This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: JohnWOBrien Surnames: Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.jackson/6786/mb.ashx Message Board Post: "The Kansas City Times" (Missouri) Sunday, January 7, 1872 UNDER THE SOD. What it costs to live is familiar to every one, while few know what it costs to die. The various classes of funerals are many in order, to suit the whims and caprices of those who have charge of making the arrangements for the consignment of earthly remains to the grave. It may be interesting to know something in regard to THE STYLES OF FUNERALS, such, for instance, as may be used for a pauper, a man of moderate means or one of wealth. There is a certain style which is kept up even in death, which is gratifying to those who remain, while could those even who are the object of those ceremonies, awake to consciousness, it would, no doubt, be gratifying to them. The style of funeral consists of the kind of coffin used, the hearse, number of carriages, invitations, embalming of the body, location of the lot in the cemetery, etc. There are different KINDS OF BURIAL CASES. The most ordinary wooden coffin will not cost more than two dollars and a half, while the finest coffin of wood will cost fifty dollars. Metallic coffins vary in price from seventy to one hundred and fifty dollars. Caskets vary from three hundred to five hundred dollars. The cause of the difference in price in coffins and caskets is owing to the quality of the wood or metal used in their construction, the trimmings, etc. To bury a child costs almost as much as to bury a grown person. Style, though, is everything, and the white hearse, drawn by cream-colored ponies, the white plumes on the hearse, the white coffin or casket, all combine to increase the price. A FIRST-CLASS FUNERAL in the city will cost about eight hundred dollars. A "Times" reporter has been informed by a gentleman, who has been for several years in the undertaker's business in this city, that eight hundred dollars is the largest amount ever paid for a funeral in Kansas City. This calculation of cost, however, does not include the embalming, which will cost about one hundred and fifty dollars more. The figures may be increased to as high as fifteen hundred dollars. THE BUSINESS OF AN UNDERTAKER is one which requires great experience and a familiarity with the manner of handling the corpse, the quality of coffins, etc. It is familiarity alone which removes the sensitiveness generally experienced by a "greenhorn." The business is quite lucrative, when once thoroughly established. The largest coffin factory is located in Cincinnati, whence the trade radiates to different parts of the United States. ====================================================== neirbo10 Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.