The Evils of Mourning.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXII, Issue 3872, 11 May 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Evils of Mourning.

J)r. T. Slonson Hooker, advocates dispensing with the trappings of woe. In <m article in tlit,* Loudon "'Expriivs" ko says: — “In making a. plea, for the abolition of ■mourning, it is tar from my intention to wound Iho susceptibilities of mourners, or to be bars'll upon those who seem' to derive some ’-ecnliar comfort in wearing all black. Neither can I hope to .subvert a. custom all at once which has been in exi.slen-tu; for so many centuries. “The present eyslem of mourning imposes a, heavy tax upon, at all events, the poor and middle class. It is said that same ,L'3,00U,()00 to £110,000,000 is spent in funerals in England annually, and he it remembered that among the this.', mentioned the extra, and .sometimes finite unexpected, expense comes at a time alien it can leant well be met. It. mav be after the lingering -illness of oho wiu> has hitherto supported (he family has already depleted the little savings (o a vanishing point. “hilt under all circumstances, the I iimilv —and it may he a large one—think it a necessity to he clothed from head to foot in new hbick clothes. Surely it is had finance. Surely this expenditure is not justified. “Hut, unfortunately, it is among the very poor (hat we find the last shillings . pent in this way, there seems to he a pride among them which forces them to bedeck themselves in black from head t > foot. Said one old lady to a friend, ‘I t was .a hoant’ful funeral, and we were ad as black as crows.’ “hut, not only do the poor suffer in this way, but the great mass of the middle class people also. To these it is a

serious item of additional expenditure. We must include in our calculations the whole of the groat middle class upon whom tho tax falls with a heavy thud. The money thus spent on this useless black clothing should have gone towards more pressing and more access-a-y things. "Let us consider the point b'icfly from tho sentimental and religions aspects. It will, lam aware, at once be said that -wo must show ‘respect’ to the dead. Let us ask ourselves in the first place, plainly and candidly, is this the real reason of covering ourselves in black

‘Sometimes, is it not, if wo tell tho truth, simply and solely because of our ■inherent love of ‘custom,’ our desire not to bo thought ‘peculiar,’ our fear of not. being as other men Or, it may be, that wo find a fixed intention of nursing our grief; we prefer to hug it to our heart and resent the suggestion of anyone who perchance might hint to ns that this was not tho true sentiment, net true religion. “ T find a groat comfort an wearing black and sitting thinking of my dear departed one,’ is often said. But one would have greater comfort and much more satisfaction if, instead of thus nursing one’s own grief, one would go cut into tho icy world and try to assuage tho grief of someone else. “ I admit that it is very natural to griovo for the loss of tho loved ones; it is human ; but, for all that, wo need not mourn in black; we 'need riot display our grief as we walk through the public thoroughfares; least of all need wc mourn as though tho dead were gone from us eternally.

“ And what hypocrisy wearing ail hlack for mourning 'often is. We do it for the sako of appearances, because everybody else does it. 'When shall wo bo bravo enough to 'withstand the slinga and arrows cl our acquaintances and go forth strong in our own individuality, living our own life anti not that of other people, following no custom, and wearing no apparel that does not appeal to our reason nor accord with our ethics? “ Let no exercise our own individuality in this as in all other matters; it is our most priceless possession, yet wo seldom let it manifest itself. Surely custom, indeed, doth make cowards of us all.’

“If we wish to compromise matters, let us be content with the band of crepe wo often see round the arm sleeve of the coat; that, at all events, is not so insistent, and perhaps for the fainthearted ones, who fear what ‘people would say,’ this might meet matters. 'Now to consider the subject from the health point of view. Here we leave all that might bo considered speculative and enter the region of the purely practical. Hygiene is at present the king enthroned to whom the people gladly give homage, and if I can demonstrate clearly that the wearing of black is inimical from the health point of view, I shall surely make my point. _ “And it is inimical; distinctly so. Among tho many points insisted upon in this popular cult of the day—hygiene —these of plenty of fresh air and sundhino are 'always well t'o tho Iron!, and quite rightly so; and therefore, to he logical, all must at once concede that any clothes worn which prevent a due rupply of fresh air from 'reaching our bodies, and at the same time absorbs tho .sun’s irhys, thus preventing these from reaching our bodies also, can but exert a pernicious effect upon the general health.

“'Everyone knows that black intercepts the sun’s irayvs; hut it, in other words, to use a popular expression, ‘retains the boat’; so that by covering ourselves in black wo not only absolutely keep out the sunlight, but also actually give ourselves much unnecessary discomfort by the (retention of the heat — which heat, when excessive, is particularly exhausting. “ Tlien wo have also tho depressing effect upon the system generally caused by seeing ourselves or others all in black. The system is very responsible to such influences, and ds very considerably lowered in tone, thus making ns an easy prey to cold catching, with its sometimes fatal results.

“ALre than this, the depressing clothing causes more and more depressing thoughts all around ns, for ‘thoughts arc things,’ and fly from one to another just as easily as the messages fly from point to point in the case of wireless telegraphy. Thought transforanco is a fact easily, and not often demonstrated.

“The custom of wearing entire black is a pernicious one.; in the case, of children a positively cruel one. It engenders false ideas of death. It is contrary to the broadening thought of the day.

“ I have elaborated the ideas sot forth in the present article in. a. little volume just 'published. And I feel confident that a great number of people will ho ready to listen to my suggestions, and perhaps do adopt them.”.

FIGHTING THE COED IN RUSSIA. ■Russian houses are always kept at the same temperature both summer and winter. At the end of August or beginning of September every house is fur-■-nii-hed with its second, and, very often, third windows’. These are hermetically fastened, and only one pane of glass in each window is made to open, so that looms can bo kept warm on the coldest day. In the spring the extra two windows are removed, which permits of the opening of the permanent one. The houses are warmed by means of hot air, and the smell of a Russian house thus dosed and thus heated can never he forgotten. Owing to the severity of the climate ■in winter, which necessitates the wearing of heavy furs, it is very difficult to get any <'xercise at all, and it is rare to meet liny lady cf Society taking a constitutional. The only fresh air she gets is on her sledge, in' which she generally drives from about two or half-past until four. This want of open-air exercise, added to unlimited indulgence in cigarettes, robs tho great majority of Russian 'women of t hat. healthy look for which our English women are so famous. Chemist (to poor woman): You must take this medicine three times n day after meals/’ Pat ient; “ But. .sir, I seldom get meals thes ’ard times.” Chemist (passing on to the next customer: “Then lake it before.”