Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Manawatu Herald, 24 December 1896, Page 4

!_--'<■ H 111— I | ii ■_■_■■__-_. I IIT I 'i I_l'l .»-_.in__l«_— «■ 1 Lr "' t <_£3_&^^S^^^fe» THE HANDKERCHIEF. Of Ancient Honor and ltenovrn— A Gift For Queens and a Token of I, ove. No item of dre3s has had so humble an origin. Beginning as a ro:igh piece of cloth, the "clout" or rag cbang- d at lasc I into the nn >3t delicate lace begirt article J of the toilet. Then it became a gift for queens or a token of love. The corner of an.ajKon still suffices the v. orkyday worn- j an for tears and furtive sniffs of the nose, while a very dingy and ftnsavory article Is the sole joy of the schoolboy. Careful matrons in Scotland show a sacred pride in the folded handkerchief around their Bibles, which they unwrap and shake oufc ""of its folds in church with an air of performing a religious rite. The handkerchief attained to honor and renown in the east long before its humblest manifestation, the "swat cloth," was in use in England. In Egypt it was counted as an amulet and among the Moors a love token. The Greeks have left no written record of it. But on vases and other pictured history there are Greek women musing pensively, with a l-ather large cloth in the right hand. The Romans seem to have been accustomed to handkerchiefs of a strictly utilitarian kind, for Juvenal makes its too frequent use a kind of reproach. The Anglo-Saxons used their "swat cloths" openly, bufc the Normans hid their napkins about their persons. Pockets there were none, and it could nofc conveniently be attached to their girdles. Nevertheless by Edward IV's day a certain tardy interest in the handkerchief had arisen, for thafc monarch had his made of "Hollands cloth," and ordered no less than four dozen to be made by a certain AliceShapstone, to whom he paid twopence apiece for making them, equal to about two shillings. It is said that the empress of Russia paid £500 for a single handkerchief. The embroidere sp who made it wrought seven years and lost hor eyesight over it. It will be seen from this how much the handkerchief has grown in im-. portance. In the sixteenth century the handkerchief began to be in more geueral use at court for men as well as women. Henry VIII wns particular about handkerchiefs aud expected the lords of his chamber to be provided with them. He himself paid Alisti-ess Armourer £5 for 11 dozen handkerchiefs in 1531, equal to about 8 shillings apiece at present, to be given out to those who served his person. And now it was tbafc the handkerchief began to assume its rightful place as a thing of particular importance. With Elizabeth the handkerchief, like all articles of the toilet, was much to be considered. Ifc was trimmed with lace and decked with embroidery. But in her youth she was not so well provided ior. Lady Brian, Elizabeth's guardian, was forced to complain to the king that her royal charge had "no handkerchers" to her nose. In her reign tiny handkerchiefs, finely worked, edged with gold lace and folded neatly, were made on purpose for tokens of love and were given by gentlewomen to their lovers, who wore these dainty tokens in their hats. Whero tho Turkey Came From. The secretary of the Turkey club of England says in The Feathered World that the turkey appears to have been bred in England for over 300 years, but whero it originated is a matter of doubt. "Many suppose it came from the easfc, as its name implies; others that Mexico was its native place. At the time Hernando Cortez subdued the Mexicans in 1521 the turkey was found in a domesticated state and very probably had been bred tbere several centuries before that time. Domestic turkeys were introduced into England from America in 1525, and accounts are given of their being served at banquets in 1555; a few years later they appear to have become sufficiently abundant to afford the farmer his Christmas dinner, and from that time the turkey has held premier place on such, festive occasions. He That Was Born to Bo Haugcd. "He that was born to be hanged will never be drowned" is au old English proverb which has ifcs equivalent in most other modern languages. The Danes say, "He that is to be hanged will never be drowned unless the water goes over the gallows." The Italians say, "He that is to die by the gallows may dance on the river," and the Dutch, "What belongs to the raven does not drown." Shakespeare alludes to the proverb in "The Tempest" when he makes Gonzajo say of the boatswain, "I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks he has no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows." Average Depth of Oceans. The average depth of all the oceans, according to figures given by Thorne, is from 8,000 to 8,000 fathoms. Soundings have been made in the Atlantic ocean, 90 miles of tne island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, which showed a depth of 23,250 feet, or about four and one-half miles. In 1878-4 the ship Challenger made a voyage around the world for the purpose of taking deep sea soundings, and the result* showed that the greatest depth in the Pacific ocean was between four and one-half and five miles, while that of the Atlantic was probably as given above. A Surprising Perforinai-t*. Strike a cut glass goblet witb your finger so as to make it ring. It will give a prolonged sound, generally of a grave nature. Then, while it is still sounding, take the glass, put it close to your mouth and shout into it as strongly as possible a similar sound. Nearly always the glass, whose vibrations are thus doubled, will break in pieces. This was a favorite experiment of a celebrated bass singer, who, in whatever friendly circles he found himself, used to break in this way, one after another, all the glasses that were offered to him. The Cotton Gin. The cotton gin invented by Whitney in 1792 consists of a large shaft or cylinder, on which ure placed from SO to 60 circular saws about one-half an inch apart, with a diameter four inches larger than the cylinder. These revolve between steel bars so close that the seed cannot pass through. The teeth of the rapidly revolving saws seize the lint and pull it from the seed. while a brush revolving in an opposite cl : xection cleans the teeth as fast as the fiber is drawn through the bars. Towed to "Marry Thirty Wives. At Nagoya, ia Cbina, a merchant who is in his sixty-fifth year has just divorced his twenty-sixth wife and is übout to marry the twenty-seventh. He had resolved when he was young to marry 30 wives', and is delighted that he has nbw only thi'eo more to marry to keep his vow.