The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-06
FASHION IN BURIAL
oLD.TIME UNDERTAKER BE-
 COMES FUNERAL DIRECTOR.
Business Vocabulary Undergoes De- cided Change-Coffan Gives Way
 for Casket, Shroud for Wrap
 tper, Crepe for Door Badge, / and Hearse for Car.

Philadelphia Times.
 Fashions fancy has penetrated the un- dertaking business with almost as much vigor as it has the social circle Jonn Brown, Undertaken" is rapidly dlsap- bearing. and in its stead has come Jonn Brown. Funeral Director" The change of words has been accompanied with a long list of innovations in the business some trivial. others important, but all de- signed to smooth the sorrow that attends 6 burial. ,,s .-, f,- s-z... ,lt ,e. -..., .-
 First of alis fashion decreed that the coffin had to go. The word was distasterr ful to many; and in it's stead game tne "casket.'fs In the highest circles even this word has been rejected and 'purias case" substituted. Undertakers say the choice of words depends entirely upon the financial standing of the deceased. They use the designation befitting the case ],
 When a funeral director is summoned to a home he takes with him a catalogue showing the various caskets. plates, etc. A person no longer has to promenade up and down the undertaken s shop te pick out "casket. The greWsomeness ing the plates In a catalogue. lnsteaf ot the oids screw top, the work of fasten- ing, which usually grated on the nerves of mourners. the "caskets' Of today nave a glass slide, which exposes part of the body. Then, too the hearse is no longer so called. but is designated the funeral car"
 From old-Timer's View.
 The old-timer attending a funeral now adays would hardly. it is said. recognize the vocabulary of the modern funeral di- rector The deceased Is no longer en- /; cased in "shroud' or robe It Is called the wrapper" Nor is 'Icrape the funeral director puts out the. door badge" The preacher, tco, is not known by that name He is the religious d. rector" or minister" Nor is he assign cd in these days to the carriage with the principal mourners to assuage their grief, but Is furnished either with a private carriage or rides in front of the procession with it's funeral director.
 Ofttimes poverty. 1t is said, precludes the engagement of a minister to go to the cemetery. His place is then taken by the funeral director. few of whom it is said, are not capable of pronounc- ing the solemn words that accompany the resounding echoes of the first earth thrown upon the 'casket.
 For those who can afford it shelter at the grave for the mourners is also furnished by the. funeral director. It is a light wooden framework, covered on top and on three sides, and is erected to the windward of the grave to pro feet during indictment weather those who listen to the service. plank flooring also is provided and canvas strips or blanks laid from the carriages to the grave.
 Green Coughs in Grave.
 It has become customary. too to hide with evergreen DOuSnS the uSly heaps of earth which were so suggestive and distressing a sight to Wourners. These boughs are placed in the grave after the coffin is lowered into it, and so soften the sound of falling earth that was an- other repellant feature to sensitive per- sons.
 The method O. preparing a body for burial also has changed considerably. The old-ume freezer or "ice-box' Is rele' gated to the past. and embalming Is gen. orally adopted The injection of formal dehvde into the arteries of the body Is the chief method employed. This pro- cess. 1t is claimed, will preserve a body for a long time.
 Where a corpse is taken to church be- fore burial another innovation has bee n adopted of late years. The funeral di- rector furnishes a sort of carriage upon which to roll the "casket' to the altar rail, instead of having the pail bearers carry it. fin these days are also provided with an ambuiaiics sentiment alone has been re- sponslble for its introduction. Ofttimes a person dies away from home, and the relatives object to the removal of the body in the dead wagon, The use of an ambulance, 1t is said, smooths some what the repellant suggestiveness of dead wagon.
 The average funeral director, while he carries about with him sad and woeful face, feels inwardly little of the sorrow of the mourpers, He has seen too much of 1t, and. like a surgeon who dissects bottles, becomes calloused. Moreover, he is a man of business, and must attend punctually to theNdetails of the funeral arrangements. He cannot afford to lose himself in contemplation of the uncer- tainties of life or yield to the promptlngs of emotion