God 39;s Undertaker Pdf

[Lorna Schildt]

Thisverse chipped out years ago by untrained hands on a limestone head marker in a country graveyard seems to express the Ozark people's acceptance of the shortness of life and its natural end. It states simply the strength of their Christian belief in God's concern for each and his plan for a better life.

This philosophy was evident in all the people we talked with about death and burial customs. They spoke of their own experiences and those told them by their parents from as far back as the Civil War to the early 1940's when most people used the services of hospitals and funeral homes.

When death occurred, there were a number of things which were done in a very different way from today, but they all agreed that death used to be taken more naturally as part of the life cycle. Children then were not excluded from the funeral activities and were taught a more natural approach to death. People did not hesitate to show their emotions, and the neighbors always showed their concern by helping the family in many ways.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's a larger number of infants and young children died because medicine was not as advanced, because hygiene conditions were often poor, especially in the remote hills and rural areas and because there were not many doctors. Many people could not afford them, anyway. Childhood diseases such as measles or chicken pox could be fatal then.

A visit in any cemetery shows rows of little markers inscribed with dates of death one or two years apart of children in the family who lived only a few days or years--often followed closely by a bigger stone for the mother.

Families experienced death often. The death occurred in the home, usually from sickness, since before the automobile there were not as many sudden, accidental deaths as now. The family and close neighbors handled all the details of sickness, death, preparation for burial, the funeral and the burial. Death's reality could not be avoided or lessened by removing the dying person to hospitals and funeral homes.

Charlie McMicken told us, "If a person became real sick, a doctor would be called. Around the turn of the century, a doctor was expected to make house calls at any time, day or night, 365 days a year and to any place within driving distance with a horse and buggy. There were a few automobiles at that time, but roads were so poor that they weren't used much out in the country." If a person was very sick, the doctor might stay several hours.

Mary Moore remembered being called one winter in the night to help with a lady that died. "You know, people then wasn't able much to get to doctors. And maybe they'd have a doctor today and maybe it'd be a week before they had a doctor anymore. They didn't have no money. They couldn't have a doctor."

If someone were very sick or died, the news spread fast. In the early 1900's there were country telephone lines--party lines. There were ten to fifteen neighbors on a line. When anyone called, everyone on the line heard the ring and listened. Charlie Mc remembered, "If the phone rang of a night, believe me, everyone was up and listening to find out who was sick, because we knew it was sickness if someone rang the one long ring for the operator at night."

No matter in what manner they received the news, neighbors would come to help the family take care of the ill and to stand by in case of death. The neighbors and friends would take turns sitting up with the sick at night and helping give medicines. It was desirable, if possible, for a near relative to be present at time of death. When death occurred and there wasn't enough help, they would go get someone else.

Relatives who lived away were notified of the death by letters. Sometimes people sent the news in a black edged envelope. The postmaster would know that it contained news of a death and immediately sent someone with the letter to the home.

When somebody died, the neighbors brought in food. Dorothy McMicken said, "Neighbors were nice to the people. They wanted to do things. The women cooked for the family to relieve them of the burden of the daily chores which at a time like that were too heavy."

Neighbors who weren't needed to be there sent in food or did anything they could to help. Myrtle Hough remembered, "They come as quick as they can get there. They all gather in, bring food and do anything they can. I know when my father died--we didn't have heated rooms then--a neighbor came early morning a little after daylight, and he cut wood nearly till noon for heating purposes. They'd come to work for you and do all the chores."

Today death and caring for the dead seems to be remote or divorced from the family life with death occurring in hospitals and the dead cared for by professionals. Ella Hough said, "You shouldn't have to die alone. Folks should be with their family when they die and they should see death. You don't even see your folks die now, everything's changed so. Being together brings the family closer."

Most rural people in the Ozarks did not use the services of undertakers and embalming until cars came in. Before that there were no undertakers to be had. Even buying a casket meant a long trip to town and back.

Embalming dates back to the Egyptians who bathed, soaked and rubbed the dead. Only the very rich could afford the process which took three months. In the United States during the Civil War doctors embalmed using liquid glass and gypsum, charging $25 for soldiers and $50 for officers.

The first use of embalming in the rural areas of the Ozarks was someone bringing the equipment to the home and caring for the body there. Sometimes these men were connected to a funeral home, but often they were not. Helen Beard recalled a man who embalmed a lot. "You just called him and he came to the home. He came into the bedroom and was practically all day --eight to ten hours--embalming. He worked by himself and he really would do a good job."

In the thirties when the funeral parlors took this function over, they discouraged trips to the home for it was obviously more efficient to do it in their laboratories. By then there was adequate transportation, and more money, so bodies were taken to the funeral parlors to be embalmed then returned to the home to lie in state.

Before this service was available, the neighbors did what was necessary. Since it was a necessity, there was always someone in the neighborhood with experience who could be called on to care for the body.

Since the body would not keep long, especially in the summers, the funeral was often the next day. If not treated, bodies can't be held very long for they begin to turn black and mortification sets in; therefore, they were buried as soon as it was possible to dig the grave and make the coffin.

The first thing was to clean out the room where the death occurred--take out all the bedding. It had to be washed or burned. Helen Beard said, "They hardly ever let anyone else use it. Usually they burned the ticks for they were made of straw or shucks. They would get some boards put across chair backs or propped up in some other way. The furniture would be rearranged to make that possible. That might mean taking out the bed entirely." Since in some one or two room homes this was not possible, the living and the dead shared the room until burial.

Those preparing the body started with taking off the nightgown and washing the body from head to toe with soap and water. In death the kidneys and bowels would relax so a sheet was wrapped around like a diaper.

Something was put on the eyes to keep them closed, usually quarters which were often kept by the family as keepsakes. It is an old, but false belief that a person's eyes can be closed just after he has died and they will stay. They must be held closed until the body is cold.

Then the body could be dressed. Some older people had their burying clothes laid back. Usually the best dress or suit would be put on. If there wasn't anything suitable, sometimes neighbor women would quickly make a dress. As long as the clothes were clean, they did not have to be new.

The women had panties, an undershirt, a chemise (pronounced chimmy) and a petticoat, then the dress and stockings. Older people often wanted shoes or house slippers on, but that was usually what the family preferred. Men had underwear, shirt, tie and suit.

Some families left jewelry like rings on their dead. We also heard several times about ladies who had a hat or a cap laid back especially for their burials and cases where favorite belongings like a scrapbook and violin were buried with their owner.

After dressing the person, he was laid out on the cooling board, a sufficiently long board which was laid on the backs of a couple of chairs and covered with a white sheet. The body was also completely covered with a white sheet. In some cases a pillow was put under the head, but people were generally not supposed to do it because the pillow prevented the body from cooling out as fast.

Wet soda cloths were put on the face and hands to help preserve the skin color and texture. The people who sat up with the body would wring cloths out every so often to put on the face. These cloths were kept in place except when someone was viewing the body.

The house was often crowded with people being ready to help, coming in to sympathize with the family or to view the dead. The children were not excluded from this. They usually played around just as normal, but were calmed down if they became too noisy.

Meanwhile someone had to attend to making the coffin or buying a casket, as it was called if purchased from a store. In most cases the coffin was homemade. They varied from a simple pine or rough oak box to beautifully fine-crafted walnut coffins lined with black satin cloth for older people or white for a child or young person up to the twenties. They did not have colors then. The sides sometimes had cotton fill and were decorated with rows of eyelet embroidery or lace.

The size of the coffins depended on the body measurements of the dead, but was three feet high. They would have a lid that could be closed with screws when ready to be put into the ground. They came in different shapes from rectangular to those shaped wide at the shoulders and narrow at the head and feet.

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