diately after the
funeral, thoroughly understood by the hackmen.

At a home funeral the singers should be somewhat distant from the
family, so that the music is not loud.

The members of the family are dressed in hats and veils ready to enter
the carriages, before the service. They pass to view the body,--if,
according to a former custom, the casket is left open,--last of all,
and enter the last carriage before that of the pallbearers, which
immediately precedes the hearse.

In sending flowers to a funeral, one's card is enclosed. There should
be no slightest sense of obligation in the sending of flowers, and
each piece should represent only real sympathy or respect.

The putting on of black garments as a sign that one has lost a near
relative has been much modified by the good sense of the people, and
the period of mourning shortened, especially in England. In stating
the accepted mourning custom, the moderate observance of it has been
given, both extremes being ignored.

Crape is the quality of goods most closely allied with mourning. Black
dresses trimmed with black crape are usually worn for the first few
months by women who have lost a near relative. The black veil worn by
widows is now of moderate length, and usually not of the very thick
material which was once in vogue. A ruche of white is now placed just
inside the bonnet, which relieves the black effect somewhat. Black
furs and sealskins are worn with mourning.

The English fashion of six months of the deepest mourning and six
months of secondary is meeting with more and more approval in this
country, although for a close relative a year is the first period and
six months the second.

One who is in mourning does not appear in society for the first six
months; after that it is permissible to attend a concert or musical,
but not the theater or a reception while severe mourning is worn.

During the mourning period, black-bordered stationery is used. The
border on paper and envelopes is usually three-eighths of an inch for
a close relative and half that for a more distant one, or during the
secondary period of mourning, if one cares to make the change. The
personal visiting card has a black border during this time.

The handkerchief is bordered with narrow black, or is of
narrow-bordered, plain, sheer linen.

For relatives-in-law it is not customary to put on black, although for
a father- or mother-in-law it is customary, in the best society, to
dress