The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-09
SOME QUEER FUNERALS.
Deathbed Requests Are Observed at The
0bSequieS.

her Heirs Recognize Her Lifelong
Habit-A Cortege of Dust Carts.
From the Chicago Times.
The incident reported recently in which
a New York man Of moderate means
left special instructions in his will that
less than SO should be spent on his fun
eral is not without precedent. To many
people the funeral reform idea has an
almost religious significance, and It is
generally found that those who favor
rigid economy in the last offices are those
who could the most easily AFFORD reason
able expenditure or even an extravagant
outlay. The expression decent burial
has a special meaning among the poor,
and collectors for a fund to save a neigh
Dor from interment in the potter's field
seldom leaves house on the block with
out at least a small contribution. In
ST. Louis the funeral fund collecting idea
prevails very generally among the col
ored people. In the health commission
er's Office at the city hall a much-folded
and soiled burial certificate is recognized
as dealing with a deceased colored citi-
zen before it is handled. Very rarely
does a colored corpse have to be buried
by the city. and the process of raising
a burial fund, although often slow and
tedious, is invariably successful.
Excessively cheen and curious fun
erals have occurred in nearly all states
and even countries. According to the au-
thorities on the subject. the record for
an inexpensive funeral is held by Vir-
ginian, who disposed of his wife,s re-
mains at a cost of but a few cents, al
though he observed all the formalities,
secured the services of a minister and en-
tertained the mourners. He was handy
with his tools and made a passable coffin
out of lumber on the premises. Then he
obtained permission to dig a grave him
self in the little country churchyard, and
persuaded the minister to read the SER
vices without fee. The neighbors acted
as pail bearers, and their wagons and his
conveyed the party to the graveyard. On
the return to the house he invited the
crowd to stop to supper, and then getting
out the family Bible read chapter after
chapter until one after another slipped
away to attend to his milking and the
chores, leaving very few guests to be en-
tertained. The man was not poor by any
means nor was he invariably stingy.
But he regarded the feat of burying his
wife cheaply as a memorable one, and
when discussing it always asked his list
eners how the late lamented was injured
by the economy.
The most amusing request ever made by
a dying man was probably that of a very
jovial Irishman. Having a glorious recol-
lection of the fun he had enjoyed at wakes
and funerals, he was very anxious that his
friends should make the most of the OPP
portunity in his case. Hence he especially
requested that a certain sum of money
should be spent in entertaining the mourn
ers and RECALLING them with the good
things of this world, especially of liquid
nature. This was promised and the ques-
ton was asked, should the money be spent
on the way out to the cemetery or on the
return. Pat regarded the inquiry as dis
tinctly superfuous and replied with some
degree of irritation:
"Why, goin out. sure. I'll be wild ye
then, but 1 won't be wild We comm back"
The good mans peculiar ideas as to the
connection between the moral and spir-
itual in mankind were duly respected,
and the boys had an elegant time both be-
fore the procession started and while ii
was en- route for the scene of his last rest
ing place.
Clegg, one of the earliest conjurors
of whom we know any details, was equal
~ solicitous for his friends creature com>
forts. He expressed a desire to be buried
liz peculiar fashion, and his request was
complied with. OF his very scanty saw
ings quite a large percentage was set
aside for the entertainment of sixty of his
bosom friends, who acted as chief mourn
ers. They arrived early in the day, took
a last look at the remains of him with
whom they had enjoyed so many hours
Of boisterous mirth, and then sat down
to a funeral feast, consisting of spiced
cakes and an unlimited supply of home
brewed ale. Each wore, as per directions,
little wreaths of holly, gorse, and rose
mary, and small band of fddles scraped
out bright melodies, while the funeral
baked meats were being devoured and the
ale disposed of. BY the time the funeral
procession started most of the sixty were
slightly inebriated, and the march to the
graveyard was far from dignified. The
fiddlers led the way, followed by the sixty
mourners, with another chief mourner
bringing up the rear on a more or less
Iineal descendant of the animal which de-
I1vered the historical rebuke to BALKAN
of old.
1t is but quarter of century ago that
an old lady, who was an inveterate snuff
taker, made it imperati upon her heirs
to recognize her habit at her funeral For
years her friends had tried to persuade
her to abandon a habit which had become
part of her nature, and was source of
annoyance to all her friends. She was OBJ
stinate as we'll as wealthy, and not only
kept up the habit to the last but in her
will called for a snuff funeral. Her direct
heirs were in favor of ignoring the in
structions as evidently the work of a mind
diseased and allowing the estate to be dis
tributed by the public administrator. The
other legatees, however, We're loud in
their protests, and they finally prevailed
Snuff was scattered over her body and
along the line of the procession, while the
palIbearers were such inveterate SNUFF
takers that they readily fulfilled their part
of the not very select arrangement. 1t
is even stated that the minister, in order
to earn an exceptionally large fee, took
snuff throughout the entire ceremony,
though it is to be hoped that this later
statement is what Pooh-bah would de-
scribe as mere corroborative detail" and
not a record of actual facts.
A very interesting account was pub
Iished in a London newspaper more than
forty years ago of the funeral of George
williams, described as the king of the
chimney sweepers. He died just before
the first great internationl exposition was
opened, and his funeral was attended by
several hundred chimney cleaners, in
Guiding an immense number of little boys.
who earned few pence day by climbing