14 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
pleasant memories and high resolves. Oh, let the 
thoughts of the living be of life and not of death, or 
so far as possible let the thought of death be as that 
of an incident in life which does not change the re- 
lations and responsibilities of life. The hungry- 
must be fed, the naked clothed, though your dear 
one is gone and his form lies silent in its chamber. 
The minister has poorly filled his place if his 
ministrations have not been performed before the 
crape is on the door. The funeral sermon is preach- 
ed long before the funeral if it is to be of real help- 
fulness. O soul, do not add to your bereavement 
bitterness; do not sulk because the Infinite God has 
touched you with the divine wand which leads the 
generations forward. Do not rebel against the be- 
nignant inevitable. You are richer by one more 
hope, richer in one more angel, richer in one more 
priceless gem that cannot be taken away from you. 
You have looked beyond the seen and the tangi- 
ble and have felt the awe-inspiring mystery of eter- 
nity. If your soul sorrows as it must, let the grief 
reach your mind and your conscience, that they 
be quickened. Do not dwell amid the tombs; “let 
the dead bury the dead!” You should live while it 
it is your privilege, that you may have a better 
right to the life and the reunion that await you 
when the discharge comes. I would not mock 
your tears, but let them be benignant show..ers fall- 
ing upon the garden of your heart that it may bear 
more abundantly the lily-graces, the rose-loves and 
the apples of character. Sorrow, like love, obscures 
itself. True grief has no use for hired mourners, 
whether it be professional wallers hired to cry aloud 
over the dead, according to oriental customs, or 
the inanimate advertisers of grief employed by 
modern fashion. Alas for the widow whose sorrow 
for her husband must be estimated by the yard; 
pitiable is the servitude that uses money needed 
for children’s clothes in buying crape in order to as- 
sure the world that the children’s mother loved their 
father and realized his loss. Fashion is often ty- 
ranical, frequently senseless, but never more so than 
in these mourning customs, which require that black 
should be worn for twelve months, and that black 
and white, not unbecoming to many women, should 
graduate the sorrow off into colors and gaiety. A 
reform in this direction is demanded for four rea- 
sons. 
I. Black is a false symbol. Death is not an 
enemy, but a friend. Its symbol should be light 
and not darkness; it should suggest hope and not 
despair. 
2 Practically it is a menace to the spiritual 
buoyancy of the community, particularly of the 
home, and most especially of the children in the 
home. What right have you to convert the memo- 
ries of a strong father or a loyal mother into a 
twelve-months’ gloom? Why should you fetter 
yourself with this grim reminder to others of a 
sorrow all your own, obscure joyous memories and 
blur your rising purposes with this swarthy mantle, 
which is not true either to night or day? It is not 
natures color. She uses it sparingly in her land- 
scape. 
3. These mourning customs are an abomina- 
tion because they introduce the conventional and 
the artificial into the realm which ought to be pre- 
served to the sanctities of sincerity. Of all ghastly 
pretensions a pretended sorrow is the most ghastly. 
Think of the young widow counting the time when 
she may lay off her weeds and it will be proper for 
her again to wear color; of the widower brushing 
the' silken crape upon his hat as he is about to 
start out for his second or third wooing. There is 
a grim sarcasm (which ought to be reiterated from 
the pulpit) in the phrase, “mourning by the yard.” 
It is a bit of modern Phariseeism against which re- 
ligion, natural, wholesome, sincere religion, cries 
out. How extremely artificial and elaborate are 
the ramifications of this fashion which reaches to the 
coachman’s dress and the horses’ harness, only the 
dry-goods man and his expert customers know. As 
a measure of one’s grief, how very expressive is the 
width of the black band on the mourning envelope. 
I ridicule the pretense because I bow in silent sym- 
pathy in the presence of the reality. 
4. Lastly, I protest against the mourning cus- 
tom for economic reasons. How grievous is the 
task even upon the favored, the well-to-do! how in- 
tolerable the burden upon those who walk the nar- 
row plank that brings daily bread by daily earnings! 
I am not an adept at figures, but here is a case 
where figures should count. Take a family of 
mother and four or five children who, for fear of 
apparent disrespect to the memory of the father 
gone, must wear mourning, else “people will talk.’’ 
“Dear friends, I beg of you to do everything 
you can to further a social revolution in this direc- 
tion; be sensible; be strong; carry the sweet sorrow 
in your heart; do not lose its benediction by par- 
ading it; do not make it vulger by trying to wear 
it on your backs. ” 
Note: The remainder of the Rev. Mr. Jones’ 
sermon deals with funeral customs, and as it com- 
prises so much of valuable suggestion, we propose 
to conclude it in our next issue. 
Among other new rules recently adopted by 
Crown Hill cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind., is one 
that will rid the grounds of glass cases, boxes, toys 
and numerous other articles at the little graves. 
This rule should be enforced in all cemeteries. 
