The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1896-04-07
oln EAsAloNs IN EuNERALs.

JEe Cheriailed COn1n l1otlroa OF New Eng
land Families Half Century Ago.
IA ready made coffin is thing
never saw until was a grown man, ,
said the reminiscent person, who is
not so very old either. IT was
brought upin a small village in Yer.
mont, where a broadcloth coffin with
silver trimmings would have Great
ed as much wonder and speculation
as cable car. If suoh coffin had
strayed into the neighborhood. il
would doubtless have been placed
upright In some ones best room and
been used as cabinet for choice
bits Of china, It's funereal purpose
remaining undreamed of. fs saA
Each farmer saved from his out
ting of timber few of the finest
boards. Especial attention was CIV
on to the seasoning and finish, and
they werc thcn STORED away until
the time whsn they should DO need
cd. There was always rivalry among
tho neighbors as 10 who had the fin
est CONN boards in his loft. They
would no moro think of using tho
coffin boards for any other purpose
than they would of wearing the
clothes which had been put away in
the cedar chest for them to be laid
out In.
lowing to the uncertainty as to
the time when they might be called
for, nothing more could be done to-
ward making the coffins than to
have tho boards ready. Men were
too tbifty in those days to run any
risk of making up coffin and then
having it misf1t, and it was gener-
ally conceded that mans last CON-
versation with the minister should
not be accompanied by the unmis-
taxable sound of hammering from
the barn. So the coffin making had to
be left until all was over When my
greatuncle died, I remember, father
and my elder brothers staid up all
night making his coffin.
"Who did the laying outr Oh.
there was at least one woman in the
village who was first class at that
sort of thing-generally a tailoress
or seamstress-andw was always on
hand. She took right hold and did
everything-made the shroud, gave
advice about the latest style in
mourning, saw the callers if she was
allowed to. Generally the family
took a mournful pleasure in per-
forming that duty themselves. This
self appointed undertaken never ex-
pected any remuneration for her
services, though she didn't object if
after next shearing you sent around
enough wool for q new dress, pro-
vided you were perfectly able to do
so.
''No, the shroud wasn't of home
spun linen. That was one time
when a man was allowed to wear
store clothes, though all his life he
had worn homespun linsey woolsey
shirts, homo woven natural gray
trousers and cowhido boots made bS
the travelling cobbler. He was buried
in white shroud of the finest mus
lin which his means afforded and
the village store could furnish.
There was nothing brief about the
remarks of the minister. The sery-
ice usually took good two hours,
We always had regular sermon.
1t gave the minister an opportunity
to expostulate with backsliders
such as he never had in church, for
the most irreligious man in town
would turn out for funeral.
Flowers? Where should they
get them? Nobody had time to
bother over posy beds, and if they
did happen to have few hollyhocks
and marigolds scattered in among
tho garden sass you couldn't get
them to pick them for love or mon.
ey. So flowers were questionable,
and there was no need of requesting
friends not to send them.
"Hearse? Well, not unless you
use so high sounding name for a
box wagon with two board seats
across it for the bearers. The coffin
was placed on the bottom under
their feet. There was generally
some one in the neighborheod that
had such a wgon, and the neighbors
were free to borrow it. At other
times it was used for hauling bar
rels. New York Tribune,
BalalSlava and ChancellOrsville.