Before the burial took place, in olden times, a number of persons, usually intimate friends of the dead, watched the body throughout the night. Liberally supplied with various bodily comforts, such as abundant strong drink, plentiful tobacco and pipes, and newly baked cakes, these watchers were not wholly gloomy, nor did the midnight hours lag unsolaced. The great _kamer_ in which the body lay, the state-room of the house, was an apartment so rarely used on other occasions than a funeral that in many households it was known as the _doed-kamer_, or dead-room. Sometimes it had a separate front door by which it was entered, thus giving two front doors to the house. Diedrich Knickerbocker says the front door of New York houses was never opened save for funerals, New Years, and such holidays. The kitchen door certainly offered a more cheerful welcome. In North Holland the custom still exists of reserving a room with separate outside entrance, for use for weddings and funerals. Hence the common saying in Holland that doors are not made for going in and out of the house. Men and women both served as watchers, and sometimes both were at the funeral services within the _doed-kamer_; but when the body was borne to the grave on the wooden bier resting on the shoulders of the chosen bearers, it was followed by men only. The women remained for a time in the house where the funeral had taken place, and ate _doed-koecks_ and sipped Madeira wine. The coffin, made of well-seasoned boards, was often covered with black cloth. Over it was spread the _doed-kleed_, a pall of fringed black cloth. This _doed-kleed_ was the property of the church, as was the pall in New England churches, and was usually stored with the bier in the church-vestibule, or _doop-huys_. In case of a death in childbirth, a heavy white sheet took the place of the black pall. This practice also obtained in Yorkshire, England. Among the Dutch a funeral was a most costly function. The expenditure upon funeral gloves, scarfs, and rings, which was universal in New England, was augmented in New York by the gift of a bottle of wine and a linen scarf.