THE RAGE FOR TALISMANS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1745, 20 January 1888, Page 2

THE RAGE FOR TALISMANS.

It ia the fashion to have a fethh— pnethmg to love, to cbich, to swear by MJreanj on, to talk to, to reason with, ana to worship as nothing mortal 01 .mater, al is worshipped Jt m ay be a button^.thoutaehanfc, picked up from ■the marble slab m a Tnrkish bath • a bangle .found m a street car with aa indecipherable monogram on ooe side and a date o n the other, m whioh caee there will be fatality m the letters and luck m ,he nnmner , csmbioe them aa one may. Such thm ?8 as daggers, old coins, m»dstones, oyster pearls, ocean pebbhs, nuggets, petrified objeots, opal^ amethySta!* ana comehans are dearly prized, and m jewels, old designs, such as wingi. claw" B RW». foijs cnb.es, and the like* obtainedpr purchased under elrunge circumstances. " • Mrs Langtry wears on one of her lone apering fingers a turquoise as big and beautifal as the gem Shyldok mourned for XhQ ring and she are inseparable. There is never a glove so snag; that it cannot be coaxed over the solitaire, and on the stage* when it might be considered poor taste to * wear it _m view, the Btone is turned? toward* the palm, or dropped m the boHomof her bodioe.- . „.,, : .. : „ % \ Mme.. Cayalozzi; has a email • ivory oruoifix, the gift of her dying mother, who bade her cherish it with reverence, -and burn a taper before it whenever way Beemed dark and dreary. (In her stateroom on 4he ocean mid' iwinds and wild waves' have no terror ior her. while burns the sacred diaper ■at the foot of the ivery cross, and in*} ;tbe theatre no earthly power could induce her to go before the footlights until her devotions had been made. . Her husband, Charles Mapleson, has ceased to laugh at her, and almost believes thit the light 'of ' the cross and the tiny dip light her pretty feet through the intricacies of the dance. Sarah Bemhatdt ban an antique girdle : made of medallions, on whioh are the. signs of', the -zodiac m superb chasing, The zone was a gift from Napoleon, who received it from Abdallah Bey; of Egypt.' She is never without it ; sometimes it is worn about her dress and sometimes 1 about her neck. It holds the gathers of* house and Btage dresses and enoircles her> night robe. A Bide from the worship of the girdle, she loves a knife, "because it cuts and is true " In all her great undertakings she ke^ps a blade m her hand or before ber eyes as a reminder that failsre can be mended but never made perfect * ■ Mary Andereoa loves a pearl, because it ia pure and cold. Oampanini pins his faith to a prune and there is no tim? ia. the year when the atone .or fruit of the black, sticky confection may not be found m his vest pocket. Ellen Terry 'b : fetish ia a bottle with 'a paper stopper, J which i» never empty because the cork remains. Mmc Patti likes the ivy, because it clings and is poieonoua, and the leaf is a favorite design with her. ' '