Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — A Custom of the Past. [ARTICLE]

A Custom of the Past.

Western people, who are eminently practical in tneir ideas, are doing away with the custom of baring heads at funerals, giving as a reason that it endangers the health. Aside from this a funeral, as it Is conducted nowaday, often leads to serious resuits. A delicate member of the family, who, perhaps, has not been out of the house for weeks, worn down and prostrated by the care and grief incident to the loss of a dear relative, is subjected to a long, slow ride on a cold, inclement day. Custom has had its way; the victim following the custom, thinking it a duty, returns to her home, not to go out again until she is followed over the same road to the last resting place by perhaps others who fall victims after her. “I ain a comparatively young man,” says a phj'sician, “and yet I have not fingers enough on which to count cases of this kind that have come under my observation and in my own experience, and I have resolved to raise my voice against this custom whenever and wherever I may have the opportunity.”