Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1910 — MOURNING CUSTOMS. [ARTICLE]

MOURNING CUSTOMS.

; The Widow'll Cap Dates Back to Ancient Eiopt. The widow’s mourning cap dates back to the days of ancient Egypt. Egyptian men shaved the beard anfi . the head as a token of mourning. The women, instead of cutting ofT the hair, concealed it with a close cap. The Romans, who were as a race clean shaven, shaved the head in mourning and wore a wig. The black band on the sleeve as a sign of raourninspeomes ko us from the days of chivalry. The : lady tied a scarf or napkin, as the handkerchief was called, about the arm of her knight. If he was killed in battle she wore the band in memory of him. Black has so Jong been s the color of grief In Anglo-Saxon coun- | tries that it Beems a part of the up-

side-down civilization of the east that Japan and China wear white. But no longer ago than the time of Elizabeth the unfortunate Mary of Scotland wore white on the death of Darnlev. Even now the hearse used for children is white, and in England the .mourners at funerals of young unmarried persons wear hatbands and sashes of white. A queer English custom is tliai of decorating the black hearse horses with long black tails. They attract no more attention on a street of an Eng lish city than do the black nets us -J in this country to cover the horses/