Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-08

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Last month the following obituary
notice appeared in daily paper OF on'
Methusaleh Smith Deposited on thu
silent shore Of memory At the adj
vanced age OF ninety. he died on Sep
TENDER IL, 1854. Last year was tht
one-hundred anniversary Of the death
and the original advertisement in full
was reinserted. Again this year, a
the Observation-Disclosures anniversary,
the notice appeared, "In loving re-
membrance." Fortunate the man OF
woman whose descendants will keep
"a loving remembrance in this Gen.
tennial manner.
In the same paper appeared an adj
vertisement as to the loan Of funeral
mourning at moderate sum. And on
another page there was an essay on
fashions OF grave-clothes, in the form OF
an undertaken advertisement. 1t was
a strange incopgruity at best, taken in
connection with the reproduction OF
Methusaleh Smiths death notice. The
advertisement went on to say, :" DO
not imagine that ii does not mat
ter how dead bodies are laid out.
Fashions extend to grsve-clothes and in
wade the family vault. Babies are
buried in fine lawn shrouds, with downy
pillows under their heads. The gar
ments Of fashionable everyday life may
be worn in the coffin. Cream and blue
white or pearl are the colors most in
vogue. Roman Catholics use black
very much. Suits for gentleman are
generally made of brown or black.
Habits are fastened at the back by
means of strings. Ladies' gowns are
mostly made Of merino this season,
with collar and cuffs Of quilt
ed satin" But lower down the
page this gloomy literary I'M
dertaker went fairly into ecstacies over
"the latest thing in collins just out
the Egyptian casket. This casket is
designed by an architect, constructed of
solid, well-seasoned rosewood or ma
hogany, and costs only from ESQ to
9l2O." Think Of it, coffin alone, at
from s4O0 up to 1900, according to the
richness of the carving. Quite an ele-
CANT thing in collins, to be sure. At
such terms, it must be considered a.
most q pleasure TO be corpse.
These abuses, singly and collectively,
have aided to the forming Of a regular
corporate society, having for its object
the reform in funerals, greatly needed
in London as elsewhere. The move
ment is sanctioned by titled person
ages, and more than one gentleman Of
rank the past few years has been buried
in accordance with more enlightened
views, shared by conscientious fune-
raj reformers. For two years the
daily papers have frequently presented
in their columns exhaustive letters on
the subject from men eminent in the
church and in literature. Opposite to
all this is at times the grumbling wall
of anonymous undertakers. not unnatu-
rally indignant at the popular cry Of re-
form. These urge the cudgels on be-
half Of the millinery, tailoring, timber,
and flower industries, associated with
their own gloomy occupation. They
are particularly wroth at the clergy
CLAMORING FOR CHEAP FUNERALS,
for they maintain that these persons
are, to a large extent, responsible for
the very evils about which they COM
plain. In the year 1879, according to
one indignant undertaken, $4,000, or
$4,000, and upward was paid in the
metropolis for burial-fees, of which
$4,000, or 100000, was paid to Off
ciating clergymen, and 10000, or
s45, 200, to incumbents, 4" for no reason
whatever" Thirteen thousand pounds,
or eos, 900, is considerable sum, but
not very much when paid in connection
with $4,000 funerals. There is room, no
doubt, for reform in regard to fees, but,
after all, it is the undertaker's bill
which is the item which lands so many
poor people in difficulties. The coffin,
the hearse, the coaches, bearers, and
mutes-these are what may be termed
the expensive Injuries Of mourners.
People who cannot afford them insist
on their being there, in order, rs they
imagine, appropriately to honor the
dead. Funeral reform need not, after
all, entail the existence Of regular So
ciety, for, to a large extent, it can all
be effected very easily by mourners
themselves. There is no need
for expensive collins, or reti-
nue. Of coaches, or mutes, or nod
ding plumes. All these are needlessly
expensive and could well be dispensed
with. But, like many other common
sense reforms, though easy enough Of
accomplishment, the individual courage
required is greater than most people
are able to exert. Another item-a
most CHASTITY one-is the regular en-
ployment at few very expensive Lon
don undertakers ola "corpse-dresser,"
whose duties consist Of dressing the
hair Of the dead deliberately and
"making up" the face-that is, add
ing carnation to the lips, pink
white to the face, and rouge
to the cheeks. Could anything be
more horrible than such a GUS
tom? To arrange the hair as nearly
like it was in life is not Objectionable,
but to mass it in a fashionable couture,
and, above all, to daub the face with
cosmetics, is enough "to make the ju-
dicious grieye." Happily, this is a
French fashion, only copied here to a
very limited extent, and even then not
sanctioned by the refined class Of
English people. How much better is
it in the words Of our dead American
poet, William Cullen Bryant, without
plumes or extravaganza, but meekly,
with an unfaltering trust,
Approach the grave
Like one who wraps the drapery
OF his couch about him,
And lies down to pleasant dreams"
Let us care more for the living, and
we will then most truly care for the
dead in a nobler fashion. While our
loved ones are with us in the flesh let
us give our gifts, speak our love, with
trembling lip and outstretched arms.
Let us bank heavy accounts in q human
mutual trust company, and let the ac-
counts never be oyerdrawn. Then will
49, L. ~ ,ooooo.t.~ r. -. A.