27 April 1883
The Atlanta Constitution
REFORM IN FUNERALS

A very considerable and laudable agitation is sweeping over the country
looking to a reform in the manner of conducting funerals. In the first
place it is not thought that they should be so conducted as to produce
other funerals -- that attendants, in other words, should no longer be
expected to stand, with uncovered heads, in stormy weather. Respect for
the dead does not demand any such disregard of the health of the living!
Neither does the respect for the dead demand an immense funeral that in
nine cases out of ten entails debt and suffering upon the living. Such
funerals have brought actual and extreme want upon families in nearly
every community. The undertaker is generally at the bottom of these
expensive funerals. The greater the expense, the greater are his chances
for profit, and the business has been pushed to such a limit that many a
funeral is a spectacle instead of a heartfelt tribute to the departed.
The need of funerals conducted in a simple and unostentatious manner is
everywhere felt and demanded. The reform in funeral customs should be
thorough and sweeping; and first of all, the expensive undertaker should
be sat down upon.




Back to Historical Death Industry News

Southern Graves Home

Old News Home