Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-06-17
FUNERAL FASHIONS AND FoILIEs


FUNERAL FASHIONS AND FOLLIEs.
The grief that is breaking the heart is
never demonsirative. 1t finds no relief in
the extravagance and follies of fashion able
funerals. Indeed, ostentation, show and
glitter are grim mockeries to the crushed
heart. But the fashionable world measures
grief by the pomp and display at funerals,
and as no one wishes 10 be regarded as in
different, callous and unfeeliDg toward
loved aud lost member Of the household all
are forced to bury their dead with an ex-
travsgant pomp which does no honor to tho
memory of the dead and is no evidence of
affection on the part of the living. Funerals
become mockery and farce when most OF
the thirty or forty carriages in the procession
are filed by strangers, and sometimes enc
mics to the dead, who join the caval-
cade merely to crafty an idle curiosity
or to get fresh air by 4 Tree ride.
We have been led TO q discussion OF
-ihis- dnsstion. blythe announcement that
aFuneral and Mourning Reform Association
has been organized in England, the object Of
which ID TO reduce the unnecessary burdens of
burying the dead. The Birmingham branch
of this organization, which israpidly spread
ing over England, invited John Bright to
attend one of its meetings. In reply Mr..
Bright wrote as follows:
pray excuse me if cannot take part in your
meeting. haYe spoken many years ago in favor
Of a less eos1essnode of conducting funerals, and
Ouer an tl.---ale in regard to funerals which
think theA4s44C would do well 10 follow. do
nope the efforts OF your Association viii do much
TO promote change which in my opinion is on
every ground most desirable"
The example to which Mr.. Bright refers
Is well worthy Of Imitation, OF, at least, ia
vestigatiOn, as the Society OF Friends tolerate
no. useless display, but require absolute
simplicity in burying the dead, whether it
be the princely nabob or the INDECENT poor.
While nothing is wanting to show stfsc;ion
Tor the dead, and due respect TO their memo
~, the relatives do not embarrass themselves
with the expense of costly funerals. The
weeds OF mourning are prohibited. The
longer the procession that now follows the |
hearse TO the graveyard the less the symps- |
thy Tor the dead. 1t shows the pecunisry |
ability Of the surviving relations TO give |
free ride TO the public. But there are no |
more tears shed in procession composed of |
score OF Carriages than is shed over the |
corpse csrted To the graveyard followed by a |
lew pedestrians, the relations and intimate |
friends OF the deceased, the only people who |
ought to attend a funeral. The vulgar |
Curiosity which draws people TO a fu- |
neral is disgrace TO our civil.
cation. Those who attend funerals from
the same motives that induce them to visit a |
picnic or 10 accept free ride are as heart |
less and brutal as the resurreciionists, who.
after following the body TO the grave as |
mourners, will steal it at night for stipu-
lated price. In discussing the extravsgance
of funerals the Chicago Neics says:
The expenditures at funerals are getting to be
means. The highly ornamental collins, the num-
erous and costly carriages. the hearse with Its
pensive and gairish trappings, the snowy monu-
ments, the costly vaults, the profuson Of flowers,
are becoming 80 appalling to the living that re-
senon against them is evidently beginning TO ex-
hiolt Itself and in those very quarters which were
he nrst 10 introduce ano use them In all the pride
anu circumstance OF wealth. If not OF place. Even
the very planest OF burials have become SO costly
80 ~ saoussnus OF cases, eat into the scanty
sumPtuAry LAWS would be interposed for the sTrest
OF lueee benbeleks eXtrAVagance6. the raanIt.
OF poor, pstly and despicable pride. In
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