PARK AND CEMETERY 
39 
CONDUCTING MODERN FUNERALS. 
In these days of enlightenment there is a desire 
for improvement in all lines. Even in the matter 
of consigning the dead to their last resting place the 
progressive cemetery man has to consider how he can 
improve upon the old-fashioned methods of conduct- 
ing funerals. The subject has been frequently dis- 
cussed at the annual meetings of cemetery super- 
intendents, and various suggestions have been made 
so as to do away somewhat with the repulsiveness 
of the grave. Nowadays there is an air of refine- 
ment in nearly all things, and refined people — aye, 
and the less refined — desire to see their departed 
friends laid away in the grave in as decent a manner 
as possible. True, in some of the larger and busier 
burial grounds, there is a tendency to haste on the 
part of employees. An interment is to many simply 
a matter of business, and too frequently the harsh 
manner of making an interment grates upon the 
sensibilities of the living. 
Uniformed attendants have been tried and cer- 
tainly uniforms do make the men look more present- 
able. But from the very nature of the work, the 
uniforms soon get soiled and look shabby. In some 
cities the undertakers provide professional carriers to 
carry the casket and lower it into the grave. This 
feature is worthy of imitation by all undertakers. 
With the facilities now obtainable, there is no 
excuse for cemetery officials not having funerals 
under their charge performed in the least objection- 
able manner. The many casket lowering devices 04 
the market are all good, and their use does away 
with attendants during the performance of the burial 
services. The use of receptacles for holding the 
earth dug from the grave does away with much of 
the suggestiveness of the occasion. 
In most cemeteries the filling in is postponed till 
the friends have retired. With the co-operation of 
the undertakers this can be easily accomplished ; and 
in places where the public have been used to remain 
‘‘till all is over,” they must be educated to take their 
departure as soon as the commitment services are 
over. Immediately after the services the planks on 
the side of the grave should be placed over the open- 
ing, thus hiding all from view. The undertaker con- 
ducts the friends to the carriages and the cemetery 
men can do their work in a more satisfactory man- 
ner. Grave linings of different designs are obtain- 
able and can be adjusted in a few minutes. Matting, 
placed around for the people to stand on is desirable. 
A tent or fly should be used in inclement weather. 
This may all cost the cemetery a little more money 
than under the old system, but public sentiment de- 
mands an improvement that cemetery officials 
should willingly respond to. 
Bellett Lawson. 
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I 
I 
E.A.RTH BOX FOR GRAVE. 
BOX TO HOLD EARTH FROM GRAVE. 
The accompanying sketches illustrate a box de- 
signed to hold a large quantity of earth, and at the 
same time be portable and easily handled. A box 
6 by 9 feet and 3 feet 6 inches high, will be a con- 
venient size. The rear, sides and middle pieces of 
the bottom frame are 4 by 4 inches, and are separate, 
hooks and staples holding them together. The sides 
are of matched lumber, and are in one piece. The 
back and foot boards drop into slots at the sides. 
The bottom is of loose boards. Iron cleats are fixed 
on the bottom frame, for the uprights on the side 
pieces to rest in. An iron rod stretches across the 
box, and is tightened by thumb-screws, holding the 
whole securely. Hinges allow the frame to fold into 
a small space. This box will greatly facilitate the 
filling of graves and prevents the cold soil from injur- 
ing the grass. During a funeral the box is covered 
with canvas. 
Bellett Lawson. 
OOTTOM ^ 
The treasurer’s report, at the recent annual meeting of the 
Springfield Cemetery Association, Springfield, j\Iass., showed 
receipts, $15,933.69; expenditures, $9,567.26 and assets of 
$133,786, the market value of which is $147,000. 
The purloining of flowers from a grave shortly after a 
funeral at Naugatuck, Conn., recently caused the arrest of a 
carriage party from Waterbury, comprising four young peo- 
ple. Each was fined, including costs, $8.28, making their ex- 
ploit an expensive one, to say nothing of the dishonor attach- 
ing to the episode. 
At the annual meeting of Woodlawn Cemetery, Boston, 
Mass., it was noted that 1901 marks the 50th year since the 
consecration of Woodlawn. The report showed a large 
amount of improvement work carried out during the year, 
and many more old lots placed in perpetual care. The total 
receipts for the year ending Dec. 31, 1900, amounted to $103,- 
735.87 and expenditures to $89,324.51. 
Tire Ontario government, Canada, has reserved 1,400,000 
acres of wild land near Lake Temagami, a great lake lying 
west of Lake Temiscaming, on the upper Ottawa, to be de- 
veloped as a national park. In this domain the timber will be 
preserved and the game allowed to increase. Deer and beaver 
are both reported to be on the increase. 
