The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-06
Every Morning Except Sundays.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
The Apostle of Hstheticism Emits Some
Sensible Suggestions.
n


London News
At meeting on funeral reform held
lately at Leicester, a letter from Mr.
Oscar Wilde was read, apolOgizing for alb
sence owing to a severe cold caught by
lecturing in a Lincolnshire snoWstOrm
Mr.. Wilde added: THE present style of
burying and sorrowing for the dead seems
to me to make grief grotesque and to turn
mourning to a mOckery. Any reform
would be of value quite inestimable.
The present OstentatiOn and extrava-
gance of burial rites seem to me to har-
moniZe but i'll with the real feeling of
those at whose doors the angel of death
has knocked. The ceremony by which
we part from those whom we have loved
should not merely be noble in its mean
ing but simple in its sincerity. The
funeral of Ophelia does not seem to me
q manned rite, when one thinks of the
flowers strewn in her grave.
/ regret exceedingly that can not hear
the actual suggestions on the matter
which will be made at your meeting. |
have always been of ths opinion that the
coffin should be privately conveyed at
night time to the churchyard chapel. and
that there the P mo 'Snso should should
the pub l Procession through St the
streets would be avoided, and
the publicity of funerals is
surely the real cause of their expense. AS
regards dress, / consider that white and
violet should be recognized as mourning.
and not black merely, particularly in the
case of children. The habit of bringing
flowers to the grave is now almost uni
Yersai, and is a custom beautiful in its
symbolism; but l cannot help thinking
that the elaborate and expensive designs
made by the florist are often far less
lovely than few flowers held loose in the
hand.
There are many other points on which
/ should have liked to listen, and one
point on which l had hoped to have the
privilege of speaking-I mean the expires
and sarcophagi (ugly legacies to u.s. are
meaningless as long as we, do not
burn or embalm our dead If
we are to have funeral memorials at all
far better models are to be found in the
beautiful crosses of lreland-such as the
cross at MonasterboiCe-or in the delicate
bas-reliefs in the Greek tombs.
Above all. such art, if we are to have
il, should concern itself more with the
living than the dead-should be rather a
noble symbol for the guiding of life than
an idle panegyries6A those who are gone.
If a man needs an elaborate tombstone in
order to remain in the memory of his
country, 1t is clear that his living at all
was an act of superiority. Keats grave
is hillock of green grass with plain
headstone, and it is to me the hottest
place in Rome There is in Westminster
abbey periwigged admiral in a night
gown, hurried off to heaven by two howl
ing Cherubs, which is one of the best eX-
amples know of OstentatiOus Obscurity.
Mrs. Aston as . Temperance RefOrmer.
New York Cor. Chicago Tribune.l
BY the way, Mrs. Astor has become
temperance reformer The grogginess of
some of the young fellows in society has
been disgraceful this season. Scarcely a
private ball has lacked a group of thor
Oughly intoxicated guests in the mems
dressing room, where custom has made
wine and cigars common. On several oc-
casiOns the recumbent forms of obliviOus
swels have been left in corners and on
sofas, to be cared for by the servants after
the departure of the decent guests
These things have been an increasing
scandal
Mrs. Astor has stepped forward to re-
form. She gave u ball this week. There
were no refreshments solid, liquid, or
smoke, to be had in the dressing room.
In the dining hall were as many tiny
japanese tn bles as there were ladies. The
tops barely held Plate and a wine glass.
No servants were Oh duty except at the
the champagne opened The men were
expected to fetch and carry for their part
ners This device employed them, COM
PEELED them TO do their drinking under
the restraints of feminine presence, and
kent them all meaSurably sober