The Portland daily press., 1899-10-07
sILEsr CITY SIGHTS.
Queer Happenings That Takes Place
In Cemeteries.

Pfifer Grave Ornaments--WAat De-
comes of the Floral Designsf
Cemeteries are about the last places in
which comical things might be expected
to happen, but inquiry among superin-
tendents Of different burying grounds has
elected the fact that queer happenings
are not infrequent in those places. Then
there are always plenty of queer people
among the visitors.
First and foremost is the professional"
mouner. This is usually woman, but
occasionally man fills this role. One of
the best known of this species has come
to be regarded as professional" by the
employees of one OF the cemeteries be-
cause OF her regular attendance at all
funerals. This particular woman always
has subdued, grief stricken air. She
dresses in mourning and usually rides in
one Of the carriages with the friends of
the deceased. Occasionally she fails TO
insinuate herself among the friends and
relatives" and has to avail herself of the
nearest electric car in order to indulge in
her favorite pastime. The employees of
the place say that she could not possibly
be on friendly terms or related even most
remotely to all Of the people whose fu-
nerals she attends, SO they have come to
regard her simply as a person who is
addicted to this form of dissipation.
Another class of people who take their
pleasures seriously use the cemeteries as
kind of picnic ground, with the merry
go rounds 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
borhood, had some coffee made and car
ried it out to their lot, where sthey ate
their lunch.
In one of our cemeteries people have
been known to carry the floral designs
from the lots of strangers 10 their own.
Some people have even gone to the places
, armed with brushes and pots of paint,
with which they have changed the color
ing of the metal designs they have
"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 funeras?" might be used
to ring change on the familiar What
| becomes OF the pins?" After some flu
nerals from 10 to 20 designs are left up
on the graves. Not long ago, after the
funeral of a little child about G years old,
| 1G designs were left on the grave. In
| day or two the flowers wither, and moth
| ing remains but the glaring tinfoil cover
| ed frame.
In cemeteries in which there are from
| 40 to 80 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 awhile 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 to cents
| apiece. The cost of the same designs
when new would have been from 10 to 80
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 railroad engineer the
friends 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 de-
ceased arab" sent as their tribute of af-
lection horse and wagon made of flow
ers, with various colored flowers in the
inside of the wagon TO represent the
| vegetables sold by the deceased.
The grayediggers in the different bury
| ing grounds have 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 not
withstanding his occupation, said yester-
day that when he FIRST went into it he felt
kind of shaky," but that now he would
as soon dig grave as do anything else
i've seen some mighty queer things in
| my time" he said. 1--WE seen people
mourners, | mean--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 an
other thing I've noticed. When q woman
comes along and makes a big fuss at her
husbands funeral and says, Throw me
in, too; l can't live without him. know
that in few weeks time I'll see her out
here leaning on some young fellows arm.
It's never failed. It's happened every
time. But the people-women and men,
too-who don't take on lot, but just
keep still and sometimes don't even shed
tear, that's the kind that grieves. You
don't see that kind marrying again so
SOON"
People who walk out of the cemetery
gates with flowers in their hands are
usually suspected by the superintendent
of having taken what they had no right
to take. Lot holders, who have perfect
right to take anything from their own
lots, in order to avoid suspicion of having
taken what was not theirs, will frequent
ly borrow the methods of the guilty.
Sometimes they will do as the guilty do,
put the flowers in their umbrellas and
walk out of the gate with particularly
virtuous expressions upon their faces.
Some time ago a lot holder in one OF
the cemeteries paid visit to his lot,
where there were a number of particular
ly 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 intcrment was being made He had