The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1912-11-22
TWO FUNERALS.
(Rev. n. A. Livermore.)


small town in the state of Wash.
Iigton that would be visible from the
summit of one of the Hottest peaks in
the Cascades, was all agog one fine
bright day. What was astir? A fu-
neral; the funeral of man who had
left much wealth behind him He
would have taken it with him if he
could. but as mans last long journey
is not a terrestrial one, such material
trash as check books and dollars cuts
no ice then. But here was a rich
mans body to be buried, so all the
town Is astir. It mattered not that he
was a heavy drinker and had conse-
.quently come to his grave twenty
years before the allotted span of life
had run out 1t mattered not that his
many business deals and transactions
had crushed others while he raised
himself on their ruins; 1t mattered not
that his private life was about as UNI
savory as a garbage tin-all that was
of no account; here was a rich mans
funeral and the Ladies' Aid must dec
crate the church which the dead man
seldom entered, White flowers adorn
the edifice; choir of sweet singers
sang most inappropriate sacred pieces,
and the preacher in black coat and
white tie had to tune his talk, not to
his sentiments, but to the ten dollar
fee attached to the ceremony. Let us
dismiss it with a sentence The dead
man was laid in flowery grave with
much pomp and ceremony.
The scene changes. 1t is the same
town. David Morgan, Welshman by
birth, had lived in small shack on
the outskirts of the town for Is years.
During that time he had earned SO a
day and had spent practically every
penny of that money in the little town
aforementioned, visible from the sum-
nit of the Cascades.
True, David spent much of his
money in whisky and wasted it in
other foolish ways, but still his needs
had to be Supplied, aad the stores that
provided him with food and clothing
and tools and entertainment came in
for a considerable share of his So a
day. Perhaps David was foolish to
build up that other mans fortune while
he himself remained poor, yet for all
that the town generally received a
pretty handsome payroll from David;
he produced and spent his money free
ly; the other man did not produce, and
grabbed other peoples money when
the opportunity offered.
One day David, who of late had aged
considerably, went into his favorite sa-
loon, this time to rest and not to
booze; he must have felt pretty bad,
for he refused several treats. David
laid himself down and slept on bench
in the room at the rear of the saloon.
That was his last sleep. The bar
tender, after an hour or two, gave
David a shakeup, but no reply came
from the figure stretched out on the
bench. "By God, he's dead!" said an
other old pal, and so it proved to be.
David, who had spent SO a day for
Is years in that town, died without
leaving the price of coffin. Having
no money, his obsequies were crude
in the extreme. His poor body was
placed by three of the citys officials
in an unplaned, rough wooden box;
without decency or reverence, the
body was tumbled in just as he died,
with his boots and all on, not even the
poor fellows head was Strengthened.
When the omission was pointed out
by a bystander, who told me the story,
the officials replied, ooh, it's good
enough for him"
So David's remains were carted out
of town, but not to the cemetery where
the rich mans body rested; and on
the box that contained all that was
mortal of poor old David sat the three
ghouls, cracking jokes and making fun
of the funeral. David's body was
dumped into hole in the ground, like
large dog. No paid preacher was
there; no sweet singers were there
but I reckon David's funeral did more
to open the eyes of the workers in his
community than those who run the
government of city, county, state or
nation in the interests of money-kings
cara To admit