The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-04
copyrighted 1885,

AN ADVENTURE OF BUSINESS AND RELIGION.
"Well." said my companion, when l ex-
planned the occurrence, and expressed some
surprise, you're not much of New Yorker,
surely, if you're surprised at that. To-
morrow night that same man may be yell
ing himself hoarse for the good of some
cause that concerns neither of the great
Iarties. He belongs to class of barroom
loafers in this CITY, who almost make pro-
fesSion of that sort of living. For so cents
or 81 they'll parade and yell for nybody or
anything that likes to engage them. They're
employed mostly by ward politicians to
help their cause by fictitious enthusiasm"
had tn admit that had never heard of
professional enthusiasts before, although l
have heard, in parts of Asia, professional
mourners who are hired at so much day
to wall for the dead, making quite as much
noise for their wages. And that reminds me
of some very singular funeral customs that
came under my notice in the many coun-
tries | rode through on my bicycle tour
of the world.
The moment life has departed from
Mussulman, the women set up an unearthly
walling. AS the depth and commences of
their grief is supposed to be gagged by the
volume of sound, the lungs are taxed
heavily. In the case of a wealthy person,
numbers of professional mourners are en-
gagged, and all night long the sound of their
uncanny wailings is heard throughout the
otherwise silent city. No more doleful
music can be imagined than a company of
Turkish walters lifting up their voices in
concert, when all other life and noise in
city has ceased for the day. Numbers of
deaths naturally occur every day in a large
city, and the more enlightened Turks have
now awakened to the fact that the nightly
lamentations of hundreds of women is a
public nuisance. In Constantinople and
several other cities it is now prohibited. In
the interior, however, one is frequently
startled in the middle of the night by these
ghostly shriekings suddenly breaking loose
near by.
Preparations for the funeral are begun as
soon as life is extinct, as the Turks believe
in burying the dead as quickly as possible.
The eyellds are closed and the lower Jaw
bandaged; the arms are stretched down the
sides, and the feet tied together. The priest
and his assistants are now summoned to
wash the corpse. As with US, no matter
how a person may have been kicked and
hufIeted through life, he is handled very
tenderly after all sensbility has departed.
The Turks are even more careful of this
because any lack of tenderness in handling a
corpse would bring upon them the curse OF
the dead mans soul.
After the washing the priest dips water
the mouth, nose, and various parts of the
body. Pepper is sprinkled very literally
on the eyes, and powdered salt on the face,
after which it is covered up with a thick
wad of cotton. The body is then enveloped
in white shroud and put in a rough coffin.
The funeral guests are now assembled, the
Imam, in an impressive voice, sings out:
80 Mussulmans, | call you to witness
what kind of life did this, our brother
leadm
Good" shout the crowd No matter if
the departed has been brigand or a noto-
riously bad egg, the response is always
"Goodp heartily given.
At the fore end of the coffin is peg on
whichis hung the turban or fez Of the de-
ceased. The coffin is hoisted on the shoulders
of four carriers, and the procession, headed
by the Imam, starts to the mosque. The fol-
lowers are all men and boys; the women stay
at home and wall. The Mohammedan burial
service is read at the mosque, the words
and sentiments following the beautiful bu-
rial service of the Episcopal church very
closely. From the mosque the procession
wends it way to the cemetery. The Mo
hammedans bury the dead very shallow
mans grave being but 3 feet deep and
woman's 4. The body is laid to rest without
the coffin.