Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1888-11-03
Ine snRouo INDUSTRY.
Enormous Proportions tn which 1t Ha
Grown Within Few Years.

Enormous Proportions Ia which It Has
Grown Within Few Years.
In the past five years, says the Pniladel-
phla Tiines, the shroue industry IN this city
has grown to enormous proportions, and
this dress OF the dead, while IT has become
unpopular with some, mas grown steadily in
favor with others. The reason for the great
increase IN the business is on accclnt of the
steady growth of the population, and be-
cause the bigger the population the bigger
the death rate.
1t used to be that shrouds were made al
most entirely by iayers-ou of the dead and
poor women, who made a regular business
of IL and worked early and late, according
TO the number of orders they had. Shrouds
we're tnen made at short notice, because
after the person died there wasn't much
time &c design and make the shroud, and
wcmen worked all night to fill their orders.
Nowadays there are very few professional
shroud makers in this city. These few are
mostly women, who work regularly for some
particular undertaken. but they don't make
much. A shroud-maker said that she used
to have nice income from her business,
but that the big undertakers' supply stores
had ruined the business for the shroud-
makers about town, because they can make
-
The woman was stitching away at shroud
At the time. This is for an old Quaker
lady she said, "who died yesterday. /
must finish it before go to sleep What
business get now is almost entirely for
dressing old persons, principally women. 1t
used to be that nearly every body was buried
10 shrouds, and that ISN'T more than half q
dozen years ago"
A prominent undertaken, who has what is
known in the business as tony trade"
SAID: . / don't suppose | have used more
than half dozen shrouds year. With my
class OF trade the custom is dying cut. The
people | bury are nearly all cared for in
their sickness by professional nurses, VINO
have become as thick as hops in this city
Nearly every physician has a list Of dozen
men or women he can recommend. Well,
the professional nurses in the past i've
years have got to preparing the dead for
burial, and they can dress corpse Just as
well as they can live person My custom
ers prefer to have their relatives buried in
either the clothes they wore in life or a
similar suit. A great many people bury
now are buried In their dress suits that
they have worn at weddings. receptions,
balls or banquetS. II takes two persons to
dress body, but it is done easily nowadays
Five or six years ago it was looked upon as
almost an impossibility, and up to that time
nearly every body was buried in shrouds
For my part, like to sec person prepared
for the grave to look as natural as they did
IN life, and they certainly don't look nike
themselves If they are attired in sbroudn
The biggest undertakers' supply sore in
the country is in this city, where there are
ooo styles OF shrouds to choose from, rang
ing IN prices from S1I5 down to $40 Each
sample shroud is marked with tag show
ing the price and is numbered In big
book each number is accompanied by
detailed description of the quality of the
materials used and the style Most of these
sample shrouds are duplicated in stock, SO
that an undertaken can take his customer
TO the supply store and pick out the style
and take it right of. If the sample isn't in
stock the supply store can make it up in a
jiffy, for they employ large plumber of
persons to make them. The shruud makers
are very happy, and sing and joke and
laugh over their work as much as if they
We're trimming bonnets. There arc STROUD
designers in the factory whose brains are
busy all the time thinking out new styles
There are more styles of dress for the
dead than there are for the living. This big
supply store sends out hundreds of shrouds
every week. They are shipped all over the
country and are ordered from plate enRray-
ings showing the style aud the price. with
an appended description of the material
Some Of the undertakers keep shrouds IN
stock, BAT most of them buy them as they
are ordered