St. Landry democrat., 1885-09-19
UNDERTAKES.
The Business and Professional Methods Of
Those VINO Bury Our Dead.

been very differently estimated in differ
ent countries and in different methods
of burial. Surely the one who takes or
puts human being under the ground
should be regarded as having an. i'm
portant responsibility. Yet in the eyes
of some, the business has come to be
considered as one Of greed and cold
blooded Indifference as to either the
health or comfort of the living. Some
OF this we confess has arisen from the
way in which undertakes manage their
affairs. There is too often perfunctory
or professional method and an excess
of charge out of all proportion to the
services rendered. We greatly desire
20 reinstate the undertaken, or funeral
director, as he is now styled, into his
proper relationship, and then to recog-
nize in him one who fills most import
ant function in time of affection, and
who brings to the performance of his
duties a business fitness and skill which
entities him alike to respect and com
pensation. If he is merely a man who
brings no skill to his work, but only
buys and delivers a coffin, puts body
in it, and regulates the decorum of at
tendance, and the livery provided for
procession to burial, then let him and
all others understand this, and let his
reward be only that which belongs to
such ordinary vocation. But if he will
come to know that he has other and far
greater duties, let him be fully prepared
therefor, and friends will not begrudge
him the recognition and reward he has
won. Our first historical idea is of an
embalmer. Called upon TO attend to
the being from whom life has but lit
tie time before departed, his first duty is
to secure for the body not only external
and decorous fitness for the sight of
friends, but such clearly and sanitary
conditions as shall check decomposition,
or neutralize its effects, and so convey
the body to the grave. Hence, no one
can read the descriptions of preparation
for burial, as found both in the sacred
and profane writings, without recognize
ing that the art of the embalmer was
akin to that of the apothecary, who pre-
pared sweet ointments and spices, and
so anointed for the burial, and surround
ed the body with those essential oils
which we now know to be amongst the
best. of disinfectants. Hence, we claim
that the undertaken of the present day
should not merely be man who has
caught up some ideas about his calling,
but one who has been taught the art of
dealing with the bodies of deceased per.
sons in all phases and forms of disease,
and who knows what are the particular
methods adapted to particular diseases
There is great variety of treatment de-
pending upon the disease, upon the con-
dition of the corpse, upon the season of
the year, and upon the mode and dis
lance of transportation. It is now
practicable, either by antiseptic and pre-
sentative infusions into the circulatorY
system, or by external methods, to do
very much to facilitate carriage and to
remove any possibility of specific or gen.
eral septic influence from the body of
the deceased. There has recently been
convention of undertakes in New
York City, which seemed to be impress
sed with the importance of q kind of |
trades union for mutual protection rath-
er than with the need of higher edu.
cation and training in their art. With |
one the grievance is that he is bothered
in getting a physicians certificate of
burial, and thinks that his precious
time should not be asked for that. With |
another it is the system of the coffin
warehouses which do not allow enough |
commission on their wares. With a
third tits the small allowance granted |
for public and pauper funerals. We /
advise all the good fraternity to leave
the mint and anise and cummin, and
look to- the weightier matters of the
law. When death has occurred and the
undertaken is called, he should be able
to prescribe everything necessary for
the proper care of the deceased, and
also to himself direct and see carried out
the complete cleansing of the room and
ali that appeFtains thereto; nay, more;
in many cases, the care should extend to
the whole house. He should be able to
know much of its sanitary condition and
promptly toremedY any defects. The E
time of death is always dangerous one
TO the condition of the house. Physi-
clans and nurses often promptly leave.
The family in their grief, are i'll fitted to
greatly increased in the last few hours.
Thorough work is far less likely to be
done by those who wait upon the house
hold than at other times. Every physi-
clan knows how often the time between
the death and funerals time of accum-
ulation of household evils. instead OF
their relief We have known house
thus to become menace to those in at
tendance, even when at the time Of
death no serious evil existed. Since we
are having all these conventions and
associations and trades unions, would it