DECENT BURIAL

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12610, 20 July 1935, Page 12

DECENT BURIAL

FUNERAL. AVTTHOUT FLOWERS*

A LESSON FROM SWEDEN.

In a spirited article, “Decent! Christian Burial,“ Alan.au J. Cafetla attacks the extravagance attending funerals. She shows how sums, spent on flowers, tombstones, pomp and! ceremony, often impoverish the living families of the deceased. She wifely, infers that the dead might be happier ftf the funds showered upon tho bodies were rised instead to hrighfcexs the lot of the living.

It is in the spirit of our times to seek the simplest and at the sama time the most dignified memorial foR thc-i .e we have loved. In Sweden a long istep in this direction wa s recently taken by Swedkh Cremation Society when it organised funeral insurance. The Cremation Society take*? charge of all funeral arrangements,which re "the same for every individual. It operates without profit. Payment can be made to the society aii any time during the lifetime of tho assured, the premium being, smaller, •for the young than for the old. The highest premium is paid by those who arc over 70, and is about £25 ia all. This provides for a dignified funeral of a kfnd tliat might otherwise fax the resources of the bereaved family, especially when the deceased happened to he the bread-winner. In Sweden since 1921 they hard had an organisation called the Flower Fund formed to honour the dead “in a. more worth}* and lasting manner” than with ornate floral tributes for the bier. The membership roll was signed by governors of provinces, Archbishop Soderblom, authors and poets, men prominent iu political life* The Flower Fund proposed that, instead of sending an expensive wreath, the friends of the deceased should send to the bereaved lamily a- simple memorial message in the name of the giver. The amount was to remain a confidence between the donjjK and tho fund, although the lier&aved family could learn the total of the sums received. THOUSAND OLD PEOPLE PROVIDED FOR. It was decided that tho money received in this way should be applied to obtaining Iiou! <3= with small apartments for old people in straitened circumstances. When three and ahalf years had parsed, the Flowe? Fund.’ erected a large building on a isito donated by the city of Stockholm. Soon a second house rose by the Side f the first, aud before long six additional houscD were built. By this means the fund provides for more than, a thousand old people. Thene pay a lower rent than they would pay elsewhere and receive care if they ate ill. Otherwise they are quite free, and there is nothing institutional about- the place. It is like a private home.

There is a restaurant in each build-* ing where residents may buy lunch or u dinner. They mar have meals sent to tlieir room,? or prepare them in tho small- kitchen that- accompanies eacU apartment. -Food can be purchased in the building, aud there is also a laundry and a bakery. Tho old peopla seem to be happy under’ these arrangements, for there are always more application.? than can be filled. Swedish death notices often contain a, line asking that- the Flowed fund be remembered. Sometimes another charity is named, for the example is> contagious. The important thing is not that the money bo do- --r nated to a single cause but that the memorial be given' a form that will honour the dead % benefiting t-lie living. Let our tribute to our deceased love done be something more lasting than quickly withering blossoms.