, 1881-12-09
i Lonesome Business.

| Did | ever bury anvOne who was
/ alive" said the undertaken, leaning
| against a comfortable-loOking black wal
nut casket, and polishing off dusty
name plate We'll, no, but l came near
/ 1t once. 1t was in the winter time, too,
and when l got TO the house where my
services were needed ! found the win
| dows of the room wide open and the cold,
wintry air blowing through, and there
was no one in the room with the corpse,
| it was so chilly there. 1t was woman
who had died-a young, good-looking
woman, and the first thing
I noticed was that her cheeks
! were stained with red. This
Is not uncommon when people die sud
| denly, and she had only been sick few
days, and l congratulated myself on the
| fine appearance she would make for her
| friends to see. | had an assistant and
we placed the casket on supports by the
side of the bed, and were Just going to
! lift her in when l discovered that pill
! low we needed had been left in the next
room. told the young man to go after
it. which he did, taking the lamp with
| him and leaving me with the head of the
| dead woman supported on my arm; he
had some trouble in finding il and L was
! just going to call him when the wind
| blew the door to ard l was alone in the
! dark.
Now 1 am not a coward, but my first
| impulse was to drop that wOman's head
and run out of the room. l actually
trembled with nervousness and imagined
| that l could feel thrill of life in the
neck, which was still warm; at that mo-
ment | heard my assistant coming, and
mt the same instant voice proceeding
| from the dead woman said distinctly in
sudden, sharp tones: "Auntiei Auntie
Auntie"
The return of the light brought back
| part of my courage, and l looked keenly
at the corpse to see if could detect any
| signs of life, but the red was fading out
OF the cheeks, and the signs of death was
unmistakeable. | learned by adroit
| questioning that an aunt of the deceased =,
of whom she was very fond, had arrived
at the house Il few moments before she
died, and then the sick woman had ex-
| pired in the vain attempt to speak to her;
my theory is that the words stuck fast in
her throat and were expelled with the
final breath, when L moved her. What
else could l think?
Then there was beautiful girl who
was engaged to be married, and was sud
denly taken i'll and died. | was sent for
10 prepare ucI lOI lHt ESIuNt, anu dS lLcy
lived in the country 1 was to send out
the casket and all OF the tinishings. 1t
was to be there in the evening early, as
at 10 Z. NJ. the remains were to be taken
East The young man who drove ont
with it stopped at a wayside tav-
! ern, became intoxicated and
remained drinking and gambling all
night. When ut noon the next day he
reached the house, the corpse WAS sit
ting up holding Il reception. She had
lain in a trance all night, and but for
his delinquency would have been buried
alive.
The friends o. dead person are al
ways anticipating their return to life
during the first few hours; sometimes
the features will suddenly become life.
like, and slight color will suffuse the
lips, and frequently bead-like perspira-
ton will appear on the forehead. To
those of our profession these signs are
sure tokens of death and decay.
have known people who would be strick-
en- with a panic a few hours after the
burial of friend and insist on disinter-
ment."
''How is it when post mortems are
held, or embalming takes place."
THAT settles the question definitely
I
President Garfield, though the embalm-
ing process was failure, or at least all
the undertakers consider it so; but m
dertakers are not embalmers; they leave
that branch of the trade to men OF
science, professors of colleges of medi-
cine and such. 1t may be impossible to
avoid discoleration as in the case of
President Lincoln, but the tissues of the
body should be thoroughly preserved
Vice President Wilson was perfectly en-
balmed, so was the late Mr.. Bagley. The
best case L ever knew was that of Il young
man who died in Denver and was brought
to Detroit for burial. After three
weeks trial he was as natural looking as
if he had just died, and it was in hot
weather, too. The trouble with the late
Presidents case was that it was too hur-
ried; he should have been put on ice for
two days previous to embalming. The
family did not feel as anxious about it as
the people. A good many are much dis
| satisfied"
Folks think we have no sentiment" "
said the undertaken, ''and L wish some
times l hadn't, but when L see the little
ones taken away almost forget my du-
ties in sympathy .or friends. The other
day we took baby-a little two year
old-to Elmwood. This casket was ust
filled with toys, and one little silver bell
rang every time it moved, and that made
the other children cry again; it's Il lone
some sort of business anyway, and there