Show f Sale of Costly Coffins t fIr Purchasers Not Always the Rich Often the Prideful z Who Can Ill III Afford the Luxury Ii c f M o t. t I suppose have the I J Idi that thai the rich ilch are burled buried In ex- ex coffins said a n. man maii who has beit t t twity years in the undertaking business and whose firm had j s merged in the combination but i bording to my experience it is l i lly h people who desire desire to be 1 t 1 wealthy who Invest much i 1 in coffins You see most rich ha e their secretaries whose U Ss s It is to keep down expenses tIthe time and the undertakers hato have hae haven havea e I n a to their sorrow that they are strict lct when It comes to funeral it W lS as in anything else They te the best always but they won wont won't t o 0 fer el ra ari anything that is extravagant or nn les the people who are not so rIcht rich t t put money into coffins he con- con 1 I X remember the costliest one onet t buY b firth r ever turned out It was for a an iI n in Brooklyn and was supposed f ost 2000 but it Nothing do the family but that the plate late arid and handles should be solid gold The The undertaker who had the or order er told us to put on plated ones instead He Heman man man- aged ged to spend pend 1000 on the coffin The Sed f rest st I suppose went into his pocket ah here ere some undertakers in New X are willing to give people W pay ray for but most of them are J not Q An A. An undertaker seldom pays flO th th than art n for a co coffin no matter lih V vv much money the family is willing willingto j to o expend pend Almost any anyone one In the bus- bus liness iri W v m ll tell you OU that when you ge get p beyond you are th throwing owing away k anoney oneY f has taught me that the that the undertaking und business is one line In Which h you cannot Judge a customer at atI atall I all according to his appearance Some- Some s the very worst-looking worst persons re te the ones who spend the most money money noney Several years ago an old Gert Ger- Ger t r woman om n came into our establish establish- i. i eDL She was poorly clad and wore I. I a over her head When she said Yh anted a coffin for her husband I Imade made ta mind at that eup up my once something some some- thing very ordinary would do so I fu rade de up my mind at once that something some some- thing l' l ver ordinary would do very so I IVe we Ve 1 her another for 60 60 one for 75 one orie for OO JOO All AU this tIis time she shaking haking her head I was begin begin- t to think that our prices were too v- v for her when she caught sight of r f something that took her eye eye at t once onel It was a patent coffin that I had been experimenting on for a year I was wall elaborately tely trimmed In old gold plush and ad other fancy colors which I us d to attract attention to It it at different exhibitions where less conspicuous conspicuous conspicuous con con- coffins were shown I suppose suppose suppose sup sup- pose the bright colors caught the old woman's womans eye She took such a great groot liking to It that I sold it to her for before she left the building I had another experience with a ragged woman woman weman wo wo- man who bought a coffin for her husband When I delivered It I found that she lived In a basement with Water water wa Wa- Vate te ter three Inches deep in It Such persons are singular continued continued continued con con- the undertaker but in my py es estimation es- es they are not to be compared with persons who go to the expense of buying coffins for dogs and pet ani anI- mals You would be surprised to know the number we have made for dogs The orders come mostly from women Not long ago my men worked nearly neaily all night on a coffin for a a. dog that died in one oue of the towns up the Hudson Hudon river It had to go ErO out on an early train the next morning It was made of rosewood box and all and the plate and handles vve were e of silver It cost 80 which Ill I'll venture to say was a great deal more more than the dog dok was worth There Is one idea I have found prevalent prevalent prevalent pre pre- valent in ill all of the big churches in New York Tie The people eople who belong to them seem to think that the funerals in their families are for the sexton and no one else This Is especially true of the rich people Near Nearly y everybody who belongs to the big churches churches' empl employs ys the sexton to bury the dead If they die in inthe the country the local undertaker is sent for He has the nice part of th the ther work and nd draws the money I know of one woman here in New York who was so firmly Imbued with this idea that when she tolled an outside undertaker undertakE who happened to be a close friend of the family to bury her husband she wrote to the sexton a aletter aletter letter of apology as If she had done something to mortally offend him and enclosed h her 1 check to compensate compensate compea- compea sate him for his loss of profit on the funeral This Is la what makes the Job of sexton of a big church such a nice thing It is w wOrth rth anywhere from to a year ear according to the size of the congregation or parish and the wealth of the people Not Net Infrequently the choice for sexton falls to to- tomEn men mn who have never earned large salaries and their sudden rise to prosperity undoes them Tho The list of church sextons who have gone to the bad In New York Isa Isa is isa a long one Drinking seems to be their main failing falling although a number have lost their places by speculating and playing playing- the races I knew of one church in Fifth avenue that had three sextons In as many years They were sober and industrious men when they were vere appointed but they couldn't stand prosperity New New York Tribune |