eyes Of a crowd that she had
never known Such exhibitions have a
strange facination for some persons We
have heard Of man, but never had the
pleasure of personal acquaintance with
him, who had an exquisitely morbid fond
ness for seeing people die. lie sought adj
mission 20 the death chamber for the purpose
OF witnessing the dying ones struggle with
the last great enemy. We do not dispute
with any one on matters Of taste. We sim
ply reflect that some people have no imagin-
alton. 1t may be said too, that these mat
ters concern only, the bereaved family and
friends and that it is vulgar and heartless
TO consider the question Of cost on these oc-
casions, as much so as when the penitent
woman broke the box Of costly alabaster
upon the body Of her adored Master. When
these paraphernalia OF grief show only the
tender sorrow of the heart for departed
friends we refrain utterly from asking " TO
what purpose is all this cost 2" But in
many cases, in the majority, perhaps, they
show no such thing. Genuine sorrow shrinks
from advertisement by the milliner or the
halter. 1t has depth that is not to be mea-
sured by the length of the undertaker's bills.
We take no pains TO conceal our distaste
for the long funeral professions Of our Irish
but we do not always remember
that each friend pays his own fare that the
expense does not come on the bereaved fam
lily. Funerals are often postponed till Sun
day for no other reason, except to attract a
larger crowd than could attend on a week
day, and to facilitate more elaborate dis
play. Professional undertakers have said
that the principal difficulty in arranging fu-
nerals arises from the pride Of friends. More
carriages than are necessary must be pro-
vided, more flowers than any one knows
what to do with must be furnished and
lavish expenditure for mourning apparel
must be made, and all for the sake of max
ing a show. And in the same manner exac-
tions are frequently made of clergymen on
IL.
class of men would at no other times endure
People often seem on these occasions to have
lost their reason. They are incapable of
any thing except the one all-ab-
sorbing idea. If the clegyman has previous
engagement at the very hour when the fune-
raj is appointed, he is in danger of endless
disgrace if he mentions it as an excuse for
asking to have the funeral appointed at an
other hour He must say just enough and
just the right things in the service, or at least
do as well by this departed one as he had
done on other occasions, or he is in danger
of giving mortal offense. To borrow a figure
from Tommy Taft, he is expected to give
every one a good letter of introduction TO the
port to which he has sailed. And he is ex-
pected to make it equally favorable to all.
To show how sensitive and unreas0ning peo-
pie are in regard to this, we need only refer
to the Indignation which has been poured
upon the ministers in Pittsfeld Mass, for
declining to attend funerals on Sundays, ex-
cept in exceptional cases, and for asking to
be excused from going TO the cemetery in
the winter months. There are no burials in
the winter the body only deposited in the
tomb, and therefore no service can be per-
formed 10y the ministers. But they have
been accused of being "on strike, because
they asked to be excused from a silent ride
of two hours to the door of the torlb.
The time will come, we do not doubt, when
these expensive funerals will be considered
vulgar and barbarous. People will see by
and-by that they are in violation of good
taste and every sense of propriety. The
time will come we believe, when the funeral
service will be at the house, and the burial
be private one and at the convenience of
the family, when those who loved the de
parted one can go with the minister to COM
NIT the body to the grave. There is an ex-
tremely touching verse somewhere in Mrs.
Browning's poems, the precise language of
which we do not now recall, in which she ex-
presses the wish that no one should look
upon her face after she was dead This is a
sentiment which some persons cannot appre-
ciate, but it indicates what every one is more
or less sensible of, that there is much in the
prevailing style of funerals that is essentially
rude. .--Ruidnd Herald