FUNERALS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 323, 1 October 1874, Page 4

FUNERALS.

■• J -■ • CO^go Daily Times) li a traveller, returning from a newly-disCovered country," were to tell qb that it was the custom of tbat land, tffigff Wfi&H -of ;ahdiifeeho!d ' died, tb c*|ygfq,id^ ;^ra?o not only their gewgkwa ana weapons,; as is the fashion of certain savage tribes, but also their _ft><)¥bho!d stuff—^the corn and pulse that was tbeir 'sole means of subsistence rtfntil next J harvest time— what should fwe think of their civilisation, or of their cooHnotf seh_e? ' Yet is exactly -wflatas being done every day in tbis %ihefee|irth century by Christian Englishmen. Let the breadwinner, of the family die— in straitened circumstances, it may be, and after a lingering illness — 'forthwith the few ears that have been spared by and the doctor are gleaned, by the jmilliner, the undertaker, and the carver of headstones. When a "TtfabH chieftain, in the good old times, 'pd y tb6' debt of 'natures . faithful wives gashed themselves hideously with Bbaro' flm& Our more squeamish refinementi/lJorbids 'this sanguinary method of paying respect to the manes of the departed. But we do what we can. We bleed the purses; instead of 4 tsre bodies -of ?l the survivors. It is a ■jpeinful sight! that of a: grief-stricken household— no small - part of whose 'trouble ariies from' ! the terrible un388JrBinty;' of their future means of living — delivered, bound band and foot, to the tender mercies of the respectable harpies who surround them on such occasions. For this is jast the time wKerithey :: are least fitted to contend against the time-honored exactions of .the milliner, the undertaker, and the .qua ojf atone. Wbo, in such an hour, has the heart to wrangle : over the quality or the price of the robes of .rwde that render sorrow so unsightly? J 1 Wfio, •'■w_eri :r distracted by 'grief, can j calmly discuss the quality of the brass- ! t , headed Dails in the- coffin, or the length | . of. th* mourners' bat bands? We never « lobk Upton the nodding plumes of the ]jbfetfae,„ ,! the four . sable steeds and ihe long procession of mourning attaches,, all devised apparently with a^ fiendish . ingenuity to ' add ' new 1 terrors to; the "king of terrors," withfjO.nt,feeling a sense of shame that nineteen cel-tniies of Christianity have not go&tfe beyond these ghasitly mummeries. ~lrwas^relJ,for the Egyptian, holding the creed *he did, to pile a mountain of -&SBS?i fy*?^ $? corpse that he had done his .best- to make imperishable 1 . iJSofis it it so well for us ? -When one .babolda the barbaric pomp and the meaningless expense lavished on tbe dead— wben one reflects <>n the leaden coffin and the granite vault, the sole object of which must be to preserve from corruption the corruptible, it is difficult hot to suspect that there is still a large leaven of paganism «t amongst as. We cannot help regarding ali this crape and bombazine as tbe -outward and visible sign of a widespread,: though unavowed, materialism of the grossest type. This is a professedly Christian country, but the t surrounclings of a modern funeral are j "enough 1 to stir ap the gravest doubts as to tbe sincerity of oar belief in the I immortality of the soul. The columns j of a newspaper are ill-suited for the farther discussion of tbis graver aspect of the question, but we ahould be glad t> to hear what tbe clergy have to say on af F firibjedt that falls more peculiarly! their, province. £•_.-.: We see no hope of breaking through custom that fashioD, false j ' e&timent; and the interests of a class have c&rilMned to perpetuate, unless a'j .'iew wealthy and influential citizens de-f liberate!? set their faces against it Let J OjtfbeL.'made a special proviso in the will:. of several of those whose means remove' them far above the damning suspicion of poverty," and whose example is therefore likely to Jbe folio wed by tbe poor,; that the A expenditure on their funerals shall not exceed five pounds iv each case, that nti ftnourniog shall be worn by tbeir relajtiyes, and that a simple I. mound of tur^ shall be tbeir sole mono- 1 ment. The'practice would soon be-ii come general; and if the immense sums annually .squandered in unprofitable and : unsightly /nneral frippery could be demoted to a Widow and Orphan Fund, many a pang might be spared to the fatherless;' and many a widow's heart might be made to leap for joy. In one of our Colonial cemeteriesno matter which — the spot where a -olittle girl was buried was marked by a simple mound. Upon the mound was laid the little one's slate, on which; were pencilled only these words: " This child shall rise again." Does not the undoubling. faith embodied in this . touching inscription rebuke the pomp- j oos epitaphs and elaborate tombstones o that disfigure so many of our burying "'grounds? When shall we learn tbat 3resjns»t /or* the memory of tbe 'departed is not to be gauged by the amount of oor dUday on stonecutters and undertakers?; ul* . ■ . =======