The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-12-01
FOND OF FINE FUNERALS,


FOND OF FINE FUNERALS.
From the Baltimore sun.
The love of the French for display IN
burial ceremonies has been pointed
out as characteristic of the nation.
The people have pathetic way of say
ing although it costs much TO live in
Paris, it costs still more to die" This
Is. as measure, true, and that it is so
is due to the fact that the government
has monopoly of the work of burying
the dead, and has esta blished Il scale
of prices by which the style of funeral
is regulated, from that costing hun
dreds of dollars TO the one which opens
the fosse commune common gravel.
As a rule the French are fond of fine
funerals. For statesmen of the
first rank the government DEGREES
a state funeral, which is an oc-
casion of great display and fire.
quently leads to political demonstra-
tions; but private funerals are also
costly, and many a man who has lived
with the utmost meanness all his life
is laid to rest with princely pomp
The door of his residence is hung with
black curtains, embroidered with sill
yer: his monogram. in silver. is on all
the mourning coaches which follow the
hearse; the drivers are dressed in
black, with knee breeches, high boots,
three-cornered hats and long Grape
Streamers on their arms: the horses
for the hearse are caparisoned with
8
yer. and on the hearse itself are plumes
and silver figures of angels and cher
ubs. Then, too, the custom of sending
cut notices of the death and invitations
to the funeral is very common, and
sometimes those notices are as eiab-
crate and as elegantly engraved as the
most expensive wedding cards or invi-
tations to a ball.
In striking contrast with the decor
Gus funerals of the rich are the scenes
when the body of a very poor person
is TO be laid in the grave. The city IS
strict in regard TO them. The body
can only be kept twenty-four hours
from the time of death, and it must be
buried in a coffin made of thin deal
boards, unpainted, unvarnished and so
slight that il is always wrapped up
and fastened with ropes lest IL should
come to pieces. 1t is taken to the
grave in hearse which is hardly bet
ter than a draw. At the fosse COM
mune the priest is allowed to include
six funerals in one service. Fully TO
explain the necessity for the fosse com
mune, it is necessary to say word
about French gravevards. They are
governed entirely different from ours,
and their object seems 10 be 70 afford
graves TO the millions who ARE dead,
without taking too much space
from the millions who live. In GER
tain parts of the cemetery graves may
be bought outright, though at enor-
nous prices. and remain forever in the
possession of a family. In other sec
tiOns the graves are bought singly for
five years from the date of burial. and
at the end of the specified time the
bones are taken NJ and buried In the
fosse commune. The fosse commune
lowest grave of all-is z ditch twelve
feet deep. twelve feet wide and as long
as the size OF the graveyard permits
Here the collins are put side by side Il
two rows, the heads meeting n the
center. When certain number are n
the ditch Il is closed. and on another
LAYER OF earth more collins are alter
ward laid When the ditch Is Sled -
the surface another one alongside IS
opened. and so until the availab bic space
Is used up. Then the first ditch is re-
opened and fresh co-fius are put IN 4
place Of the old ones, which have &C.
.aYeo