The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-07-09
SCOTCH FUNERALS.

the deceased ''sRt" ia often, indeed
usually, present. The hats of those
in attendance may be taken of the
moment after they have lowered the
coffin into the grave just for an instant,
but this is not always the case. This
habit of dispensing with religious ex-
ercises bad It's origin, no doubt, in
the Scotch horror of doing anything
that might give color to the charge
of following the Roman Catholic
fashion of praying for the dead. The
reading of a chapter of the Bible aud
short prayer in TIE house before the
coIt6ge sets out for the cburchyard is
the sole religious service, and the
preliminaries to this are sometimes of
a kind to raise the idea that care
is taken tn disconuect il from the
peculiar circumstances OF the occa.
sion.
Twenty years ago I was at a
funeral in the country at which the
minister and his colleague of the
church to which the deceased be-
longed attended. After the company
had assembled, some decanters of
wine and q tray with cake were
brought in aud set upon the table.
The daughter of the deceased, herself
sidergyman's wife, then suggested that
the senior minister should TASK q
blessingl" This request served as an
excuse for long prayer appropriate
to the circumstances of the occasion
which brought us together, and after
it was over Gaze and wine were
handed round. Then a request was
made that the Junior clergyman ''re.
turn thanks" and be readily enough
INDUCED in a prayer, in which he
gathered up the fragments suitable to
the circumstances which bis col
league had omitted, and that was the
whole religious service-simply q
grace before and after meat.
That terrible scoursge, the cholera,
which visited the country in 1882,
gave a fatal blow to the bacchanAlian
orgies with which it had been the
fashion to celebrate funerals in Port
Glasgow. Men were willing enough
to pay the last possible marx of re
speet to the dead, but naturally took
every precaution to avoid exposing
themselves TO unnecessary risk. So,
instead of meeting in the house, as
had been the custom, they simply
gathered in the street before the door,
and followed the hesrse to the place
Of burial.
When an invitation is given YER
bslly to a funeral in Scotland. the
person invited usually asks: "When
do you lift?" meaning Sat what hour
is the funeral to take placer" The
manner of conveying the coffin from
the house 10 a place of interment,
still followed in Esglesham, village
in the south of Renfrewshire, abun.
dainty explains this phrase. As can
be well enough understood, hearses
and coaches are institutions belong
ing to towns and cities. not to villages.
In the latter the coffin is borne to
the grave on three poles, which are
passed under it, long enough to leave
d sufficient portion for two men to
grasp on either side. OF course, it is
impossible to place these 'spokes"
in position in the house, 80 couple
of stools are brought out to the street.
the coffin is placed upon them, when
the cortege is ready to 60 the spokes
are passed under, the coffin lifted, "
and the procession moves of.
Though Eagleshsm is not ten mil es
distant from Glasgow, the old fashion
of warning everybody to the funeral
is still followed, and as the hsuaes
generally are small, the company
often enough meets N the church.
Even in the sacred edifioe, after the
performance Of short religious exer-
cises, a tray with glasses on it is
occasionally brought in, and 8 supply
of liquor served out 70 sill who care
to partake of it. In this village it is
also the custom for the entire com.
psny to wait in the churchyerd till
the burial has been completed, Eag-
lesham IN this respect presenting q
favorable contrast to other places
where only one or two of the nearer
relatives are left to see the sexton COM
plete his work. The last shoveltul oil
earth having been put ia, the chic
mourner gets up on a stone, and.
taking of his hat, says, IL a loud
voice, "Gent!emer, I thank you fol
YOUR company" which is the signal
to disperse.
I feel persuaded that it is one OF the
"things not generally known" tina
waxing" the deal has been prsc
ticed in one Of the northern counties
in SCOTLAND from time immemorlsl
and is still in vogue there. When
death occurs ia Glen Urquhart, th'
survivors 10 the household are never
suffered 20 be alone with their deat
| till the day Of the ilneral. the bodj
is not cofined TIL the day OF inter
ment, for the simple reason that TIT
coffin has to be made by the village
Joiner after death takes place. I
house With a corpse ia it becomes TO
two or three days and nights that 10
terVene between death and burial sh'
rendezvous of all the neishbOrs, VIII
sit and tell sIories-ghost stories hav
ing q decided preferenoe-ostensl6l.
to keep the bereaved family from
eerie, bat really for the purpose Q
entertainment. Such gatherings oil
fer from Irish wakes" IN tGis par
tieuIGr, that tobacco and pipes ar