The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-09
WOMEN AS UNDERTAKERS.

Can Manage All Details Except the
Actual Conduct of Funeral.
Many women in New York have mas
tered the art of embalming and are en-
ployed as undertaker's assistants in much
the same way as doctor calls on the
services of a nurse. There are several
women undertakers who sell collins, pro-
vide shrouds and attend to other details of
their gloomy calling. These last are not
necessarily embalmers and are, in most in
stances, the widows of undertakes, carry
ing on the business which their husbands
established. They assume charge of dead
body and prepare it for burial but invari-
ably call on some friendly man under
taker to conduct the funeral and OStensi-
bly, appear in charge. Brooklyn boasts
woman who is not only an undertaken, but
the sexton of church as well, successfully
dlscharging all the duties that pertain to
both callings, except the personal conduct
OF Gpublic funeral.
mo woman has ever yet undertaken to
walk up church aisle at the head OF
funeral procession" said the secretary of
the Undertakers' Association. "She would
appear extremely out of place, and nobody
would have her. Public sentiment de-
mands man for that dignified Office.
Women can have an undertaker's shop
and sell goods. and they can be embalmers
and tend to the dressing Of body, but
when it comes to the funeral arrangements
they have to call in a man.
This is the opinion of the trade, sustained
by many voices, but newcomer in the
ranks of Brooklyn undertakers is a woman
of marked individuality and keen business
intuition, who, it is predicted, is not likely
to permit either popular prejudice or con-
ventionality to interfere with what she
ole tn Ia nax, L,,as La
her by any relations, nor did she stumble
into it by an accident. She deliberately
chose it, and is probably the only young
unmarried woman in the country pursuing
that calling. There would be nothing in
congruous in the spectacle of this young
woman ushering a funeral procession up
an aisle or otherwise being associated with
preston of her face is severe and austere.
She is tall, slight and very erect. Arrayed
in the plain tabernacle suit of black which
she invariably wears, her masculine ap-
pearance is striking to degree. Nopuffed
sleeves, fluffy. hair, wells or superfuous
drapery characterize her attire. Her skirts
are as plain and scant as skirts can be-,
her hair is put plainly away under an
Alpine hat, and she always wears the stiff
collar, cuffs and formal tie that distinguish
the apparel of man. Those familiar with
this unique specimen OF the woman up to
date assert that she is seldom seen to
smile and is never known to speak to any
Que except on business, using few super
fuous words even then. In addition to
her calling of undertaken, this young
woman lends money to a large number of
people and takes mortgages on their per-
sonal effects as security. She has been
singularly successful in this business and
is considered by her neighbors to be we'll
to do. She is honest and upright in all
her dealings, and has been known to be
lenient in more than one instance when
she thought circumstances justified mild
treatment. This unusual woman is not a
product of Brooklyn life and institutions,
having been transplanted thither from a
town in Western New York.-New York
Tribune.