Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-08
funeral fashion, and the world Of Eng
land bore very sombre aspect.

ex-Empress Eugene to Chiselhurst, are
equally solemn, equally conducive TO
morbid fancies. The fanerals, the cere-
monials, and the frequent shrine-like
devotional visits are more or less gu
perstitions, and suryivsls OF the age OF
barbarism. The majesty Of death is
lost sight Of in arranging the paltry
trickings out. To an earnest nature all
this Is or should be revolving.
Miss Anna Dickinson, on the loss by
death of fayorite brother, once wrote
as follows in letter in response to .
friends sympathy: "There is one tre-
mendous thing before which we must
all sit down dumb--that is death Ac-
cept its No! Consent to it? No! Yet
are we forced TO yield to it blindly--it
makes no sign and gives no answer,
however much we ask Of it," There
is in all this wall Of deep sorrow-an
undercurrent of repressed poignant
grief. When Miss Dickinson net the
friend few weeks later il was With pa
tient cheerfulness and without mourn
ing robes, her Quaker training for
bidding the latter, even if she had
approved OF outward display, which,
in point Of fact, she did not. There
were lines about that noble face
to show she had suffered. There was
an added cadence to her voice, proving
that many sobs had broken from her
lips. In her whole bearing for months
she seemed to mutely convey that she
had gazed with soulful eyes upon the
majesty Of the great fat Of nature, and
that she had tasted the bitterness Of
despair. This, one Of the century S
grandest women, seems to have SCUM l.
ed all the chords in her eventful life of
poverty, struggle, and alternate failure
and victory. But Of all her heroic
words, this agonized reference to her
brothers death stands by itself for
terse, rugged, eloquent phrasing. At
that funeral there were no needless
trsppings Of woe. 1t was simple,
touching, unobtrusive, and things were
only done decently aud in order.
The question Of mourning-garb is and
must ever be a purely personal issue,
to lie asked and answered by each indi-
vidual as suits best the feelings of the
questioner. The question Of funeral
display is a broader one, and should
be settled by universal custom or
fashion, making needless expense and
elaborateness contrary to common
sense. The wearing of black gown,
if made with severe planness, is sign
to many, indeed to most people, Of re-
spect for the memory Of the dead. The
sunshine is even seeming mockery to
the grief-stricken heart. A dark APP
parel seems only in keeping with the
feelings Of the mourner. 1t is
selfish death-bed request that ne mourn
ing shall be worn. Better leave it to
the mourner's own preference. But
while the Christian religion teaches us
much, it has never taught us to be in
different to the loss of friends. We
may fully believe our loved one has
gone TO "a better country" Alas
we know really so much more Of this
good earth in which we dwell. We
may concede that the body is but
the casket of the soul which has
taken its glad flight. Alas the body |
was so much to us we cannot
in a moment separate it from the
spirit. We are weak human beings; |
our weakness, not our strength, over
comes all our theories in the ordeal of
death. Our faith shall make US whole.
One day we shall see clearly what now
we see through dim glass. Mean
time we water our graves with the tear
rain Of our love, our rebellion at tb,
loss of all, mayhap, which made Ii .
worth living. With grief in the "a
stract, with a moderate, decent exhi'
ton of it, we have no fault to find. 1t
US see, though, in the name of commo
decency, how we may best do ava
with all savoring of grotesque fetish
worship in
THE FUNERALS OF OUR DEAD.
To begin with, why should hundreds Of
pounds be spent on a coffin, heavily
decorated in silver clasps and nails and
hinges. A perishable coffin simply
placed in the ground, so as to promote
the rapid return Of earth to earth, suits
not alone Christian feeling, but is only
justice to the living. The Archbishop
Of York is an enthusiastic writer on the
subject of funeral reform. BY the old
way, funerals entailed an endless sd-
dition Of plumes, scarfs, and, above
all, drinking, treating, and feasting on
such solemn occasions. Passing lately
through an aristocratic street in an
ultra fashionable west-end neighbour
hood, the eye was attracted by seeing,
for the space Of a block, deep layer
souRd-desdening straw placed in the
street. Presently, at house in the
middle of the square. two lugubrious
" mutes" were observed, with immense
"weepers " trailing from their hats
nearly to the ground. They were
dressed in deepest, blacklist black, and
their raven-like visages were buried in
deeply black-bordered handkerchiefs.
There was no question as to the presence
of water streaming from their eyes
whether grief or gin, it mattered little
for the effect. Curious to see the end
of this farce we fingered about, until
there appeared, in slow, housekeeping
deliberstion. four superb black horses,
whose tails, like weepers, nearly swept
the ground. These coal-black steeds
drew along black crypt-like funeral
hearse, on the box-seat Of which
black CARRIED driver sat, with
weeper decorated headgear. A black
velvet funeral pail hung over
the vehicle, and monstrous plumes of
clustering black ostrich feathers deco
rated each corner, and also nodded
solemnly to and fire. in the breeze from
the head harness Of the black steeds.
One carriage came next for distant
relative, the solicitor, and the clergy
man, and the next carriage was for the
valet, housekeeper, and butler of the
deceased, a rich London gentleman.
Fashion, in the upper ten, forbids the
widow and children going to the grave.
They remain out of sight and sound Of
the last rites to the dead, whose bodies
oava hu cpanial Iioapca |