The daily gazette. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1874-1883, 1881-09-10

SatlDs we kct 8teaV mduy OEuoIb III
advance from people about the way they
want 10 be buried. have known per-
sons TO come IN and look at the different
styles of collins and pick cut the kind,
they wanted years before they died. we
have had the full directions for the fun
eral on the books in their own hand
writing. There is a very wealthy gen.
tleman and bis sister who have given US
orders for their collins and funerals. Il
would like the casket lined with white
flannel the lady said in the last letter,
'lIke that one you furnished Mrs.--,
which was chaste and elegant; only l
would like six handles and, besides the
plate, little silver cross on the lid. But
be sure and let me lay in the room until
you know l am decomposed, for Pm
awfplly afraid of being buried alive
"Up to 20 or 80 years ago there were
no carriages. The burial places we're
not far away, and people walked, the
coffin being carried on the shoulders or
Oh bier. l have often carried little
babies In collins under my arm myself.
The great cemeteries had not grown up
then. Ell X. Price and myself are
about the only ones remaining Of the
| oldILtTh ~ WOouidhdo SCthClCEys Ouukc
Mallory, who was interested in 1t at first
Il buried him afterward persuaded
me TO go into 1t. There are some ten
thousand buried 10 II now, and think
have had something to do with its sue
cess. The number have buried 10
something incredible. For many year
IL averaged 100 month. MIR. Kellogg,
my partner, who has kept track Of 1t,
says we have buried over $4,000 in the
so years.
SNOW, my son, whatever you say, be
careful and don't wound anybOdy's
feelings. 1 have always tried to make
1t pleasant for the mourners. When
Mayor Stokley's father, who aftt rward
buried, lost little boy and was speak
| ing of Mrs. Stokley's distress, | recon-.
meuded the adoption " little one OF
the same age belon sing 10 Mrs. Ward,
whom buried, too, and sure enough
they did, ard he grew up beside Mayor
Stokley and distinguished himself In
Mexico until buried him some years
ago. You know great many commit
suicide tina. nobody knows anything
about but the doctor and the undertaken.
Many one I've buried no one knows
but me TO this day they had the rope
around their neeks. always used to
carry crooked needle to sew up gashes
In throats. l found il handy TO have
around. One day lady-very rich and
elegant she was, aud had an A l coffin
when she died-showed me her husband
who bad just cut his throat, and said
ooh, what shall l dop 3d. said l, as
commenced to sew up the cut and put a
clean shirt on him. 'don't tell living
mortal, for it's my experience that II
you tell anybody secret you might as
well put it in the newspapers; don't tell
a living mortal, and ipll be all right.
And sure enough it was. His own
brothers don't ksow to this day but
that he cied natural death.
"Ghosts, did you say? Do undertake
ers believe 10 them? Fi1dlesticksi Bul
strange things happen. The most cur
iou' thing Is the horses. It's very com
mon for horses to refuss to pull deaf
body. L remember Que time one OF oul
best teams had just started off when they
stopped, trem6led, stuck up their ears
and wouldn't bulge que inch further.-
Cooking was no use, they wouldn't go
We had to take team out OF a hacl
and put them In the hearse. 1t was
little child that time, but another tim,
the same thing happened when we wer'
burying q man and his wife tokether..'
With this the conversation closed
The ord gentleman drew himself to hi
fullest height. listened to Us words o
parting shouted through the ear-trum
pet, and bowed his visitor out. Will
age he has lost none Of the urbanity pc
culiar to him In his sturdiest years. Con
slant intercourse with grief Often assum
ed has shaken his faith in many things
Half a century of hand-to-hand familia
intercourse with the dead has given hiu
quaint pensiveness mixed with
strange, grim humOr. Careful habit
leave him in complete possession Of al
his faculties except that OF hearing. On
can still Imagine what he was in his hes
days, when IL was said that Billy Moor
loOked-more truly mournful than ali tn
other msurDers put together. Amenl
; the many stories told about him Is thi
: one concerning the cemetery, the nam
J of which was sometimes jocularly ap
piled to him In the appellasion of Laure
. Hill Moore. After scores of years Q
constant funeral attendance, 1t is relai
ed, Mr.. Moore was called upon to offic
ate at a wedding of a relative. In hi
long black coat and longer face. wi.
! his hands CT ossed before, as usual, on
holding the melancholy beaver hat, b
stood ready to mol for the carriages u
soon as the minister inished.