The youths next considered the subject of the funeral, a ceremony with which the Church has quite as much to do as with weddings. It was Fred's turn to make an investigation, and commit his information to writing, and the following is the result of his efforts:
FUNERAL OF GENERAL DOBLADO, GUANAJUATO.
"One of the odd things about funerals in this city," wrote the youth, "is that they go by rail to the cemetery. The enterprising manager of the street railways formed his scheme, and then bought up all the hearses, so as to compel the populace to adopt his plan. There was opposition to it at first, but a short trial showed that it was much more economical than the old system. There is a good service of funeral cars, and they are graduated to suit all purses that have any money at all in them. The range of prices is from three to one hundred and twenty dollars; for the lowest sum a single car drawn by a mule is supplied, and for the highest figure one may have a hearse-car, gorgeously draped, plumed, and liveried, drawn by a pair of black horses, and with attendants appropriately liveried and of most solemn countenance. The hearse-car is followed by two, and perhaps three cars, containing the mourners, friends of the deceased, and others, who go to make up the funeral cortége, and these cars are as appropriately draped as the hearse. Ranging between the highest and lowest figures are half a dozen or even more 'outfits,' so that any desires can be met.
"Another curious custom is that poor people rent handsome coffins to be used during the funeral ceremony, the body being transferred to a plain unpainted box as soon as it reaches the cemetery.
"Funeral cards are printed in the newspapers along with the advertisements, and sometimes they have been inadvertently placed among the 'amusements.' They are also posted on the street corners and in other places where they can be seen, and printed cards heavily bordered with black are sent to relatives and friends. There is a fashionable card form for a funeral as much so as for a wedding, and it would be a great social blunder to vary from the conventional style. Friends and relatives must respond to these cards, and any one who has a large circle of acquaintance is obliged to write a good many notes of condolence in the course of a year.
"When we first arrived in the city we were somewhat surprised at the large number of people in mourning, until we learned that mourning is worn not only for relatives but for friends, and there is a prescribed time for which it must be worn in each case. Suppose a school-girl's father or mother dies, her companions put on mourning for fifteen days; if the girl herself dies they go into mourning for a month. The same rule holds throughout society, and there is also a rule that when one visits a house where the family is in mourning, the visitor must be costumed in mourning also. The result is that fashionable people are in mourning for a goodly part of the year, and a mourning suit, or dress, is a necessity for everybody's wardrobe.
"It is not the custom generally for ladies to attend funerals, but they send cards of condolence and make visits of pésame (regret) immediately after the ceremony. Families in mourning are secluded from society very much as in other civilized countries.
"The old cemeteries which are now in the city limits are closed, and no more burials can be made there. They have a general resemblance to the cemeteries that we described in chapter xxii. of 'The Boy Travellers in South America.' Those who can afford permanent burial for their relatives or friends take a perpetual lease of the niche where the corpse is deposited; in such case the word propiedad is placed over the entrance, along with the date when the entombment was made. If only a temporary lease is taken, the remains are removed at the end of five years to make room for a new tenant. The bones are either buried in one of the new cemeteries or thrown into a pit, where the bones of hundreds who once breathed the air and walked the streets of Mexico are indiscriminately mingled. The new cemeteries are laid out in modern fashion; we visited those of Campo Florida and La Piedad and saw some very tasteful tombs, which indicated to us both the tender remembrance of the Mexicans for their dead and the skill of the designers of the monuments.