The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-22
CURIOSITY AT FUNERALS.
STRANGERS WHO SHOW A MORBID
INTEREST IN THE DEAD.


street in front of the house was 50 great
as almost to drown my voice Children
from 10 . years of age blocked the way,
so it was difficult 10 get the remains from
the door to the hearse Are we barba-
rians? Have not the families of our city
the right to their homes from which 10
bury their dead or IN which to marry
their children?
Undertakers agree that there Is great
annoyance from children and sometimes
from grown persons, too, VINO ccnsregate
about a house where a funeral is TO take
place. Such crowds, it is said, are to be
found only in certain sections of the city,
notably where the foreign population pre-
dominates and where negroes live in great
est numbers. 1t is charged also that white
persons frequently mingle with the crowds
at negro burials and show rs much curl
osity as their colored neighbors.
The funeral of any prominent person, in
whatever section of the city It is held, will
attract a more or less noisy crowd. II
there is a turnout of military or uni
formed secret societies. The attraction for
the curious is all the greater. Should the
funeral be that of a victim of an accident
or any unusual form of death, another in
centive is given the crowd to assemble
and gaze curiously during the services.
Views From windows.
Leaving aside such unusual funerals,
there is an attraction about a piece of
crepe on the door knob that to some per
sons, apparently, can only be satiated by
visiting the house, attending the service
or standing idly about in the street until
the funeral procession is formed and starts
for the cemetery. Some persons, who
chance to be neighbors, or who have
friends in the neighborhood upon whom
they can call are content to hang half
way out of the windows of nearby houses,
watching the funeral from these points Of
vantage. An occasional comment from
one window to another viii caN the atten-
ton of the passer-by to a row of heads
filling all the windows of adjoining houses,
and those on the opposite side OF the street
where the funeral is being held. These
are what are termed In slang parlance
the "rubber-necks."
ChattcrinE Children.
But the undertakers are chiefly concern
ed with the crowds Immediately about the
house where the services are being held.
During the summer vacation and after
school hours, children are said to be the
chief offenders in this line They gather
about the door, chattering thoughtlees'y
but In such way as 20 interfere seriOu sly
with the services. When door and win
dows are open the sounds enter the house
in such volume as to annoy the officiating
clergymen and the undertaken in charge.
Sometimes request or a word of warn
ing is sufficient to cause the children to
disperse. but a times opposition is met,
as OF a funeral recently in Northeast Bal
timore, where woman in the crowd adj
vised the children 10 go ahead with their
antics When notice is given Of the fun
eral hour the patrolman on the beat will
usually be on hand to preserve order about
the house and scatter the offending crowd
The police officers have il in their power
10 arrest the offenders for disturbing the
peace or obstructing the highway, but sell
dom, if ever, resort to this extreme meas
ure.
Professional Mourners.
Undertakers say that they are greatly
relieved of the presence of professional
nourners by reason Of the more limited
display made at funerals nowadays and
the general prevalence of private inter-
ments. Eight or ten years ago il was not
an unusual sight TO see number of wo-
men present al a funeral who made IL a
practice to attend every funeral service
they could. 1t is said that men We're
never known to be offenders in this line
After a time these habitual "mourners"
came to be known to the undertakers
Often when the name of a relative would
be called to enter a carriage to go to the
step forward 90 take her place in the
carriage. Then the undertaken would
have to give the stranger gentle hint TO
wait until the members of the family
were first supplied with carriages. Now
adays The carriages are limited in number
sufficient to carry only the immediate rel
atives, and the habitual mourner has been
shut out so often that she is seldom seen
Morbid Curiosity.
1t is related of one of these habitual
mourners that she rang the bell of a house
upon which crepe was hanging and asked
TO see the corpse. She was little taken
back when informed that the corpse was
In st. Louis. the crepe being put on the
house in Baltimore out of respect for a
member of the family who died in a dis
tant city. Another curious mourner enter
ed house where a funeral was in pro-
gress, gave every evidence of expressions
of grief. but paused long enough between
her sobs to ask a person sitting near her
who was the dead person. SIN another
mourner of this class rather started a
member of the family, with whom she was
riding to the grave with questions about
the deceased which showed her lack of
knowledge of the person for whom she
was mourning.
Fewer sunday Funerals.
Sunday funerals are Growing fewer on
account of the opposition of many clergy
men 10 hOsdihg them, as they interfere
with their regular church services An
other reason which the undertakes say
has probably more TO do with fewer Sun
day funerals is the fact that a little more
is charged for carriages on that day than
on week days. However, this does not
interfere with funerals among the working
classes, with whom Sunday Is the most
available day, as they then lose no time
from their work in attending the service
walk Your EFO-se~"
The route of the funeral procession IS one
that ofttimes gives the members Of the
bereaved family much concern. In their
desire TO show as much respect and honor
for the dead as possible, the family mem
Ders give the undertaken strict injunctions
about the route to he followed, and some
times caution him to walk the horses ev-
cry step of the way" for fear il may be
said that they hurried the dead person 70
his grave. AS a rule the undertaken
takes advantage of smoothly paved streets
on the way TO the cemetery. but some>