The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-08
A LONDON FUNERAI,.
In Striking Contrast With the Cha
acteristic Paris Funeral

NStSEASlAC IaFAS Funeral,
E. A. Barron in Chicago Times Her,id
London, Oct. 24.-Strolling air1oss1..
along an alley-like street in which 7 foun1
myself by a turn off Drury Lane 7 cap,1
upon the scene of a funeral. The grin,
black hearse and an equally somber ca,
riage-driver and footman on the hoy 80
each wearing heavy mourning bands eo,v
ing from their tall hats-constituted tbo
cortege, which moved it's difficult wav
through the crowded little street. From
every part of the neighborhood childra,,
and untidy men and women had gathered
in large numbers and stood curions,.
about to see the show, for show if was -
them. They had pressed so close To tba
steps that the pallbearers coming from
the house with their burden had been m.
convenenced and the three members of
the bereaved family who entered the car
rage brushed their way past the thought
less idlers. No doubt some touch Of br-
man sympathy softened the merely cur,-
Gus interest, but the manner of the large
groups was hardly that of reverence or
any profound sentiment The children ran
Laughing before and behind the carrjaga
tod
with one another rather noisily. and if
was only during the few moments required
to bear the coffin from the doorway tn
the hearse that the immediate spectators
were quite subdued. The most pathetic
feature of the scene was the unrnovedness
OF these onlookers, who came to game ann
gaze at mortality's last Office Just as tn,
day before but few feet further on a
crowd had stood listening to the maud1In
lamentations of an old woman, just turn
ed out OF public house. AS the hearss
ana Its following carriage moved off the
| people regarded 1T indifferently until If
disappeared at the turning and then. with
| the customary light remarks upon the or.
! dering of death, the group melted away
| into the business of the street, or ready
| Tor further entertainment of any sort
! from the tWanging of the "nigger'' banjo
| TO the girls who dance on the uneven
| stones to the noise of a barrel organ. Tho
English are too stolid to respond to the
me touch of sentiment that finds affinity
| in every Frenchman's breast
| An English funeral ceremony whether
| it be in some pitiful lane of the poor Jews
! quarter, or in a fashionable part of the
! West End, is a show, a something to look
| at as you look at any curious thing doing
| in the street, and no deep emotions are
| stirred by any sense of the solemnitv of
| the idea epitomized by the coffin inclos-
| ing the dead. Quite another impression is
made upon the imagination of an American
| come suddenly upon a funeral in Paris
To say nothing of the trappings and the
suits OF woe of the plumed and mantled
| black horses and draped hearse the whole
| character of a French funeral fills YOU
| with a supreme sense of the mystery and
| awe OF that transition which we mama
| death, which we know to be the common
lot OF ALL and yet from which we strange
| ly feel ourselves exempt. Here before the
| ancient doors of St. Sulpice stands an open
1 hR1rSe-fnr in
| closed with glass. There is a waiting
crowd here. too, but a silent one; and as
the coffin is borne slowly, reverently from
the church every head of those standing
is uncovered, and every man who passes
| uncovers, and keeps his hat in his hand
until he is well beyond. Coming along the
square was a uniformed messenger on q
bicycle. As he approached the spot they
were just carrying the coffin down the
steps, and the young man, dismounting,
walked with his machine past the group,
holding his hand at a military salute I'M
til he had crossed the space, when he
mounted and rode on. The hearse is driven
at walk with its charge down the crowd
ed rues, followed by friends Of the dead
on foot, their heads bare, and wherever
this pious procession wends its way men
on the pavements and men who pass In
carriages lift their hats in tribute of res
pect to that mysterious something there
under the velVets which yesterday had
life. Is there any association to be estab-
lished between this simple dignity in the
expression of sympathy with desolation
and the fierce, hot passion of patriotism
that so pre-eminently distinguishes the
Frenchman.
A nation of mem who have respect OF
private grief to the extent of making it
common rule to give outward sign of SYM
pathy in the presence of even the un-
known dead, and who have so complete
I n OH thew
their chief city a veritable monument OF
art to the perpetuation of illustrious
names, Is in no immediate danger of de-
cay. France has, moreover another ele-
ment of simplicity that enters into her
daily life as a sustaining force-that is,
the candor of nuptial happiness in the
middle classes. Nothing is more cheerful
ly interesting than French wedding cere-
monies, or celebrations, as they are to be
seen in Paris, in lesser towns or In the
rural districts. At an early hour OF the
forenoon in Dieppe the other day saw
struggling along the Quai Henri ~ some
fifty gaily dressed men and women or
all ages. at the head of whom, deliciousy
self-absorbed and delightfully."- happy
walked a young couple but fifteen min
utes man and wife. She was a trim little
grisette, whose only visible finery was her
white cotton gloves and her economic
wreath of white flowers. He was tall and
lank, made taller by the well-preserved
silk hat that he wore with evident con-
Germ as If he mstrusted the ft. They held
hands as they walked. chattering animal
dely If not brilliantly, flinging smiles and
salutatons to occasional friends along the
way, and followed by the immediate rela-
| tives and friends who seemed TO imagine
that to them individually and collectively
belonged the honor of instituting mar
riage and giving 1t so felicitous an Illus
tration.
An endless troune Of ragged dirty and
unassorted children moving in pairs, trail
ed after the proper procession, giving ar
tstic value to that of which 1t was NOT
legitimately a part. And the people whol
came to shop doors and house windows
as well as those who stopped on the pave
ments TO see the wedding party pass, par
ticipated frankly in the JOY of the occasion
and felt better for the day. Scenes IKE
these, which deal with the extremes Of llte'
death and marriage. in the great class
which strikes a national average, are nor
the ones usually called up in mind by the
mention Of France but they are morgI