Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-25
to regard her simply as a person who Is

go-rourds and other refreshing features
left out. Not long ago some people went
to one of the burying grounds near the
! city, proceeded to a house in the neigh
borilood, had some coffee made and car
ried it out to their lot, where they ate
their lunch.
In one OF our cemeteries people have
been known to carry the floral designs
from the lots of strangers to their own.
Some people have even gone to the places
| armed with brushes and pots OF paint,
| with which they a changed the color
ing of the metal designs they nave
'swiped' for their own lots. The paint
ing of iron chairs and other ironwork
which ornament the lots. to escape detec-
| ton when the articles have been removed
| without the consent of the owners, Is
quite common.
':What becomes of the floral designs
that are used at funerals?' might be
used to bring a change on the fafnlllaf,
What becomes of the pins?' After some
funerals from 10 to 20 designs are left
upon graves. Not long ago. after the
%funera. of a little child about s years old,
Is designs were left on the grave. In a
| day or two the flowers wither and moth
ing remains but the glazing tinfoil-coV-
cred frame.
In cemeteries in which there are from
40 to so funerals every week the number
of these designs. which are removed every
month by the employees of the cemetery,
| amounts up into the hundreds. Every
once in a while a florist calls at one OF the
cemeteries and buys up a lot of gates aJar,
harps, Tyres, vacant chairs. pillows and
anything else that may come along. The
designs are usually Jumped together and
sold in one lot at from three to four cents
| apiece. The cost of the same designs
when new would lave been fl ON 10 to IS
cents each.
Sometimes, besides finding himself the
possessOr of the conventional design, the
florist may find something unusual in his
collection. For instance, in the case OF
the death of a railroad engineer the
frien.s of the deceased have frequently
honored his memory by sending a floral
design representing a locomotive and a
cab. Some time ago the friends of a de-
ceased arab sent as their trib-
ute of affection a horse and wagon made
of flowers. with variou colored flowers in
the inside Of the wagon 70 represent the
vegetables sold BY the deceased.
The superintendent say that there is
one regularity about funerals of China
men which are never noticed at any other
! funerals. The tombstone always comes
along with the funeral. Most of the tomb
stones are simple slabs Of marble. with
the inscription in Chinese characters.
which are arranged up and down, instead
of across the stone. In two or three in
! stances the funerals of Cinnamon have
been known to be delayed because the
friends Of the mar who was to be buried
were waiting for the tombstone to be fin
ished. The stone is always taken to the
cemetery in the urdtrtaker's wagon.
The g~vaVe-diggers in the ditferent bury
ing grounds han their own philosophy of
life. One of them. who has been IN the
business nearly % years, and who takes
an exceedingly cheerful view of life, sad
-. ~ 4. l. ~ E.-s ,.~ ;pt - -
he felt "kind of shaky," but that now he
would as soon dig a grave as do anything
else.
i've seen some mighty queer things in
my time he said, "Tve seen people
mourners, l mcan-catch sight of a name
on the card tied on to some flower piece,
and then they've gone straight to work
to tear up the whole thing. I'll tell you
another thing I've noticed. When a
woman M along and makes a big fuss
at her husbands funeral, and says,
Throw me in, 800; l can't live without
him. ] know that in a few weeks's time
II see her out here leaning on some young
fellows arm. It's never failed. It's hap
ptned every time. But the psople-women
and men, too-who don't take on a lot,
but Just keen still, and sometimes don't
even shed a tear. that's the kind that
grieves. You don't see that kin marry
ing again soon.'
One day Il woman's curiosity precipi-
tated her into rather an uncomfortable
experience. Two funerals wese to be
held in one Of the cemeteries on the same
day, and by a peculiar coincidence the in
terments We're to be made in adjoining
lots. Both graves had been dug, the one
for the earlier funeral having been left
open, the other being partly covered by
a OGDEN platform. A woman who at
tended the first funeral could not get near
enough to the grave to satisfy her. She
tiptoed back of the people and around to
the other lot. stepping as she did. on the
lightly balanced platform over the grave
that had been dug for the second funeral.
The board tilted and she went down very
suddenly into tho open grave. 1t is
hardly necessary to say that she
screamed. she was hauled up in a few
minutes, and the funeral in the next lot
Went On.
People who walk out of the cemetery
gates with flowers in their hands are
usually suspected by the superintend-
ents of having taken what they had no
right to take. Lot holders, who have a
perfect right to take anything from their
; own lots, in order to avoid suspicion Of
having taken what was not theirs, will
frequently borrow the methods of the
guilty. Sometimes they will do as the
guilty do-put the flowers in their UNI
brellas and walk out of the gate with
particularly virtuous expressions upon
thAr faces.
Some time ago a lot holder in one Of
the cemeteries paid a visit to his lot,
where there We're a number of part!cu-
larry fine roses in bloom. He cut a rose
from one Of the bushes, and, not caring
to carry it in his hands down to the
gate. put it in his hat and put the hat
on his head. Then he started for the
gate. On the way down he passed a lot
in which an interment was being made.
He had a little curiosity, and it made
him step around the lot until he faced