The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-04-05
Mr.. BROWN VCE-PRES.
Another Session Will be Held This
Morning.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY Mr.. BUSBEE
Standing Committee of the Association Ap-
pointed and the New Officers install
led. Lecture on bacteria"
by Or. Royster

The North Carolina Undertakers' Asso-
yesterday morning at $50 O'Clock. The
convention was called to order by Presi-
dent Vogler, Of Winston, who announced
that its first session would be opened with
prayer by Rev. G. T. Adams, pastor of
Central Methodist church.
Mr.. Perrin Busbee, of the Raleigh bar,
delivered the address of welcome to the
members of the Association. Mr.. Bus
bees address was as follows:
Gentlemen of the Association of Under
takers and Funeraf Directors of North
Carolina:
ION behalf of the citizens of Raleigh and
the local brethren of the association, 1
welcome you to the fair capital of this
great Commonwealth, and / trust that
your sojourn here may prove agreeable
to yourselves and productive of good to
your profession and your association.
while l appreciate the honor of being
asked to address you this morning, am
suspicious of the causes which has led to
my selection as the speaker Of this oc
casion But / suppose the reason of my
selection lies in the fact that | am young
and inexperienced, which makes it posi-
BILE for me to look you steadfastly in
the eye and without fear or misgiving
give you that sincere and hearty welcome,
which one of declining years and gray
hairs could not possibly extend.
But why, my friends, did you choose
IN q xn oHd
to me that the undertakers' best and
most influential friend would have been
more appropriate selection-I mean the
doctor-and the younger and more mex,
perienced he is, the better.
"Ah, we'll! That is a grave secret
We won't speak of it in public. 1t should
be hushed up among ones friends. And
you can count on a lawyer to keep your
confidence. That's his business. We
three, you know, the Lawyer, Doctor and
the Undertaken, about run mankind after
all.
1.-The doctor ushers him into life; the
lawyer gets him in and out of trouble
while he is living; the undertaken takes
care of him after he is dead--and all
three of us divide the fruits of his labor!
There is only one other profession
Preacher. The preacher looks after the
welfare of his soul and points out the
way to Heaven. The undertaken does
more than this-he starts him on the
journey.
'But after ALL the intimate relation
between the undertaken and the doctor
is not SO strange as might seem. In an
cient Egypt during the days of the
III ub ho art of Iii
was in its perfection, the undertaken wac
the doctor and the doctor was the under
taker.
"And when the doctor found that he
could no longer preserve the life of a
man, but that the soul had taken it's
mysterious flight to Isis and Osiris, then
as an undertaken he did the next best
thing--he preserved the body. And so
well and so thoroughly did he perform
the task, so marvellous and perfect was
the alchemy of these early days in the
blush of creation, that even now after
the lapse of long centuries, modern man
can look upon the form and features of
the ancient Ptolemies and meet face to
face the identical Pharoah before whose
chariots and horsemen Moses and the
children of Israel fed into the desert In
search of the Promised Land!
"And later, in the days of Priam, and
of Pericles and of the august Caesars, the
undertaken held place and honor. He had
ceased to practice medicine. He was
now preacher. The Pontifex Maximus
of ancient Rome, while holding the high
est office in the priesthood, was also the
head supervisor of all funerals, which
were public and conducted by him at the
States expense.
''And so through all ancient history the
undertaken held public position Of place
and honor and power. And this was SO
for the reason that the ancients believed
that without proper burial of the body the
soul would not be permitted to enter