COFFINS TO RENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 493, 26 April 1878, Page 2

COFFINS TO RENT.

This is the latest effort of American ingenuity, and pays better than vending outright these indispensable articles of melancholic trade. The poor people of San Francisco have an unaccountable mania for funeral pomps and ceremonies; consequently when a member of a family dies allavailable funds are expended in laying the body in state and in an impressive cortege. The matter of carriages is iv>t vexatious the purse of i the mourners, as their occupants are ; expected to contribute their quota to ' the expense of conveyances, a privilege ■ eagerly em -raced by hundreds who re- ! gard a funeral procession in the light of j a gala parade. But the lying in state, ! to be imposing, is a costly luxury, particularly with the impecunious; con- | sequently, as a corpse is an object of i curious inspection by admiring friends, ! the beauty of the exhibition can be ! secured at a smaller expense through , the hi'-e of a casket than its purchase ! outright. In an undertaker's -windowcan be seen a coffin of the most costly with a superabundance of

silver ornamentation, lined with rich satin, and otherwise adorned most magnificently. A fac simile of this 300 dollar casket can b&Jbired ofjts exhibitor, who supplies an exquisite lining in accordance with rules of th§ : trade, pink for a brunette, light blue for blonde, »md so on, and into the loaded reccptable places the corpse until the hour of burial arrives, when the inside frau e of the coffin is slipped out, and, the deceased transferred to a. cheap stained wood imitation of a costly outer casket, and " planted" without the imposture being detected. At present a. handsome external case demands a rental of sdol. a day, and as the body is generally " laid out" for three days,, this with incidentals, constitutes a good source of revenue.