Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-10
The Unforyetten Dead.

The Unforgotten Dead.
Ahorist who has for years been e,tah.
,shed near the main entrance of Green,
mood Cemetery said a few DAYS 400.
~ have in my charge 400 or 5O6 rem.
story lots, most of which I have for
.ineteen years had to keep in handsoma
Dandition, and upon nearly all Of who'll
ihave been required from time to time
N place floral remembrances. / have
men whose duty it is to examine daily
the list Of remembrances for that day
snd carry out the instructions given ne
I1non one mound will be laid q wreath
or pillow of flowers bearing the word
.Wife' or "Mother;" upon another
..Husband'' or Father" In one niaca
q bouquet will be left, often comprised
entirely of certain specified flowers.
sometimes a vault must be opened and
beautiful floral pieces placedinside upon
particular collins. The utmost care ID
eyercised to make sure that these com.
missions are neve neglected. Many
people visit with great regularity the
graves of their lost ones. One gentle
man, a wealthy business man in New
York, resident in Brooklyn, has for
nineteen years come here regularly
every Sunday, when he was not O
fined to his bed by illness, to Law an Of
fering of flowers upon the grave of his
wife. have seen him come in winter.
when the snow was up to his knees in
the cemetery paths; in November DAYS,
when the rain was pouring; in summer.
when the heat was most intense. If he
ever missed a Sunday we knew that he
was laid up with the rheumatism.
another gentleman has for nearly
five years had floral wreaths placed by
us, once a week, upon the cofins of his
wife and mother, in a vault, and upon
all special days-Decoration Day,
Christmas, Easter, and the anniversaries
of his wife's and mothers deaths-ex-
eeptionally large and costly pieces. An
ether gentleman, the son-in-law of a
city railway President, has had flowers
placed by us weekly on the grave of his
wife for twelve years past, and still an
other, for almost as long a time, has
had a bouquet placed, upon a certain
day in every week, on the coffin of his
wife, in a vault.
"Women? Well, yes; they do, now
and then, show very strong remem-
brance Of their dead. One lady expends
$500 q year in decorating her husbands
grave. In addition to keeping it beau
aitied by growing plants and decorated
weekly with cut flowers, she has floral
pieces, costing $50 each, put on it at
Easter and upon the anniversaries of
his birth and death. This she has done
since 1876, and not only does she 90 to
this expense, but she makes a weekly
visit to the grave herself in all weathers.
don't mean to measure the depth of
Che love of either men or women by the
sums of money they expend. There
are several women whom | know by
eight, who come here regularly on Sun
days and buy fifty-cent bouquets to lay
upon some grave. That little sum is,
without doubt, to some of them as great
rs the $50 that the rich widow spends
for her floral piece is to her.
.My sales Of grave bouquets of all
prices, from fifty cents up to S., fire.
quently amount to as many as one hun
dred in a single day. On Sundays this
trade is greatest, for that is the only
day that many persons can afford to
come here. Generally these bouquets
are made flat, to lie on the grave, but
often parties buy large cast-iron bouquet
holders, bronzed and l%ily-shaped, in
which tall pyramidal bouquets are
placed. People who are most demon
s~trative in their first grief seem to forget
easiest. We see them come, for a while,
every week, and buy flowers for the
graves. Then their visits become rather
less frequent and their purchases
smaller. In a year or two they cease
coming.
II have heard a Spanish story of a
widow whose cynical husband, on his
dcath-bed, asked Of her a pledge that at
least she would not marry again until
the surface of the clay over his grave
should become dry. She gave the
pledge, but the morning after his burial
was found sitting by the grave tanning
it, that the moisture of the earth mig ht
cvaporate the more quickly. 1 have
never known a case quite so bad as
that, but 1 have seen some widows who
got over affiiction very quickly"
A leading florist said: Beyond sup
plying lower O funerals we derive
little profit from death. Some of the
orders for funerals which we fill are
very costly. amounting to as much as
$500 frequently, and sometimes to
double that amount. But lavish expen.
diture in that direction is less common
now than it used to be. New designs
are not frequent. The most novel one
that was ever called unOn To fiji was
for a magnificent pillow, sent by young
man to the funeral of his dead chum,
upon which he had worked in the letters
5. Y. L. which, being interpreted,
signitied See you later"
One of the cemetery florists said: 81
sell a good many plants to poor people,
who cannot afford to constantly put cut
flowers on the graves of their relatives
or friends, yet want them to look well.
They plant them themselves, and look