The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1877-05-04
Expensive Funerals.


The following address to the public was
made by the ministers Of Nashville, Tenn.
The good sense of the arguments will strike
every one:
We deem it our duty as Christian minis-
ters to utter word of sober counsel to the
people whom we serve, on a subject, the del
icate nature of which, we trust, we fully ap-
preciate, viz, extravagant expenditures In
connection with the burial OF our dead. Our
motive for speaking is two.fold. Ejrst, from
our position, we are more fully coghizant Of
the existing evil than Others are likely to be-
come Secondly, we have been appealed to
by a number &C the wisest and most prudent
men among US to give our influence to the
correction of abuses in this direction. Gus
toms prevail which entail upon families In
moderate circumstances debts which harrass
them for years; and lead, in many cases, to
intolerable burdens. The facts are 50 well
known that we do not feel it incumbent up
on us to enter into detailed statement Of
them. The circumstances Of funeral occa-
sions are such that the nearest relatives are
deprived Of all power TO Judge with calm
ness or control expenditures with prudence.
Often they satisfy themselves with giving
the matter into the hands of Others, with the
single request that such a burial is to be
given as custom demands. 1t needs, there
fore, that custom be wisely regulated.
After thoughtful consideration of the re-
forms needed and practicable, we advise, in
., ,c aul ,bor
nala simplicity and utility be the criteria--
suggesting that display on such occasions be-
longs to paganism rather than Christianity.
The reform of most immediate value
which we would suggest is, that the duty Of
attendance ON the part Of the public at fu-
nerals should be universally considered as
ended when the religious service is conclu-
ded at the church or the residence OF the de-
ceased; that the progress to the cemetery
and the interment should be private; that
the family provide no carriages except for
their own use. Wealthy Christian men
will readily practice this selfdepial when
we assure them that the keen and pressing
wants of widows and orphans all about us
plead for this alienation. Public sentiment
controls in these delicate matters, and they
give form and force to this sentiment.
Allow us to bring to your attention one
other desirable change. 1t often occurs,
thot the fond desire of friends to obtain the
latest possible sight of their dead prevents
the permanent fastening of the coffin-lid un-
til after the close of the religious service,
when space is given for those who may
wish to approach the corpse for a last look.
For two reasons we recommend the abolition
of this practice. First: Medical science
opens to us numberless dangers as attendant
upon the presence of exposed dead bodies in
crowded rooms. Secondly: Our own hearts
indicate to us that the preferable time for
this last look is before the assembling Of the
people which wait upon the funeral service.
We would afiactionately suggest, therefore,
that in all cases the coffin be Theoretically
closed before the service, and that the body
be not detained for what often becomes not
Only trying but dangerous tax upon the
already overstrained nerves of sorrowing
families.