One of the prudent customs of the Dutch settlers was to begin, so soon as they came of age, to lay by money for their funeral expenses. No Dutchman wanted to be a burden upon any one if he could help it, even when he died, and this practice of laying by gold or silver pieces to pay the expenses of proper burial became very general. A Dutch funeral was one of the most singular features of life among the people. After the minister had seated himself beside the coffin and the company was duly assembled, the sexton or servants would appear with glasses and decanters, and wine would be given to such of the guests as cared to drink. Funeral cakes and other victuals were handed about in the same way, and then pipes and tobacco were brought in. The eating, drinking, and smoking being finished, the minister would rise and make his address and prayer, and then the sexton and minister would lead the procession to the burying-ground.[20] A people so prudent about matters of funeral expenses were likely to be prudent about other affairs of life coming earlier in the list. Young men were generally careful about saving money with which to get married, and the young women spun and sewed for many months getting ready the linen which they were in the habit of providing for the housekeeping. Furman instances this inventory of the goods a Breuckelen bride brought to her husband: "A half-worn bed, two cushions of ticking with feathers, one rug, four sheets, four cushion covers, two iron pots, three pewter dishes, one pewter basin, one iron roaster, one schuyrn spoon, two cowes about five years old, one case or cupboard, one table." That the course of true love, as it is observed after marriage, did not always run smooth, is shown by the early appointment in New Amsterdam of a "First Commissary of Marriage Affairs." In this era marriage was surrounded with many difficulties, and required both time and patience to secure its accomplishment. The following curious document is the form which was used in 1654 to secure a marriage license:-- _To the right Honourable the Lordships the Magistrates of Gravesend:_