New-York tribune., 1902-08-25
INSURANCE AND FUNERALS
THE POOR SPEND EVERY CENT OF TH1
FORMER FOR THE LATTER

Me husbands funeral expinses was as9 90
ma'am. Sure. sp!nt every cint Of his insurance
I'm. man. and glad I was to do It. he
wuz buried In the grave with is mother. in Cal
vary" The speaker was elderly woman. worn
with hard work and nearing the point where she
would be feeble her living.
The long funeral PROFESSIONS which are seen
vending their way daily from the most thckly
populated parts of the city cost the families OF
the dead from SIS TO $500 Not infrequently say
authorities the subject. elaborate display Is
evidence of injustice done and lack Of care given to
the departed before his her DEATH and the costly
trappings of woe are employed to assuage snaW-
ing conscience. and the grief of the CHIEF
mourners. The most spectacular funeral probably
in this city of this nature. A girl
of the italian quarter died by her own hand, be-
cause her father forbade her to marry the man or
her choice a poor barber and forced upon her the
attentions of a butcher with gold in his pockets
The conscience stricken father paid $500 for her
coffin The funeral expenses are said to have
amounted to s1.000
Among the Irish the family. rule. engages the
hearse and one carriage All the other vehicles are
hired by the friends who accompany the family to
the grave. The Italians generally order twenty-five
or carriages and trust that their friends and
neighbors will only them but have the deli
cacy to pay 81 seat.
To induce the poor to their insurance money
for family and not spend It on the undertaken
is an ever present problem of most charitable So
cieties in this city. William l. Nichols. general
secretary
says that the tendency to make funeral display is
characteristic of no one race or denomination. He
finds 1t almost universal among the poor. The Cath
olic poor element being large in this city, the
greatest display is among that sect here Mr.
Nichols regrets that the rich set the example of
costly funerals to those who unable to pay
for them People in trouble" he says ARE in a
plastic mood, ard easy prey of the undertakers.
| the aim of many of whom is to drain the family
purse" The expense of tenement house funeral.
rrla hal IN
| ance. The undertaken strikes his customer at a
| time when he she is filled with sentiment and
broken by grief. and he finds it easy matter to
| gain the family confidence, and to learn the sum
| due from the insurance company. There are hon
est men in the business. One Brooklyn undertaken
| makes practice of advising simplicity among per
whose limited But he can accom-
| pish little. His patrons if he urges too hard go
| to another firm. Mr. Nichols himself feels no
sentiment for the body after life has left it. His
| mothers body was cremated and the ashes were
In striking contrast to Mr. Nichols's views was
gustine's Church :The body" said Father Nc
| Carty to Tribune reporter. is the temple of the
| sacred. Too much honor cannot be paid it North
ern atoms are cold booded and We
| dead by generous funerals. The poor have the
a conflict between head and heart the latter is apt
| to win The poor are more unsehsh Ia tnan tdo tne
| often think only OF eating and drinking drinking
| who have gone to be decred more than such diss-
| patton. Let people do what they please. as long
| as they don't please to do what is wrong.
| The Italians of all others succeed in making
| the greatest show. A brass band usually heads
| their professions. whether they be funerals. be-
| trothals weddings IF there is money enough the
band goes along at christenings II Is not unusual
70 in Mulberry and other Ita ian streets car
rage heading the cortege with the front seat plleo
| high with flowers, which doves are polsed
| while the back is occupied by little girls.
dressed in white and wearing long white wells ana
wrea tbs of artificial flowers Behind this carriage
the band: after ii the hearse and though the
bill is be paid by subway worker, the carriages
| often extend beyond the vision. -,
| II is customary in Little Italy" to bury with a
| person things that they liked while alive little
| chId's dress is often covered with confetti
(sugared almonds). in the coffin. In the hands or
a favorte dainty is often placed as the last rite
s'She liked II when she lived" is the explanation
A great display of grief is made by the Italian
| woman mourner While her friends look on In ad-
| uiring syrnpa thy she sways back and forth beats
her breast tears her hair and calls In shrieks tor
the dead See sorry she feel. say the frignt-
| ened eyed children who cover in wonder al the
! door 81 act Just when my Piedro died boasts
q neighbor and people from the neishhorhood stroii
! in and out to the Eoings-on. such exci'e,
.nent and triumph OF display cannot help 70 duii
| the sense Of loss said italian missionary yes
italian woman mourns ner deao
/ as truly as the American Her real grief and SUI.
fering come In the quiet days after the funeral
Among both Irish and Italians II is customary
for the procession take detour as II starts Tor
tbe cemetery and pass the house again Among
some classes the house is passed three times