Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1884-02-28
A NEGRO FUNERAL.
A Protest Against Lavish Extrav.
aganca and Absurd displays
at Burial Ceremonies.
IJoouuin Miller's WASHINGTON Letter,

Joaquin Miller's Washington Letter.1
1t is the strangest, saddest minglng Of
pathos and comedy In America. 1t is unique
entirely And men tell mo here that ths
negro funeral in all its full splendor of to-day
is a recent development. The other day down
l. street, AMI not stones throw from one Of
the fashionable centres, block Of black men,
women, children boys, girls, old folks and
young folks, lean and fat, ragged and we'll clad,
moved In such mass as to sweep everything
before it from pavement, sidewalk, and
everywhere as it passed Aud this treman-
dous cloud OF funeral comedy accumulated as
1t moved on, from alleys, cross-streets, any
where, till the vast level street was one COM
pact mass of ragged miserable and mirth-
provoking blacks. And they were all 80
happy; these miserable people at the funeral
pushed my way finally with great effort,
and by cutting around on q run through
back street up to the vicinity Of the chief
mourners, ! got good look at their
faces. They all seemed to be expressibly
jubiant, rs now and then they looke4
out and back at the tremendous following,
for the funeral was really great success A
dolorous brass band moved at the head of the
throng close up to the hearse. And this
band, with its monotonous yet really i'm
pressive and not inharmonious music kept
the crowd together and called for and OBJ
tanned recruits to the moving mass at every
corner. 1t was q revelation to me--a real
discovery-and 30 record it. No one visit
ing Washington city can afford to omit see-
ing negro funeral in all its sad and impress
sive splendor.
And now does not this ridiculous display OF
these poor initiating blacks teach us that it is
high time for us To call halt in our own
like, though possibly more refined, folly. In
fact, the great funerals in the great city OF
New York are but a little above this pitiful
brass band negro business in Washington
City. Tho real swell" thing to do there OF
late IL 10 charter a special train" for mourn
ers to 60 out to the funerals. sea no differ
ence in the two mobs except the very vulgar
difference of dollars There is just about as
much renl mourning in ono mass as in the
other. And both are instituted for the graft
fcation OF tho living; not Us lamentation
for the dead
But take even an ordinary funeral Of New
York. 1t stretches it's obtrusve black string
of dilapidated carriages across your path at
least twenty times a day there. These strings
Of mock so!emnity, empty half the time or
filled with loafcrs, any one who will get in,
are often half Il mile long. Now this is a
delicate, even sacred, subject to invade, but
! must say frankly that it has become the
most insolent nuisance in all New York, and
must in some way be curtailed if not stopped
entirely.
And these absurd "shows" should DO
stopped, not only here, but every where. And
they should be stopped, not SO much in the
f,f no mad
immeiiate funeral rs IN the interest of and
for the protection of those who institute
them. Let US see what a really fashionable"
funeral costs. l have gone among undertake
ers-these mournful frauds, these entirely
unretuked iinpostors who defraud ulcom-
planning widows and rob outright helpless
children, who in meek and patient ini-
tation of others, like the poor negro, submit
to anything rather than seem mean toward
their dead, and tell you l have found out
some queer things.
1t is the undertaken who is responsible in
nine cases out of ten for the unexampled ex-
travagance and absurd displays Mt funerals
ordered b. those who can il-atfori such
folly. They take advantage of sacred things.
And thcss ghouls feed on the weakness Of
women. They touch the tenderest cords OF
they take woman to practice upon, if enc
can be found in the family, nearly every
time. Her mind at such times is almost a.
helpless as that of the poor black mans, and
she is made by this collin maker to load her
s.lf and family with debt for car
liages and trappings that must be
felt for years And all for the purpose Of
blocking tho streets, forcing their folly upon
81 IA n
in the battle of life. LET the dead bury the
dead" This saying means much. find an
ordinary city funeral costs 500. Then how
much money, toll, time, must I've put under
ground and lie forever lost in burying what
few millions of people we now have i'll the
United Stats? Put it at an even half that
figure, count it up and You will find that you
could not get enough gold tgether on tho
face of this earth to ray for It'll Come, lot US
stop this pittful display. Remember how
Dickens and all goo1 men who ever wrote OF
this denounced it and sought to be laid at rest
in silent simplicity. Let this ludicrous lesson
of the negroes not be lost.
belong to a small band of scribes who
have covenanted with each other that our
funeral cost shall not be above $40. The
dead is to bo wrapped in the sheet in which
ne o.es, Pl'leeu III d poA ano o"ihs" oo oe'
That is all; the end. or course all do not
like this mode But ems might easily Ike laid
in the earth for twice or thrice that sum,
think.
dined, or tried to dine, with couple of
undertakcrs the other day in New York,
while in search Tor information on this sub
ject But there lay such an awful pail OF
mock solemnity upon them, as they dis
coursed upon the beauties of a fi.st-class flu
ueral, that could scarcely finish my soup.
And them when the elder one began to carve
the meat! tell you he hold his knife as if it
was screwdrivcrl l had nearly to leave
the table.