The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-01
n OLD COLONIAL DAYS
Continued from Tenth Page.)

guard the cnurCh by our Masters Id VS.
and keep out strange cattle from the
fold. And we must In particular
manner set watchful guard over the
devil, the old black bull, who has done
so much hurt of late. All perceived the
wisdom and fitness of Mr.. Bulkly's sd
vice and resolved to be governed by 1t.
| The consequence was all the animosities
subsidized and harmony was restored to
the long afflicted church. What the
substance of the letter sent to the ten
| ant was and what good effect it had
upon him the story does not tell.
The early settlers made the final Of
| fees of respect to the dead as simple as
possible. The custom changed in time
and while religious rites were brief, the
| obsequies were performed with much
| pomp and state.
FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
| Eggleston tells us that Sin 1856 the
| Virginia Assembly, in order to check
| the waste Of powder at drinking frolics
and to prevent false alarms, ordained
| that no person should "shoot guns at
| drinking marriages and funerals only
excepted" And indeed the colonial
| funeral deserved to rank as festive oc-
casion-a time of much eating and
great deal Of drinking. Whole pipes Of
| madeira, with several hogsheads OF
beer, were consumed at single funerals
| in New York, to say nothing Of the food
eaten and the tobacco smoked by the
| friends and neighbors who made day
| Of it and then a night Of 1t in honor OF
| the departed. In Pennsylvania five
| hundred guests were sometimes served
with punch and cake at funeral; the
| refreshments were distributed not only
| in the house, but to guests standing all
up and down the road. The cost Of the
| wine at one funeral in Virginia came to
more than four thousand pounds Of
| tobacco. In more than one colony leg
islative interference was required to
keep the friends OF the deceased from
eating and drinking his widow and or
phans out of house and home South
| Carolina excelled in the sumptuousness
Of their funerals, as they did in all 9TH
er forms Of hospitality and social osten-
tation; profusion of all kinds OF IL
quors. tea, coffee and other articles were
distributed at their cheerful obsequies.
In New England funeral festivities
were more moderate in the matter Of
eating and drinking. Cake and cheese
|
times spread in Massachusetts, and
wine or beer was served as on other SOL
emn occasions, but feasting at such
times appears not to have been so gem
| eral as In the middle and southern col
onies, where funerals were sometimes
! occasions of disgraceful drunkenness
and riot. A new Jersey governor pro-
| vided in his will against the occurrence
1 40 lii 81, . don 80 In
occasioned by too much strong liquor"
and Virginia clergyman took the bold
course OF wholly forbidding the distri-
button of liquors at his burial"
| The expenses connected with funeral
services were made very heavy, not
only by the provision for eating and
drinking, but by the purchase of gloves
not only for the "underbearers, who
carried the coffin upon their shoulders,
| but of a more costly kind for the use of
| the persons Of social dignity, who up
| held the corners Of the pail. Gloves
| were also given to the minister and
4 distributed among friends. At one fun
| eral in Massachusetts, seven hundred
| pairs Of gloves were sent, at another a
| thousand and three thousand at yet an
| other. Costly scarfs Of silk and va1ua-
BILE mourning rings were often sent to
the minister and pail bearers and dis
| tributed among friends These extrav-
agances were a serious burden, and
while efforts were made to abate them,
we find as late as 1774 that the congress
in it's articles of association embodied
pledge against the use Of funeral
scarfs and gloves. Our early New Eng
| land fathers in adherence to the "po-
| pish error" as they termed it, Of pray
ers for the dead, held no religious SER
vice at q funeral, but In time prayers
were often held at the house and a
brief speech was made at the grave.
Funeral sermons were often preached,
but not at the time Of burial. In some
of the southern colonies the clergyman
fee for a funeral sermon was fixed by
law. 1t may be interesting in this con-
nection to recall a custom that pre-
vailed in Puritan New England in colo
NAL times of sending notes or letters to
the minister containing requests for the
prayers Of the congregation. These re-
quests it was expected would be specif-
ically mentioned by the minister in his
petitions. Instances were not unusual
in which, If there were many such pa
pers, the minister, after reading them
aloud, would pin them to the pulpit
cushion, and, opening his eyes for an
instant, would refresh his thought of
Them one by one, and then frame a. fit
ting intercession." In these public petit
lions the ministers dealt with the needs
of their people in very frank and to
use phrase Of the time, large way"
The following tradition is accredited to
colonial parson of Brldgewater, Mass.
1.-THE most prominent member of his
flock for thrift and personal conse-
quence in the community was well
known for his pretensions and over
bearing assumptions, for putting on airs
and for conceited pomposity and swag-
gering ways. Under the distress and
fright of dangerous illness he had put
up notes" on the Sunday of his con.
fnement. On his recovery, according
to the usage, he offered a note, to be
read by the minister, expressive Of his
thanks. The minister in his prayer re-
called the danger and the previous petit
ton Of the Squire" and returning his
grateful Acknowledgements, with the
prayer that the experience be blessed te
the spiritual welfare of the restored
man, he closed with these words: "And
we pray, Lord, that thy servant be
cured of that ungodly strut, so offensive
in the sanctuary"
After the early Puritan objection tt
religious exercises at funerals passed