Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-06-01
FUNERAL fEAsTlNG.
How an Undertaken Invited
an Actor to a Grim Feast
Chickens Dressed in Mourning.
Using q Pail for a Table Cloth and
a Hearse for TOOthpicks.
ICE CREAM COFFINS SERVED.


Mark Tapley, that mercurial crea-
ton Of Dickens who was continually
pining to be placed in the midst of
such somber surroundings where jol-
lity would stand out in relief, would
have reveled in a little dinner given a
day or two ago. The banquet was
rendered by an undertaken to a come
dian-two men Of strangely opposite
vacations. The former is David
Schuyler, who lives at No. 2060 North
Sixth street, Philadelphia, and is
known % be peculiarly devoted to his
trade. In fact, Mr.. Schuyler carries
his devotion to q great extremity. So
enthusiastic is he in bis business that
he has furnished his house with GER
tain peculiar emblems Of his calling,
and he delights in Offering his
visitors from a trick box, which
conceals a grinning skeleton that pops
up with a weed in its grasp as soon as
the lid is lifted. He has an album of
obituary poetry clipped from newspa.
pers everywhere, expressive of the
bereavement o friends of departedper-
sons, in language and metre Of the
most lugubriOus description.
THE DISMAL BANQUETING HALL.
The actor was Samuel Hemple,
whose rotund figure is a familiar one to
theater patrons. Mr.. Schuyler and Mr..
Henple have been friends for a great
many years, and when the actors
thirty-second anniversary of his debut
on the stage arrived about two weeks
ago. the undertaken was DESTROYS of
honoring the event by a dinner to the
comedian and a few mutual friends.
Circumstances delayed the affair until
a few days ago, when it was given, and
will be long remembered by those in
attendance as a most remarkable oc
casion.
The invitations were printed upon
mourning paper, and at the first sight
of the skull and crossed bones which
headed them one might have mistaken
the note for an official warning of the
lux Khan. When Mr.. Hemple
arrived he was ushered into a darkened
room, where only some wax tapers
were burning.
A GRAVEYARD FEAST.
A table stood in the center of the
room, covered by a handsome black
pail that reached to the floor and gave
the appearance of a catafalquO.
Upon this the dinner was laid. The
were all appropriately arranged
with fringes of black and white tissue
paper around them. The chicken, as
lay in its dish upon its back, had a
choker, a black necktie and a
dickey at its neck, made Of the
same material. The salt cellars had
black caps, and long trailing mourn
ing bands tied around them. The
most unique arrangement upon the
was a silver toothpick holder, a
small hearse with horses attached,
driver upon the box, and doors to open
the rear end, where a miniature
casket containing the picks was drawn
The mashed potatoes were dug
out of a mound covered with roast
potato jackets, which, with sprigs of
green planted here aad there, looked
like a shady burial lot, with several
wooden tombstones standing upright
upon it.
C0FFINs OF ICE CREAM.
The ice cream was moulded 10 the
shape of a coffin, and the cuts of pie
were made in a similar shape. The
entire dinner was made as emblemat
ical OF the undertsker's trade as taste
and ingenuity could devise, and after
the first shudder was passed the guests
enjoyed themselves in spite Of the
funeral surroundings. Mr.. Schuyler
heartily enjoyed the discontinue of
his guests as they entered the room
and looked upon the singular sight,
aud says the fun be derived from the
affair amply compensated him for the
trouble of preparing for it.