In a message dated 6/26/2010 2:00:13 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: I vote bullshit I second. It defies any thrifty logic to think that our forebears would spend the time and energy to fabricate a door that was used only to haul a corpse out of the house every 25 years. Proveittometwybil Twbil ; they not only had mourning doors ;but mourning rooms (to lay the corpse in ) I know we have one on the Cape (circa 1780) ; a weird liitle room 7x10 with one small corner (work window ? ) where the bereaved could pass through one door;and exit through another . The room is also just big enough to move a coffin in one way and out the other ; as long as I can remember this room wuz always called the mourning room Its apparent that Death in those days was always part of life ; there wuz no funeral parlors ; meybe the craft of the mortuary business was a side business to many and if you had a mourning room you could count on some income from it We have an 1870's photo of here in Mississippi with horses tied up ,and the sign above the store sez ; Nails and coffins ; as if it were flavors of the ice creme./ Py -- **Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service** To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>