The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-01

Should these reproaches ever be- justified by
the fact, no greater calamity could ever 90
cur to cur State. It would be death blow to
the growth Of our city's commerce. It would
pauperize and paralyze our agricultural In.
terests; it would Danish enterprise, discour-
age immigration and produce widespread
exodus Of labor and capital.
4 ............. .
COSTLY FUNERALS.
The other day Judge Asa Packer, the richest
man In Pennsylvania, died, and In accord
ance with his previously expressed desires,
| was consigned to his last resting place with
out any pomp or pageantry whatever. He
was buried with less Of show and parade than
would have attended the funeral Of one Of his
miners the only display being the multitude
1t friends and dependents who gathered to-
gether, out OF love and honor, to follow him
to his grave.
The Philadelphia Times makes this cireum-
stance the text Of an admirable article In de-
probation of the absurd extravaganza Of
modern funerals, which has become the con-
spicuous folly Of the age TO no community
could the moralizing OF the times apply with
more force or truthfulness than to New Or
leans; nowhere else is the "ignominy Of the
grave" Wanted with such pretentious and
costly ceremony and such meretricious dis
play.
That this Is true Is but q proof Of the In
stinctive fondness OF men, III all conditions Of
existence, for pomp and vanity. But OF all
the ways In which this weakness manifests
Itself, 1t appears to us that the most IRA
tIonal, the most absurd and homogeneous, is
the modern funeral. Of all things In the
world It would appear, to any right feeling
man, that d. corpse would be the very last to
be devoted to the purposes Of gaudy display
and empty pageantry. Yet these are precisely
the uses to which 1t Is put, and the strangest
part OF It all is that SO to do is regarded as an
office Of love and reverence.
As the Times very truthfully observes,
there is a common belief extending through
oil the grades Of society, and It ID stronger
among the very poor, that q funeral d the
ultimate proof and test OF responsibility, and
that the pomp and extravaganza that attend
itRare sure testimonials to the social standing
and individual worth OF the deceased.
This Ia all wrong, and equally SO from the
standpoint OF religion, OF good taste and Of
practical common sense. One Of the first
lessons sought to BE- impressed BY the Chris
tian philosophy and religion was the uncer-
tainty, the short duration and the inconse-
quence Of human existence, as compared with
the glories OF Immortality and the joys Of ever
lasting salvation, which were pictured and
promised to every true believer. To these teach
ings more than to any other circumstance, was
due the substitution Of the grave, with It's
loathsOmeness, it's rottenness and decay, for
the graceful urn, with its poetic associations
and unrepulsive ashes. 1t was the grave that
afforded the primitive Christian his most
forceful illustration OF the vast difference be.
tween mortality and immortality. The re-
pulsiveness Of the grave, the decaying flesh,
the Writhing worms, these we're the 'tcor-
ruptibility" that men put off to assume the
'.incorruptibility' Of everlasting life.
In these modern times this idea Is antago-
nized by all our funeral rites and customs.
With our metallic coffins we seek to preserve
the bodies Of the dead, and thus to render the
process Of "dust to dust, ashes to ashes," a
little slower but none the less certain. II the
desire Is to preserve the bodies Of our dead,
we might learn much from the Egyptian en-
balmers. II this be our idea, and IL 1t is our
purpose to rob death of It's responsiveness, to
reconcile men to 1t as the end of all trouble
and care, as a condition OF absolute repose
and humiliation; II, with the Epicurean, we
wish to teach that 1t ID the end Of all and not
the transition to new and grander destiny,
1t would better serve our purposes, from an
esthetlcal standpoint, to revive the funeral
pile and the classic urn.
But this would all be opposed to the Chris
tian theory, which led to interment. Still it is
folly to attempt to engraft upon Christian
practices the graceful and beautiful ideas Of
the poetic heather. II those ideas maintain,
It would be but common sense to adopt the
methods Of disposing OF the dead which are
consistent with them. It would be cheaper to
put an obulus in the mouth of the dead &c
pay his due to Charon than to escort him
| with costly pageantry, to the portals Of the
other world. From religious standpoint,
then, we say that the modern funeral is all
| wrong and utterly opposed to the teachings
and traditions Of Christianity.
| AS matter Of taste, it Is none the less OBJ
| jectionable; but it is principally from an
economic standpoint that we desired to dis.
euss this question. Among the rich there is
no need for sacrifice Of anything but good
taste and common sense; but among the Door
the cost Of this parade very often involves
downright suffering and distress. It's bv No
means an uncommon thing to find families
absolutely suffering for the ordinary neees.
saries Of life after having expended their
poor pittance to bury a relative. in
most instances their protector and
| '.bread-Winner, with somewhat more
than usual splendor and parade
Yet people resent as an outrage on their
piety any remonstrance against such extrava-
ganee. Nevertheless, we do venture to ex-
postulate and to cite the example furnished in
the modest and unpretenttous obseaules of
Judge Packer as one to be followed every