Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-11-30
Cost Of Burials.

Late dispatches from Paris agre,
that not ,only the living are havin,
their housing problems, but the deac
have theirs too. Indeed, the author.
ties are greatly concerned over the
fact that the principal cemeteries of
France are full, and that, as people
continue to have a habit of dying,
the situation is becoming more Sc
rious every day.
Plenty of room could be found, of
course, for new cemeteries in the su-
burbs of the capital, but the French
man shrinks in horror from the
thought of burying his dead in re-
mote place. Custom is strong in such
matters, and Parasians have always
been, accustomed to holding their fu-
nerals in Paris. Were a burial to be
held in some graveyard ten miles out
side the city, as is frequent in
America (where the body and the
mourners are transpianted in auto
mobiles or in specially adapted troll
ley cars) it would be difficult mat
ter to arrange. Automobile hearses
don't exist, and few Frenchmen can
as yet reconcile them with funeral
solemnity. AS for a funeral trolley
car, it is unthinkable.
A French funeral is function,
every detail of which is fixed accord
ing to immutable formula. The only
variation permitted is in the class.
The rich have "first class" funer-
al, with splendid hearse, under
takers flunkeys in gold lace, and car
riages for all the guests. Positions
ride ahead of and alongside the
corpse. In a second class funeral the
hearse is less splendid, the liveries
are less decorative, the guards are
fewer and unmounted, and so on
down the scale until you come to the
fifth, sixth or seventh class, where
the undertaken furnishes only an
open hearse with driver, and all the.
mourners walk behind.
Burial in remote places would ne
cessitate revising the whole scheme
of things, so is not ever considered.
But room must be found and where?
Cremation was thought, when intro
duced some years ago, capable of af
fording some relief. Crematories eX-
list at some Of the French cemeteries.
The Church, however, has not sane
toned the plan, and while the num-
Der of non church and even anti
church people is large enough to fur
nish the crematories with large
clientele, the expense has proved an
unsurpassable obstacle. 1t costs in
fact six hundred francs more to have
body cremated than buried, unless
a '"party of four" can be made up,
when the expense is reduced to four
hundred francs apiece. But as many
critics point out, it is frequently diff
fcult to get your friends to go in
with you in a proposition of that
kind.
A solution that is getting some at
tention is to change the method of
burial. Until now it has been the al
most universal custom to bury peo-
pie in a horizontal position. Some
body with a turn for mathematics
has discovered that by placing the
cofins on end, much space is econo-
mized. Three times as many burials
can be accomplished in a given space.
A curious fact about this discussion
is the. fippancy with which it is con-
Quoted. The topic has already fur
nished numerous quips for the humor
Gus papers and for the vaudeville
stake. 1t is indeed rather shocking to
an American, until The remembers
that the French are just as much
shocked with the "simple solemnity"
of cur own mourning customs.-Co-
lumbia Record.