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Show The Burial of the Head. There has been a gradual, but very marked improvement in tho funeral customs of the United States. There was a time and it was not many years ago when the laying in the grave of a- friend was a horror. There was a prolonged service at the home of the dead, perhaps another at the church with which he was connected, con-nected, and then a processiou of formidable for-midable length set out for the cemetery, cem-etery, carrying a whimsical variety of people. There was the chronic funeral funer-al attendant the one who takes delight de-light in the mournful ceremonies and is certain to be present even though quite unacquainted with the family; then is tho person who goes because he deems attendance a mark of respect re-spect for the dead, and is worrying over neglected business and catching cold at the samo time; then there are the real friends and the closely related re-lated kin of the decensed, who endure the ordeal of three or four hours of unnecessary observance and dangerous danger-ous exposure at the very timo when sorrow and watching have made exposure ex-posure most dangerous. Another matter. Americans are very impulsive. , They see in death only what is for tho present and the future In other words, it blinds them to business considerations, con-siderations, and tho great funeral often imposes a burden upon thom which they are never able to meet Let U9 go a little further in our reform. Give us simple funerals, with the least possible form, aud save the weak and the old from the torture of that awful half hour at tho side of tho grave. Let strong men face this. |
