In Victorian times, families took care of their dead before the advent of funeral homes and undertaking procedures. Living rooms are no longer called "parlors", because "parlors" were for viewing of the dead. This is a direct aversion to the twentieth century fear of death. We no longer live with our dead loved ones sleeping in the box in the living room. We no longer take pictures of our dead to remind ourselves they are gone. Its an important part of the mourning process we have lost. Its not as common to lose a baby, a young child, or a young adult with advances in medical care that began in the nineteenth century. We look at death as a failure, not a permanent sleep and a release from the pain of sickness or disease. It was more of a common thing Victorian folks and those before them dealt with at home. The grieving process was done at home, and people were not so far removed from it. A dead body was nothing to be associated with morbidity, it was a fact of life, death, that people were unafraid to deal with.
