Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-01-25
BURNING OF THE DEAD.
CHANGES IN FUNERAL CUSTOMS
 DICTATED BY GOOD SENSE.
Women No Longer Expected to Attend Funeral Services, Nor Men to Stand with Barred Heads by the Grave-No Lon: Procession of Carriages.

that funerals are ho longer what they .jsc,! tc be Women are no longer ex- pected to attend them, and with some exceptions they don't. The statement of this fact was brought about through the publication in Philadelphia newspaper of a number of interviews with under takers in that city. In a recently pub lished death notice of woman in Phila- Gelphia this sentence was embodied Male members of the family only are
 invited to attend" This notice was pub- iished in accordance with the wishes of the dead woman. She had been of a practical and sensible turn of mind. Her object was to prevent the attendance at her funeral of women who might, if it were bad weather, contract disease of a serious nature.
 IN PHILADELPHIA.
 Until very recently numerously at- tended funerals had been very common in Philadelphia. Scores of carriages fol- lowed the deceased man or woman to the grave, and men and women stood around on the damp ground in all kinds of " NOlAAl W do iOM into its last resting place. Philadelphia is gradually awakening to the fact that this sort of thing is dangerous. Strange to say. it appears to be due to the under takers of that city that these changes are being made. Evidently they are not SC calculating and selfish as various writers 0f fiction have portrayed them. The more carriages there are at a funeral the higger the undertaker's bill is, yet the Philadelphia members of the profession seem 10 view this fact with indifference. Said Mr. R. F. Bringhurst, one of the most prominent of these gentlemen:
 The custom in vogue here of large ;oncourSe of friends and relatives al ending funerals is a very foolish one Male members of the family only should accompany the hearse to the burial ground, and I am glad to see that this plan is being adopted by several fam lilies of this city. Ladies should not be taken to the burial ground, for more than one reason, either in good or bad weather. It subjects them tc great nervous strain to see the body of some member of their family or some relative lowered into the ground, and time and time again have seen ladies faint from this excitement
 Sometimes there is a hitch in the dropping of the coffin, so that considera ble difficulty is occasioned in getting i. s.raightened out. Accidents of this na. ture are very prolific of nervous pros tration, and women should not be sub- jected to them.
 ''It is striking fact that half of ouI funerals take place on stormy days, wheL it is positively dangerous for any man. rot to mention ladies. to stand for a long time on the wet ground until the interment is finished This city is, how. ever, getting to be somewhat enlighten- cd on the subject of funerals. A few years ago there were forty or fifty car riages to every funeral, but now this number is reduced to about eight. Ol course, the more people attend funerals :he better it is for the undertaken. His business is advertised, and he comes in for the burial of those who are taken sick and die because of the exposure at the burial ground. But He undertakers nave sympathetic souls like other classes of humanity, and for one advise all my patrons to have the funeral ceremony af the house. and then let only few gep tlemen of the family accompany the body to the cemetery"
 Undertaken J. R Knowles expressed the same sentiments and added:
 1.-The exclusion of ladies and friends at funerals is an admirable policy to sdopt. This city is just awakening to the fact that big funeral is big folly. As a rule every large funeral is the -ause of the death of at least one person who attends it."
 New York adopted the new custom some time since. Save in the case of men of great official prominence, few funerals, with the exceptioa of those of foreigners and persons of the poorer class, who accept innovations in such matters slowly, are largely attended even by men. Nowadays there are rare ly more than three or four carriages at the funeral of a person of good social rank, and five seems to be the maxi mum. Tine more fashionable the fam fly the simpler the arrangements are. At large proportion of such funerals that have taken place lately there have been only one or two carriages besides the hearse. Undertaken Edward M. Se- nior said yesterday:
 At three-quarters or the funerals have had in charge lately, no women have been present. AS a rule they dc not even sit in the same room with the body of the dead. The body is usually placed in the parlor, and some male rel, ativs remains there to receive visitors and do whatever is needed, while the women stay upstairs. They may come down to be present at services in the house, but they rarely follow the body to the grave. Even when they do this. they do not leave their carriages"
 It is not uncommon now for persons To provide minutely for their burials ir their wills, and many prudent ones ex- pressly request that no woman be al lowed to follow their bodies When the late actor, Chanfrau, died, the funeral at Long Branch was largely attended. The pail bearers were all old men, and they dropped one end of the coffin in going out of the house. The widow tainted at the sight, and painful scene was the result. The new rule is to have the coffin carried by hired assistants, while the pail bearers walk on either side.-New York Sun.
 Sir Edwin Arnold. the author of "The Light of Asia" hss been made com mander of the Imperial Order of the Lion