The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-03-10
Dead March Professions.

Dead March Professions.
at is doubly pathetic sight on
raw and chilling March day to see a
funeral procession with its long tain Of
carriages. Possibly it may be convey
ing other people to their deaths. The
mournful gravity with which pedestrians
or other spectators look upon the sor
rowful cortege has quite another side
to it, as this slow moving train goes by,
in these bleak days. After sitting for an
hour or halt an hour in heavy wraps or
overcoatS in oVerCrowded and heated
rooms while the service is going on,
there is risk in going out upon long
slow rides, sitting entirely still for
another hour or more. Yet old per-
sons and delicate young ones ere eX
pected to go through this as a matter
of tribute to the dead. Quite often
death accepts such tributes. When
the burial place is reached the men
stand with uncovered heads, and all
the mourning people stand and shiver
on the damp earth, and perhaps in
searching wind. Cold feet, icy chills
settling upon the lungs, congested cir
culations, are thus among the frequent
accompaniment of the solemn words
of the funeral service.
Is it not an inconsiderate custom
that associates respect for the dead
with such perilous exposure to the hv-
ing? Can certain burial services of
antiquity, which we regard as absurd
and cruel, be as abhonent really as
modern civilization holds them, when
the civilized customs of this age permit
and even require attendance that may
be equally fatal-equally sacrifice Of!
life?
There is doubtless some force in the
suggestions contained in the above ex-
tract from the Philadelphia Leager re-
Iative to funeral corteges in large towns
and cities-but how much more sug-
gestive are these questions in relation
to funerals as now conducted in the
country and in small towns and villages |?
The experience Of almost every one of
us will furnish instances in which death
illnesses have been directly traceable to
exposure on such occasions. We recall
comparatively recent case in this
community where a well known citizen
anxious to testify by his presence his
respect to the memory of a deceased
friend, attended his funeral, and finding
the residence OF his late acquaintance
crowded to suffocation, was compelled
after a drive of some distance to stand
upon the pavement exposed to chill
ing wind. He contracted a severe cold
and in week died victim to pneu-
monia.
1t can be truly said in this case that
this man sacrificed his life to an incon-
siderate custom that associates respect
for the dead with such perllous expos
ure for the living.
Modern civilization, however, toler-
ates an unlimited number OF inconsid-
crate social customs, the mos: of which
are more honored in the breach than
in the observance. What a fearful death
roll, that merciless mistress-Fashion-
yearly claims as her own.
While the moralizing philosopher of
the Ledger sees so pathetic a picture
in a funeral train, 1t seems to US, he
can find very much more to stir his
sympathetic soul in the long line OF
delicate and frail women who immediate
themselves upon the altar of fashionable
indulgence.
For every instance in which the seeds
of fatal disease are sown at a funeral.
scores, perhaps hundreds are scattered
broadcast in the stjffling atmosphere OF
the crowded ball room, or the fashion
able wedding reception.
But whatever be the relative mortality
of fashionable routs. and fashionable
funerals, we know of no better innova
ton upon general principles than the
adoption of ''considerate custom" in
the shape of private funerals unostenta-
tiously conducted either in city or
country To persons of intelligence
and refinement, ostentatious funeral
parades are OF all social displays the
most to be deprecated. While it is
true that many persons attend public
funerals out of sincere respect for the
memory Of the dead, the great majority
are attracted to them out of idle curl.
osity, and a morbid desire to view the
remains of deceased persons. Private
intermcnts would in a measure at least
correct the evils referred to by our
contemporary.