The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-04
GORGEOUS FUNERALS.
Bah ROundly DenOunCeS MOTtuaTy
extravaganza. y.5.f

WlreQ FLOWERS anu oomDr6 grape
Means Mockery-Mr. Van Millions
Aristocratic Obsequies-The Rever-
end Doctor Velvet's Insincerity at
the Tomb-A Minister'S Fat Fee-So-
called Mourners Filling the Coaches.
New York, Feb. 3.-Who is to be con-
sidered-the living or the deadl Do you
know what l meanl Put yourself in the
place of the man who is earning SIS a
month he has Bit of home, two or
three children, and, by the care and econo-
my of his wife, pley live along without
getting into debt; and yet because illness
will come to the rich and poor alike, be-
cause there may be desire togive a help
ing hand to an errIng brother, there is no
money saved. One day death comes into
that little fat which represents home to
these people. 1t may be the baby who is
dead it may be the oldest child; and
sorrow of sorrows, it may be
the wife, or else God help them!
it may be the man himself The
first awful grief over, somebody
says something about the funeral. You
and l shrink with horror from the funeral
trappings, and yet they must come. There
may be a little money given here and
there, from one and another of the family
but the undertaken glibly reminds the liv-
ing that so much will have to be paid for
the horrible plumed hearse that carries
that which you love, living or dead, and
that behind it must come troop of car
riages filled with so-caled friends, who
absolutely enjoy the morbid curiosity that
induces them TO look at you in your grief
Well, you give the little money that
you have; you think how you loved that
dear, dead one, and you feel as if some
body insists upon it that you must not
fail in the outward respect due
TO THIS ONE WHO is SLEEPING,
And then, for months after, there must
be money saved; you must give up the
idea of doing what you wish for the liv-
ing until you have paid for this wretched
pomp shown to the dead. And the boy
who wanted to 60 to school another year
is forced out into the world, and the girl
who was anxious to study something that
she might in the future give helping
hand, has to stay at home and shed quiet
tears over her disappointment. All be-
cause miserable, mean conception of
what is right and what is wrong says
that you shall bind yourself for many
months to the dead and ignore the living.
can't tell you how much / feel about
L
that loving pride dictated it, still I felt
that If the dead could come back and
speak, they would ask that only quiet
resting place be given TO them, that only
willing prayer be said for them. and
that if there is flower offered in remem-
brance, it will be one that comes from a
home garden, and not that which has
passed through the hands of the Tourist,
and been wired by him to form what he
calls "a most affecting token"
DEATH TAKES THE MILLIONAIRE.
The other day Mr.. Van Million died.
His life hadn't been any too remarkable
for it's goodness, or it's kindness, or its vir-
tues, but still he was dead, and that can
all be forgotten. In the emf brace of death
Mr.. Van Million is surrounded by blue
violets and white lilies, BY costly orchids
and palm leaves, and al the NYreattis and
punches of flowers are tied with great,
broad ribbons. And Mrs. Van Million en-
ters the room to go to the church, a moving
mass of Grape, that any woman who looks
can estimate at its enormous COST And
the church Is open, and well-known
prima donna, well-known alike for the
beauty of her voice and the wickedness
of her life, sings almost exquisitely
And, later on, at the grave the
Reverend Doctor Velvet makes a picture
the blue skies above him and carefully re-
minds God Almighty that lin this, the
loss of our dear brother, there has gone
from us one who was most prominent,
who was kind and good, and who will,
without doubt, occupy in heaven that
position in which he would find greatest
happiness and be nearest TO the great
white throne" And the Rev. DR. Velvet
knows that in his trousers pocket is 4
Ire
thanking him for his goodness and for the
thoughtful consideration that prompted
him to give up one afternoon of his yalu-
able time to her in her sorrow. Undoubt-
eddy, she felt this way--the Van Millions
wives and daughters love them, but it has
been suggested to her by some one who
knew that it was customary to give this
monetary courtesy
TO THE REV. DR. VELVET.
He values his time well. You, who happen
that day to have gone out to look at a
little baby's grave, pass this group, raise
your hal, and stand still for moment YOU
know that when that baby died, if you
had gone to the Rev. DR.. Velvet. and told
him that you earned SIS a week, and that
you wanted some prayers said over your
dead child, you know as well as / do thai
the man who is supposed to preach the
doctrine of him who died that you might
be saved, would instantly find pleasant
excuse for not doing as you asked. Do
/ blame the clergyl l do, most emphat-
ically; do not care to what church they
may belong, l insist upon it, that when it
comes to a question of burying the dead,
the rich and the poor stand alike in the
presence of God, and that no man has a
right to refuse to do his duty by them,
and that no man has right to accept
money for the consolation that he gives
the living, and the prayers that he says
for the dead. -
If Mrs. Van Million realizes in her sor-
row that there are others in this world
who suffer, then she can give her check
to where 1t will do most good in memory
Of the dead; but the horror of paying a
clergyman for speaking words Of consola-
ton, has made more men lose faith than
else in the world.
Why can't you be little brave about
your dead2 Why can't you say, when
the breath has left the body. that no
stranger hand can touch IT, and robing
1t in something it had worn in life why
won't you put 1t In plain box, without
embellishments of silver or gold have it
carried into a dark coach. and followed
to its resting place only by those who
loved 1t while there was life in it, How
can you, if you have heart, permit the
merely curious TO look at your deadl
How can you allow the people TO whom
she who is dead, never spoke never knew
of, TO look at and criticise her, when she
liao l., Id, II