The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-01-16
For the ESrfRPRrsE.1
Some Funeral Customs.

[For the ESrfRPRIsE.l
Some Funeral Customs.
DEAR Mr.. EDITOR Il think that it is
in accordance with the eternal fitness of
things that should write you another
private letter for the benefit of the pub
lie. A late occurrence or two has turned
my mind to the subject indicated above,
and as we live in an age Of reform, i have
wondered whether it would not be well
to suggest few reforms in the line Of
our mortuary observances. There are
several things to which permit me to call
attention, as being decidedly objectiona-
BILE in our present funeral ussges.
First of all, we object to carrying the
corpse to the church and exposing 1t to
the gaze Of o multitude. It seems too
much like making spectacle Of the poor
cold mass of clay. 1t would be far bet
ter to expose it to view only in the house
of mourning, to the few friends who
might wish to take q parting look, and
whose last long glance would be that of
affection and not of curiosity. But If
nothing will do but unveiling it to public
gaze, in o public place-then we suggest
that the mourners themselves take their
farewell in private. Our custom which
at least, expects them to make demon
stration of their grief in the presence of
a crowd, is q needless piece Of cruelty.
Sorrow for the dead is q sacred thing,
and we should not compel its exhibition
to crafty our desire to know how much
"they really thought of the deceased" !"
Then there is another thing to which
we take exception, and that Is the vast
amount of culogy that is often lavished
upon the departed. Perhaps it would be
more accurate to say that we do not OBJ
ject to the eulogy, but we think that ii
comes in in the wrong place. We think
that it ought to come before death. We
are in favor Of saying good words to our
friends, and about our friends while they
are yet in the flesh, and in q condition to
appreciate them. While many quote
with approval that precept of Solon:
Concerning the dead speak nothing but
good" there is another of his precepts
which is too often forgotten, "Revile no,
the living" This is by far the noble1
maxim of the two. There are many
hearts in the dust to-day, that would have
been cheered and encouraged,-and that
might have been made to beat longer
than they did,-if even tithe of the good
words spoken over the coffin, had been
uttered during life. There are many toll
ers in the household - patiently bearing
their burdens and doing their WORK, r. to
whom few words of appreciation from
those for whom their lives are worn out
would be better than gold. There are ma
ny lsborers for the p1blic good, whose
lives are spent in the interests of human.
ity,- whose deeds are unnoticed until
those who wrought them have gone, dy.
ing perhaps with the feeling that they
had lived in vain. But at their graves i,
is discovered that they have been public
benefactors, and their work is lauded in
terms of warmest commendation. Blu,
what is it worth now to him whose ears
that all just and merited praises should
be used, not to gild the coffin, but to
brighten iife's daily pathway.
There is yet another thing in our pres.
ent funeral usages that we desire to en-.
ter protest against, and that is the
fashion of wearing mourning. We OBJ.
ject to it because it is merely fashion,
and fashion without any rational basis.
The amount of black in which we shroud
ourselves is no sign of the amount OF
grief we feel at our friends departure.
And then when we relapse into half
mourning is it an indication that our
grief is now only half as great as when
we wore full mournings And then when
the sombre garb has been laid entirely
aside, does it show to the world that ouI
friend has passed entirely from mind and
that We are no longer sorry that he was
taken away? Is this the philosophy of
wearing mourningr If not then what is
itt We fear it will be difficult to discov-
er. We fear that there is no philosophy
in it. We fear that it is like a great
many other dictates of fashions mere
caprice. We can not, certainly, adopt
the theory that q suit of mourning is in
tended to be q sort of thermometer Of
the state Of the affections, to let the world
know from time to time, at what point
our sorrow for the dead stands. But we
object to it again, because it imposes up.
on many poor families an expense which
they are i'll able to bear. 81 long as it is
the fashion they feel that they must hsve
these clothes as well as anybody else.
So indeed they mns:, unless they want
to excite comment in the community, ,and
be looked upon by other people as being
extremely heartless and not caring fol-
their friends. The money thus expended
is often needed by these poor people to
buy food to prevent their own funerals
from being next in order.
Now, Mr.. Editor, when We find that
everybody is acting upon the suggestions
here made-as of course they will-we
may point out few more Objectionable
features in our funeral customs.
PoLoNIUs.
Oberlin, Ohio, Dec %, 1878.