The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-04-18
STYLES in cAskETs.


Y
An Undertaker Talks About Comms.-
Sense Reforms In Funernts.
There restyles even for the dead.
said one Of the leading undertakers ip
theacity. For years much has been
said of a necessary reform In funerals,
partly to lessen the cost and partly 70
deprive the grave of needless terrors.
Those engaged in the undertaking.
business have lent their voice TO the
general cry, but 1t is only OF late that
we have been able to see any results
Innovations make slow Roadway
against established customs. especially
in such matters as buriais, In which
people are conservative to q fault
'sThe disuse OF the old-fashioned
coffin was a great step; but even when
caskets became popular there was still
allegiance to the traditional colors,
black and-white, according TO age oil
the person to be buried. People would
have been shocked at any thing like
color even in the matter OF flowers.
That old conservatism is gradually
breaking down, though. Caskets COW
cred with colored cloth are daily grow
ing more popular. Shades of pink.
gray. buff, blue and purple seem to
meet most favor, and the effect is
really much more pleasant than the
old-time somber black. Pinks, and
the delicate shades, of course, are
chiefly used for children. The purple,
covered caskets are in the main for
ladies, while the grays fall to middle
aged people OF both SEXES. 1t is only
the more radical families who venture
to buy the higher colors, but the mass
OF the people are beginning to prefer
the grays.
Then again there is noticeable
change in the method OF conducting
funerals that is daily growing more
marked. 1t is that of inviting friends
to the religious services. and having
the burial, sometimes two or three
hours later. strictly private. Usually
however, the burial takes place as
soon as the friends have departed.
This is doubtless step in the right
direction, for it not only takes away
the public character of the occasion
and makes grief more private and per-
~haps easier to bear. but 1t materially
lessons the expense of burial.
1.-THE carriages at funerals are the
greatest item in the total cost, and
again we find people coming to what
one would call common-sense view Of
things. -EeMerconYeyanc often
Just enough for, the mourners and pail
bearers@is growing to b. the regular
custom.
II think there was never a time
when decency without lavishness or
parsimony was more generally the
motto of the masses than at present.
People get distorted notions about the
cost OF burials and in measure are
doubtless led astray in their Affections
by their preconceived notions of the
cost and requirements. 1t Is only
rarely that we now hear Of great ex-
penses incurred even among wealthy
.families Sometimes the5cost runs up
to 500 or $500, but more often it falls
to $75 or 800. Probably $75 to $15o
would represent the most common
range of prices for burials1 in
the average families Of Chi
cago. There is a manifest
tendency to go beyond what financial
circumstances would warrant in the
matter OF expense, but even mild 'ex-
travagances OF this sort are beg inning
to be less frequent; and doubtless as
much for, the undertaker's interest as
for that OF the mourners.
ut is a fact. as often said, that I'M
dertaking is business OF great risks
and losses. l speak, OF course, re-
latively to other businesses. Often in
case Of death a neighbor or friend OF
the afflicted family comes to the under
taker. They suppose every thing is all
right and practicallythe undertaken
has to suppose the same. At all events
it is not time for hesitancy. Under
takers are as tender-hearted as most
people, and they are constantly led to
serve families of whom they never
heard before and from whom they may
or may not succeed in collecting their
pay. Often, too. family is supposed
to be in affluent circumstances, and the
decease ofthe father. or husband sud-
denly reveals the fact that house.
goods, every thing, is mortgaged, and
thusswe have TO get what we can.
$50 far as our work is concerned. 1t
Is not as disagreeab1e as many people
suppose. It is with us as with ply
sicians. 70 certain extent we get
used to death and grief and are not
troubled by the manifestations Of them.
Still. think few undertakers really
get hardened into disregarding those
little niceties that mourners would
want observed about their dead. y
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