The evening times., 1898-09-02
CHEAP FUNERALS.
The People In Portugal Rent Candy
Collins for n Day
From the New York


.The burial customs of the Spanish, as
seen in Cuba. are in some respects much
like those of Portugal" said a former
resident of Portugal. THE poor there
like the poor in Spain, economize on
funeral expenses by making one coffin
serve for a number of funerals in sue
cession. In Lisbon, at least. the coffin
is usually a very substantial piece OF
work, covered with red leather and free
ly studded with brass nails. Its lid Is
attached with hinges, so that the coffin
opens and shuts like a large trunk. OF
course. the selling price of an article like
this would be beyond the means of any
poor family, but the rent for one day
is comparatively small.
when funeral procession reaches
the grave in the great Prazeres Gene
terry, just outside OF Lisbon, the under
takers men, instead OF lowering the cof-
fin, open its lid take out the corpse and
lower it into its last resting place. The
empty coffin is left there until a Gallego
takes il back 10 its owner after the
mourners have retired. These Gailegos,
by the way, natives of Galacia, in Spain,
do all the work of porters in Lisbon.
If you ask a native Portuguese servant
to carry parcel or valise
through the streets he will answer you
in a tone of offended dignity: You cha
mar um Gallego' CT will go and call
GallegoD. for no native Portuguese would
be seen carrying a load of any kind III
public.
These Gallegos have no objection 10
oar r-N-ir -I,e,
recently-vacated coffin. That is the kind
of work they come 10 Lisbon for, so that
in their old age they may go across the
frontier TO Galicia and live on their saw
ings. And one little incident that hap
pened while / was In Lisbon showed how
little impression superstitions regarding
death make on the Galego mind. The
city of Lisbon collected toll on goods
brought within its limits. and there were
guards at the different gates of the city
TO see that nothing was smuggled in. One
very rainy afternoon the guard at the
PraZeres gate glanced along the road
that leads TO the cemetery and saw a
suspicious-looking package lying on the
ground close under the wall on one side
There was not a living being in sight
The guard thought he had detected a plot
He thought that the package, whatever
IT might be, had been left there under the
wall DN hmusS!tIS, VINO were no doubt
sheltered somewhere in its neighhorhood
and watching their opportunity to rush
ii through the gate as soon as the rain
held up little So the active and irtelii-
gent officer got his little sword ready TO
draw at a moments notice, and regard
less or the downpour advanced along the
road TO surprise and apprehend the SNUG
glers. or, at least. their goods.
when he got TO within twenty yards o.
the suspicious object, he made out
through the rain that the case on the
ground was OF a red color and studded
all over with brass nails That discovery
startled him a little, but the next mo-
ment he was utterly demoralized at see
ing the lid of the coffin fly open and a
disheveled head thrust Itself out, its eyes
staring wildly. Without waiting TO draw
his sword or challenge the apparition,
| the guard faced about and retreated at a
| run. When he reached the gate he call
! ed his comrades TO come and see the
| abandoned corpse that had burst open
! its coffin on the waysde The force
seized their carbines and paraded under
! shelter of the archway. but what they
! saw only a very beziraggled Gallego
| tramping toward them. carrying an
empty coffin on his back
ION examination, the Gallego depOsed
/ that, being overtaken by the rain on his
way from the cemetery, he had shut
| himself up in the coffin 10 keep dry and
wait for fairer weather. but when he
| heard footsteps stealthily approaching he
! began TO be afraid that some one was
coming to play a trick and lock him up.
! That was why he had so suddenly thrust
J his head out and stared. He was no
| corpse, but an honest, r,ard-working Gal
| lego. AS for the coffin, the Senores
| guards might look fo- themselves and
| see that it was empty.
There seems to be a certain morbid
! fondness for what may be called playing
| with the dead in Portugal. They seem
| to take peculiar delight in dressing up
their dead and exposing them to public
| view. l happened to be present at the
! solemn requiem of Cardinal Patriarch
/ of Lisbon, when the corpse, dressed in
! fdll canonicals, was placed in half sit
/ ting posture to face the crowd in the nave
of the cathedral. and ! thought at the
! time that the interment ought to have
! taken place sooner.
"One fine Sunday afternoon in spring I
was stYolling along one of the main thor
! oughfares of Lisbon, when the shouts and
| merry chatter of a lot Of little boys and
! girls attracted my attention to a side
| street. The children, all nicely dressed,
were coming down the side street at a
| brisk walk, evidently interested in some
thing that was being carried along by
three or four of them. When they reach
ed the corner l saw that the center of
| interest was a very small brass-studded
coffin. The lid was open, and could see
the little fiower-decked and beftzened
| corpse inside of it.
Another time / mistook the corpse of
a child on its way to the grave for a
waxen image of the Madonna being car
ried away in procession. 1t was a little
dead girl beautifully dressed in white
satin and wearing a white veil and white
flowers. The little body had been made to
sit up in a chair which four boys were
carrying on their shoulders. The bearers
and the other children in the procession
wore white ribbons and white flowers, all
emblematic of innocence and happy con-
fidence that the soul of their little friend
was in paradise"