Smyrna times., 1879-10-29
Simple Funerals.

year ago Bishop Corrigan issued some
instructions to the priests in his Diocese.
which were Intended to discourage ostenta.
tlou3 and expensive display at funerals
The orders were explicit on one point, and
forbade absolutely more than twelve car
rlaSes to follow a dead body to its resting.
place. 1t seems that this order has been
dISobeyed until it has come to be considered
dead letter. On last Sunday afternoon,
however Father licmEesscy took a bold stand
Iii Jersy City, and shut the Cathedral doors
against funeral while forty carriages were
IN line, and refused to open them and pro.
ceed with the services until the extra car.
rlascs had been dismissed. Father Hen.
nessey's action was altogether wholesome
and commendable. This oppressive OK
| travagance at funerals has been the theme
OF much discussion among clerEynen and
intelligent laymcn Of other denominations.
Within year or SO several ecclesiastical
bodies have recorded their protests against
the costly ceremonial which modern fashion
en}oIns. The most elaborate deliverancc
| which has come to ouI notice was from a
Presbyterian Association at Pittsburg. Penn.
| This protest went over the whole ground.
and IN addition to Il condemnation Of costly
Baskets and funeral trains, argued strongly
and sensibly against the preaching OF
| funeral sermons, and against holding these
solemnities on Sunday when this could pos.
! slbly beavoided. It's plain that when funeral
ceremonies take place on Sunday in a
church at the time of regular service the
established preparations for worship are, in
a measure, broken up; and it is equally
! plain that when little can be said Of the
dead which will alleviate the sorrow of the
! living, the officiating clergyman would
| feel relieved if custom did not compel hin
to pronounce an Grafton over the coffin
But after all the crying evil is the one
against which Father Iiennessey leVelled hi.
severe rebuke.
The enormous charges Of undertakers
whose interest it is to encourage this costly
fashion, and whose bills, from the particu
larry delicate circumstances of the case, are
certain 40 be paid with as little noise anC
protest as possible, are especially burden
! some to the poor. Death levels all distinct
ions. The poor man is eager to testify tina
his grief IS as sincere as that Of his wel.to-dC
neghbOr, and his burden is peculiarly op
pressive because it is often added to tn,
expense incurred by long illness, and Otter
too, when the honoIed dead was the bread
winner for the household, IL is a tax paiC
Tor the loss Of the only one who was able t.
furnish the means to meet it. The dut
plainly rests upon people of means to Sc
the example OF unostentatious burial cere
monies, and thus relieve their poorer neigh
bors from the temptation to indulge in thi
burdensome rivalry, for to this the matte
comes at last.
No doubt some formal respect is due t
the dead, but there IS little danger that an
protest against e%travagant display vii
lead to undue carelessness orneglect in thi
particular Some allowance, too, must b
made for the selfshness and vanity of grief
and yet it may as well be said that elaborat
burial cases, long professions, costly fora
designs and the rest are not so clsarl
tender and touching tributes to the dead a
they are manifestations of essential va
garity on the part of the living.