THAT MAKER OF HISTORY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1425, 27 April 1912, Page 11

THAT MAKER OF HISTORY.

MERELY THE FAN. . Mdlle. Paulo Baylo, tho brilliant lecturer who came from I'aris to London to talk about "The Fan" to the members of tho France-Britanniquo Club, lias kindly permitted a London "Daily Telegrapli" representative to make a free translation from her papor, which was tilled with treasures of. research. The fan of a beautiful woman, said Jldlle. Bayle, is the sceptre of the world. This cleverlydesigned toy, often of such elegance that it rivals tho hand that flutters it, the emblem of pleasure, entering into every joy, every smile, was born in the East. In the India of the ancients it was a lotus leaf, and with the fly-ilap and the eunshada an attribute of royalty. In tho Jiftli century of our era fans were usually peacocks' feathers, although they were also composed of leaves or made" in their form. In China the bauble has always been a part of tho toilette, and,women have regarded it as of great importance. It is told how, during the popular Feast of Lanterns, Princess Kang-si, surrounded by the waiting women, deigned to show herself to the people. Court etiouetto demanded that every individual should be masked. Itwas so hot that the Princess slipped off lier mask and waved it before her face. Her followers imitated her, and the fan was invented. Tho poet Loki states that this dainty trifle was originally made out of peacocks' feathers, then of white silk, and later of silken tissues. In Japan it concealed tho smiles and emotions of beautiful women; the schoolmaster made a birch-rod of it, but he also presented it as an award. When a nobleman was sentenced to death a fan was placed ow a stand, and as he stretched his hand to l take the sinister gift, .the executioner did