The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-27
Press Opinions
RIGHT CONDUCT IN SORROW.

RIGHT CONDUCT IN SORROW.
In times of crisis the strong men
dominate the situation, the weak ones
ask their neighbors what to do
When a man follows custom be-
cause it is the best thing for him to
do and has reasoned about it, he is
justifed; when he follows custom
without reasoning as to mis- course, he
becomes simply a bit of driftwood on
the current of time and is carried
out of his true course.
Whatever strength we have is apt
to be shaken in times of death. We
are struck as with a SWORD and the
material world grows far away and
the heavens seem to have been taken
from above us. But we have at the
same time a consciousness of our
own opinions, feelings, sense of pro-
priety and truth, and we ought 90
make a strong effort to be guided by
our brains rather than by our emo
tions. Our conduct in time of mourn
ing is often not only foolish, but
ow of the grief we feel we should be
laughed at. The whole convention
al system of conducting funerals and
observing the departure from this
plane of our loved ones is a survival
of the days when people wore rings
in their noses and danced in honor
of the moon. Some notifications
civilization has furnished, but the
tone of most funerals is unbelieving
hopeless, heathenish and savagely
grotesque in its form of display.
A beautiful girl dies. The natural
thing would be to clothe her body
beautifully, have the nearest relatives
and the very intimate friends, and
those only, gather quietly for word
of comfort from some friend or friend
clergyman, who would also offer a
quiet, faith-inspiring prayer for the
dear one and for us, and then the
body would be carried quietly by
those present to the grave, or the
cremation chamber, and the little
group would disperse, with not one
busybody having commented on the
cost OF the coffin. The general public
has no more right to be present at
the farewell to the body of our dead
loved one than it has to be present at
the moment a new child is ushered
into the world Births, marriages and
funerals are family affairs. In cases
like that Of the death of General
Grant the nation may ask the privi-
lege Of taking the body from the
house and placing it, with solemn
form and majestic recognition of a
great captain in it's final resting place
but in other cases the dead belong
to those who brought them forth and
to those who are of that household.
Nor do we serve the dead by out
ward form of grief. The black robes
and sable ribbons but serve to de-
'press us, and If the thoughts we hold
reach and affect those we love after
they are dead as they do before, then
the sadder we are the more we de-
press the dead friend and the more
we nurse our grief the more we tend
to interfere with the joy of immor-
tality which the dead should Rwiftly
find, Death is so sure, so common
to mankind, that we can but think
it is part of the plan of the all-wlse
God. Unless we are ready TO ac-
cuse Him OF making mistakes in the
ordering of His universe we must
conclude that death is not so import
ant TO the individual as appears, but
that every opportunity missed here
is given in another form in that land
where the asphodel blooms around
the feet Of those that love.
Why then should we change the
garments of our daily toll or social
adornment? We but remind the sad
that we are said 10 make the burdens
.of this world greater by our fiaun-
ting OF griefs. Others, too, being
men,, have borne that which had to
be endured" and we serve God most
truly when we forget our own sorrows
In the tasks of making the Kingdom
OF God come a little nearer to all the
world.
We should even not make dark the
house OF death. II our loved one