The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-09-18
FUNERAL SPENDOR.

"Josiah Aliens Wife, has written
for the Ladies Home Journal sa-
tire on the reprehensible custom which
prevails in some communities of pro-
viding elaborate, stylish and expen-
sive funerals for their deceased friends
by those who cannot afford it. Miss
Holly cites the case of poor, hard
working girl who had toiled in fac
tory when she was physically able,
who never rugged, but frequently ex-
hausted from overwork, who saved her
wages, except what we're necessary to
furnish her scanty wardrobe and who
finally became i'll from overwork and
died. Although she lacked the things
which she needed for her comfort in
her lifetime and especially during her
last illdess, she had no sooner passed
away thad her mother set about to ar
range to spend the three hundred dol
dars with the poor girl had saved, in
giving funeral display which would
surpass "anything yet seen in Jones'
Vile" In this ambition she was en-
couraged by scheming and avaricious
undertaken who saw an opportunity to
dispose of an expensive, unstable
casket at high price.
Perhaps it is the province of the
clergy, more than of secular journal,
to teach the folly and crime of robbing
the living in order to confer an empty
honor upon the dead by burying them
with apparent splendor. The mock
cry of a train of carriages, and for one,
who during life, perhaps was never
cared for or permitted to ride in one,
is ridiculous. The cold feet which
trod the hard paths of earth clad in
thin shoes will feel no warmer encased
in white satin slippers, and the hands,
worn by hard work, will rest no better
in white xix gloves.
1t has often happened that poor peo-
pie have robbed their children of the
necessities of life to bury departed
member of the family. Others have
mortgaged all their property, and still
others have borrowed money, which
they knew neither would or could be
returned, which is nothing short of dis
honesty, all for the sake of making
vain display.
In view of the evil, which seems to
be growing, the people should be
taught that now is the time to do
things tender and humane, and to car
ry cheer to some darkened home, and
not to wait to lay upon the bier flow
ers which only mock the tardy contri-
butor.
There is nothing that covers the
case better than the following extract
from the poem "Dead," by Miss Susie
NJ. Best:
"a day and night I've lain here dead,
Taper burning at foot and head,
Jasmine, roses, and eglantere
Lavishly scattered everywhere.
To think of it Dead, I've all these flow
ers,
l, who had none in my living hours.
All these years I've known, since I was
born
No flowers had l, but many thorn.
'Tis often thus, I've heard it said.
Thorns for the living and flowers for the
I feel almost if 'twere sin
To be set apart from the world and the
din;
But, oh, the Rest to be lying dead,
With the tapers burning at foot and head"
Such vain displays do not honor nor
bcn,nG the dead, and if they could
speak they would probably advise
their friends not to use their money in
making an ostentatious show, but to
keep it to make their own lives a lit
tie easier CATER life's fitful fever"
they sleep well. They have gone be-
yond the trail and struggles of life, up
to the Great Truth beyond the cares
and burdens and vicissitudes of time
into the realms of everlasting peace,
where there is perfect love and repose.
The trouble with the man who
never makes mistakes, says an ex-
change, is that he doesn't know mis-
take when he make one.
He who never makes a mistake
never makes anything.
Get wise when you make mistake;
the only crime in making mistake is
making the same one twice.