Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

Dec. 18, 1920 –; We went to Carrie’s funeral today.; At sixteen rheumatism commenced to conquer cripple her; at twenty she ceased to walk; at thirty-five she was helpless; at fifty she died, and by that time her legs were bent double, so rigid that they could not be put down even after death, and her hands were twisted into unrecognizable things; and her brother said that the end of her spine had come thru the skin.; But in spite of this Carrie conquered; so great was her victory that she was a mecca for a great number of people who needed encouragement.; It seemed as if so pure a soul at(sic) this might be spared the conventional funeral, but it was not. The fake mourner was there in the person of Aunt Sure, whose ostentatious grief tended to cheapen the event, the inevitable people who come to funerals out of morbid curiosity, and the grasping relatives (by marriage) already searching the house