Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1899 — Curious Funeral Custom. [ARTICLE]

Curious Funeral Custom.

In Switzerland a death is attended by a custom which calls upon all charitable and Christian people to show their sympathy. A notice edged with a wide black line appears in the daily papers setting forth the day and hour when sympathizers must assemble before the house of the deceased. At the time named a little cloth-covered table supporting a good-sized Jar is stood before the house —table, cloth and jar all being of a somber, ebony hue —and into the latter small mourning cards, bearing the name and address of their owners, are deposited. The day the funeral takes place is the day selected for the exhibition of the jar. No ladies are allowed at a Swiss funeral.