Show STRANGE FUNERAL CUSTOM Bootblacks and Street Sweepers Have More Elaborate Funerals Than the Residents of Fifth Avenue One of the most remarkable of funeral customs according to American ideas is one that has grown up In the Italian quarter In New York The 20600or more Italians In the city form a separate community com-munity in the heart of the metropolis and occupy the region about thi historic Mulberry Mul-berry bbnd They are mostly bootblacks pushcart enr or day laborers nearly all of them aTt poor but when pne of their number dies he is apt to receive a funeral that Is more elaborate than most of the I residents of Fifth avenue have I is no unusual thing to see a funeral procession I of 2 to 30 carriages starting from ona of the crowded tenements of the Italian I quarter Behind the hearse which Is I I sometimes drawn by four horses comes an open carriage fled with flowers There I are pillows and crosses and wreaths that fairly overflow the sides of the carriage All the flowers that do duty at the funeral are conveyed to the burial ground and they are arranged to make as brave a display dis-play as possible After the leaders comes a motley procession pro-cession of vehicles rustylooking hacks drawn by skeletonized horses and occupied occu-pied by persons of all ages who laugh and chat amigaze about as though they m l were having the pleasantest kind of time I imaginable In fact the rear of an Italian funeral pfoc3sslon in New York might I easily be mistaken for a picnic party Sometimes the cortege is headed by a I brass band but this Is not always the case The idea of hiring a brdss band to pay respect to a corpse Is onj that will not appeal to one brought up with AmErican AmEri-can notions on this subject but the band as a part of the funeral procession Is a sight too common In New York to attract special attention I The uninitiated person who views this strange cavalcade of fruit and peanut venders doubtless believes that some person of note In the Italian colony is dead Inquiry often reveals the fact however that i is only some poor bootblack boot-black or street laborer Now it is a fact that bootblacks and laborers are riot ordinarily burdened with wealth I Is equally true Carriages flowers and brass bands even the variety to be found on the Bowery and Mulberry street cost money So the Italian funeral remained a mystery himself until It was explained by undertaker The undertaker is n person of standing In the Italian cdlny To the doleful importance im-portance which ordinarily attaches to his office he adds a weight Of social Influencd which cannot be claimed by any of his fellows I te the custom among my people ft I 4 > t f 1al d when a person dies said the undertaker to send out an announcement of the fact and invitations to the funeral If the death occurs in a family of position they prepare the invitation list and I bend out the cards if it is a man in poorer circumstances circum-stances I make out the list myself Each person who receives a card understands that If he comes to the funeral he is expected ex-pected to pay 51 for the privilege and it Is considered an honor to be Invited Like It Is to bfr of what you call the 400 explained the undertakers assistant assist-ant All the actions of men arm explained bv the curcumstances that surround them says a modern philosopher So It Is with the Italian funeral A dollar means a pleasant ride through the greenery oi the Long Island flelds but mor pleasant than the days enjoyment Is the feeling of the guests that they are assisting at a function for an Italian funeral viewed In the only correct light Is a social functIon func-tIon And the bsreaved family and i friends No noubt their grief Is sincere i enough but perhaps It Is rendered less I polgnant by the knowledge of the long procession and the silver handles on the coffin The system really rests upon the undertaker and It pays him well so he will scarcely be the one to change it |