Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1888-12-08
rAg sHRoup INDUSTRY.
Enormous Proportions to which II lila
Grown Within n Few Years.

Enormous Proportions to which II Has
Grown Within Few Years.
In tho past Ave years, says the Philadel-
phia Times, the shroue industry N this city
has grown 20 enormous proportions, and
| this dress OF the dead, while u has become
| unpopular with some, mas grown steadily in
favor with others. The reason Tor the great
increase IN the basiness is on account 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 laycrs-out of the dead and
| poor women, who made regular business
OF II and worked early and late, according
to tho number of orders they had. Shrouds
were tnen made at short notice, because
after the person died there wasn't much
tlne &c design and make the shroud, and,
women worked oil 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 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 shroues for great deal less money
The woman was stitching away at a shroud
al the time This is for an old Quaker
lady, she said, "who died yesterday |
must finish 1t before l go to sleep. What
BUSINESS get now is almost entirely for
dressing old persons, principally women. Il
used to be that nearly every body was buried
in shrouds, and that isn't more than half a
dozen years ago.
A prominent undertaken, who has what is
known in the business AS a s. tony trade
sand II don't suppose l have used more
than half dozen shrouds year. With nv
class Of trade the custom is diving out, 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 list of dozen
men or women he can recommend. Well,
the professional nurses in the past Ave
years have got to preparing the dead for
burial, and they can dress a corpse Just as
well as they can live person. Ny 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 nave worn at weddings, receptions,
balls or banquets. 1t takes two persons TO
dress body, but II is done easily NOWADAYS.
almost an impossibillty, and up to that time
nearly every body was buried in shrouds.
For my part, like to see person prepared
for the grave TO look as natural as they did
IN life, and they certainly don't look like
themselves II they are attired in shroud.',
The biggest andertakers' supply store in
tue country Is in this city, where there are
SEQ styles Of shrouds TO choose from, rang
ing IL prices from S175 down to so. Zach
sample shroud is marked with tag show. !
ing the price and is numbered In big |
book each number is accompanied by a !
detailed description Of the quality Of the !
materials used and the style. Most OF these |
sample shrcuds are duplicated in stock, so |
that an undertaken can take his customer |
70 the supply store and pick out the style |
and take it right of. II the sample isn't in |
stock the supply store can make IL up in a /
Jny, Tor they employ large number Of 4
persons to make them. The shruud makers |
are very happy, and sing and joke and \
laugh over their work as much as IL they !
were trimming bonnets. There are shroud |
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 1
every week They are shipped all over the
country and are ordered from plate engray-
ings showing the style aud the price. with
an appended description of the material.
Some OF the undertakers keep shrouds in
stock, but most Of them buy them as they
are ordered