Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/609

Rh day is usually discovered and fixed upon. This time having arrived, the clothes of the deceased, or new cloth cut into lengths sufficient for a tunic, are distributed among the assistants, are used as girdles while the body is lifted into the coffin, and are afterward kept by the wearers.

Thrifty, elderly persons have stanch coffins made for themselves while in good health. They are kept in a loft, receive a new coat of lacquer occasionally, and harden during perhaps a score of years for final use. If the coffin has not been previously prepared, a son buys one from a maker, who gives the buyer a couple of oranges or a package of confectionery, that the transfer of goods may not be an unmixed sadness to his customer. Some person, familiar with the route, must guide the bearers by the shortest road to the house of the purchaser, for an empty coffin imperils the welfare of the inmates of any dwelling to which it is taken, and a mistake in regard to its destination would bring rough treatment to those who carried it.

After the body is laid in the coffin, a piece of silver, real or counterfeit, is placed under the tongue. It is said that in ancient times the full value of a man's possessions was paid to him by his heirs at his demise, and was deposited with him in his coffin for burial. But later on, though long ago, a man who had foreknowledge, warned his children that there would be a rebellion in their day, and that a certain noble would rifle graves to get funds for the carrying out of his treasonable designs. When this man died, the prospective rebel was invited to assist in encoffining the corpse, and the sons put into the coffin only a small piece of silver, which they slipped under his tongue. Years passed, and the prophecy of the dead father was fulfilled; but, while other graves were opened, his remained undisturbed, because the rebel chieftain knew it contained no treasure. Since that time the practice of putting a bit of silver under the tongue has superseded the older custom of burying large sums of money with the corpse.

The evening after the encoffining a supper is spread for all the relatives of other surname than that of the deceased. Those of the same surname, reckoning themselves sinners, and therefore in sorrow, cook and serve the banquet.

As soon as the corpse is encoffined, a screen of white cloth is stretched across the main room just in front of the shelf on which sit the household gods, opposite the front entrance to the house. The coffin stands parallel with the screen, and close behind it, shut off from the view of those who pass the open door. In front of the screen, at its center, a chair is placed, holding an effigy of the deceased, and dressed in his clothing. This is called the seat of the spirit. Before the effigy a square table is set as an altar, and draped with a white cover and valance. A pair of large