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BY THE EGYPTIANS,
AND HEBREWS.
Bint* Are Regarded Differently New
Then Formerly—\Torn Met So JIneh tar
Ornament as for Their Intrinsic Value.
Some Famous Rings In History.
Looking at the exhibition of modern
finger rings, the old timer is forcibly
struck by the fact that, whereas in the
good old days the decorative art and de
sign were iduio-t wholly expended on
the gold .baud itself,, modern jewelers
confined themselves almost exclusively
to combinations of valuable stones. It
is a very nngratefnl task to spoil a ro
mance, but cold trnth compels the ad-
mission that this is a practical age. which
looks largely to the matter of converti
bility in rings, watches and valuable
presents.
Actors and actresses on their travels
are seldom seen without a diamond pin,
brooch, necklace or solitaire ring, be
cause these articles represent a condensa-
' tion of money in small bulk and nu'de-
predable form. The finest workman
ship on the gold itself goes for nothing.
Itis simply "old gold”—sold by weight.
It was very different in "the days of
old,” though there were plenty of pre
cious stones available it they had been
needed. The Pharaohs and their states
men, the princesses of Egypt and their fa
vored ' attendants, undoubtedly wore
rings, for quite* number of mummies
have been found with a dozen finger
rings liberally distributed on the eight
fingers, besides the indispensable thnmb
rings. For it is a singular fact that for
hundreds of years after the Christian
era the custom still prevailed of wearing
the' wedding ring and the masculine
token df wealth and power on the thumb.
KOYPTUN UINC1S.
The ring is so frequently alluded to in
the Old Testament as to make it plain
that the greatest-importance attached to
it, even in tho pastoral age. In Geu.
xU, 42, it is stated that "Pharaoh took
off his ring from his hand and put it
on Joseph's hand,” as a signal murk of
favor. In Estb. iii, 10, mention is made
of King Ahasnerns taking his ring from
his hand and giving it to Hnman, and
the context thows that certain written
documents were “sealed witli tho king's
ring.”
Tho old tailo rings wero made of all
sorts of material. Pliny mentions that
iron rings were commonly worn by be
trothed persons. It seems tolerably cer
tain that rings of gold and silver were
wom only by kings, princes and nobles,
while les3 expensive circlets of brass,
ivory, iron and porcelain or glass were
wom by tho average citizen.
The oldest gold Egyptian finger Ting
actually preserved belonged to Ainu-
nbph HI, who reigned over Egypt four
teen centuries before Christ was born.
Bings of the date of Osirtaaen and Thoth-
xnes in, who were contemporaries of
Joseph and Moses, have Seen fonnd, bat
they are of common material and doubt
ful authenticity. The scarabacos, a beetle
which formed the Egyptian token of im
mortality (from being a sexual) is a com
. mon emblem in Egyptian finger rings,
and one of Poe's most extravagant “tales
of mystery, imagination nnd humor” has
a well established foundation, so far os
the senrabaens ring is concerned. It
seems to bb tolerably certain that Egyp
tian women wore as many rings as they
could crowd on thoir fingers.
\ . AI.TICrHT.OF KSC&
The Egyptians and Romans undoubt;
edly preferred tho left hand for ring pur
poses, while Ocsar, Livy and^Tacitns all
- seem to insist that the Ganls and Britons
wore their rings on the right hand.' In
any case, it seems to have been tacitly
agreed: that the third finger v.-as the place
of honor.
The Hebrew rings worn in those good
old days were very ornate Shd be,
Quito a number of them havo been pre
served, and they {Alt the art of the mod-
em jeweler entirely to the blush. Tho
most beautiful were the pledges of bo
th rothal or wedding gifts. The ceremo
nies in connection with these rings seem
to he foreshadowed in the redemption
process specified im Both iv, 7. The
worfanaiishipof these Hebrew bethrotbal
rings grew still more elaborate in the
Middlq Agee, when towers and minarets
-of gold were most exquisitely built np
on the hoop. The Jewish bride of this
era wore the wedding ring on the first
finger, bnt in later days shifted it for
convenience to the third!.
.The oldVyle “gemmel” or "gemraon'
ring(evidentlynssociatcdwiththoFrench
Jnmeon jnmello, tmrommon, meaning
“twin”) is not at all on object in col
lections of antique rings.
The meaning of the indivisible links is
self evident. Usually at the marriage of
the parties the links wero severed, each
party wearing one of tho rings. George
IV gsre a gcnuxel ring to Mrs. Fitz-
berbert The toadstone ring was another
- quaint mediieval conception. It was an
outcome of superstition and died when
superstition died. The idea of the toad-
stone ring was to prefect mothers and
■mall children from the evil influences of
the fairies. The smallest wedding ring
over fashioned was that nsed at the mar
riage of Mary, the "infant daughter of
Henry VHI of EngiAd, to the Dauphin
of France, son of Francis L The marriage
was performed by Cardinals Wolsey and
Gampeggio, tho bridegroom being 8
months old and the bride 1 year and 10
months old.—Boston GHobe.
The Why of It.
When some one bragged that only one
' public execution bad taken place in
Turkey in five years, an Englishman in
vestigated and discovered that no culprit
who could raise $100 to bribe officials had
suffered death daring the last twenty
rears. There isalwayaagood rpasonfor
anything that happens in Turkey.—De
troit Frso Ppmb.
Metallic llallrnatl Tin.
•Metallic railway ties are by no means
a new invention, although the railway
companies of the United. States have
been singularly backward in adopting
.them. They were laid upon European
roads as early as 1880. and since that
time the npmbcr has increased, so that
in 1890 no less than 10,222 miles of track
were laid with them. In addition to
this there were, in the same year, f,29l
miles In Africa, 9,814 in Asia, chiefly iu
India, and 3,788 in Mexico, Central nnd
Sonth America; but in, tho - United
States, a nation usually in the lead of nil
Improvements, tjicro were only two
miles, these having been pnt down us
experiment. Quite aside from the ques
tion of cost it would seem that that of
safety alone is of sufficient importance
to justify the substitution of a substan
tial metallic tie tot the short lived
wooden one, with its unreliable fasten
ing.
Three-fourths of a mile of track were
laid with these ties - on the Chicago,
Western and Indiana railroad in Chicago
in October, 1889, and tho time elapsed
has been sufficient to give results of some
reliability. The ties were laid at a~point
where tho ballast was light gravel, and
tho traffic eighty regular trains in one
direction each day, the heaviest engine
weighing 90,000 pounds, with 15,000
pounds on each pair of drivers. Daring
the time that tho ties have been down
over 37,500 trains have passed over them,
and the muuager stutes that the cost of
this maintenance has been so small as to
be hardly worth taking into consider
ation.—New York Telegram.
She Wui Too Eagrr.
Awell known vocal teacher of. Boston,
whoso reputation brings him pupils from
all over tho country, relates that there
once came to him a lady who onnonficed
herself ns a music teacher from another
city, and declared her intention of tak
ing ti course of lessons. She asked bis
terms, and pronounced them satisfac
tory, nnd then went on to bilk about the
time of lessons.
. "You see,” she explained, "I have only
ti limited time in Boston, anti 1 must
manage so as to get tho whole twenty
lessons into that.”
“IIow long are you to lie here?” the
other asked.
"Three weeks,” she replied.
"Twenty lessons in three weeks!" he
exclaimed aghast "How could that bo
done?”
“Oh," she responded easily, “1 could
take two lessons some days.”
“Yes,” the teacher answered, "or yon
might take the whole twenty lessons one
after the other all at once. That would
only take about ten hours.”
The face of the lady brightened,
“ Would you really be willing to give
them to me that way?!' she asked. "Then
1 could get home inside of 1 ten days, and
get. my advertisement as your pupil
printed before the end of vacation.” And
the amusing part of the story is that the
woman could not be made to seo the ab
surdity of her suggestion.—Boston Cour
ier.
Fiuldy's.Idea of a Microbe.
Two sons of the Emerald Isle eat in the
depot the other day, running from one
current topic of discussion to another.
They finally reached the subject of the
great prevalence of sickness. “Are'n't
yez afraid of typhide fever?" raid Denis.
“Yis, I am,” replied Pat.
“Fat?”
“Yes, Dinny.” »
“What aro thnse microbys uud germs
the docthers are talking about?" '
Waal, I’ll toll yez my idee, Dinny.
Them germs and microbys are pacatiar
things. Flannigan was tollin', me about
them. He aez they reaidd in tho wather.
He was fishing Monday, and he polled
np his line, begob, and found a microbe
on it Ho ccz it Inked like a bullhead,
bnt it had a paculiar face. He sez he
threw it hack ofther he got over being
■cart Me own opinion ia, Dinny, that
microbes are a paculiar kind of fish.”
■Begob, I guess ye’re r-’
There’s a good dale. .
vailin’." •
"Yes," repliei
dale, Dinny. Ti
complainin',"—A1
IUpUl«. Sevent;
What the mamma
creation today the r.
mesozoic epoch. The)
climbed trees and were
jumpers. Some of ti
While some were herb
upon plants, others wer.
preserving existence bydi *
vegetable eating cousins, .
ion reptiles were enormous .
as much as seventy feet in lei
afforded food for the carnh
tiles, which were smaller than
ivorous kind', just as lions ai
nowadays are smaller than oxen.
Though bigger, the vegetarian
ores usually hud.no armor nor w>
to defend themselves with. Their
powerful defence was a kick, which
livered with a hind leg fifteen fa
length, was assuredly not by any me.
to he despised.—Professor Cope in Wat
ington Star.
DOCTOR ACKER’S
'ENGLISH
BLOOD ELIXIR
New York is ahead of all the other
cities if individual riches running np
into seven or more figures are meant. It
r York has over XfidO
DmIcmUmm Often fhe Trouble.
The variety of shoes which claim to
follow the natural shape of the foot is
almost as large as those that <lq not
Some of these shoes are so absurdly
brood at the toes that they give on im
jrcsaiou that they were designed for a
looted beast; others are ventilated in
the sole. Bat, in spite of' all these orig
inal and expensive patented devices, the
fact remains that aa many people escape
all afflictions of .the feet who wear ordin
arily well shaped, hand sewn shoea-os
those who adopt ecceatria shoes. It is
evident that there is some other trouble
besides the shape of the shoe that is
work.—New York Tribune.
Father—My dear girl, the lrst gowto
yon got was only eighty dollars, bnt this
one is ninety dollars. Is this worth ten
dollar* mbre than the other?
Daughter —Certainly, father. Just
think how much Inter it is—Cloak Re
view,
r ‘T
Git., on Wednes uy, July 1st. 1K91 the loll«i
Ing over and unclaimed f M < igbt, forwhlth
trail*porta tlou chaiges are due:
lcnie<ir> goods anil leasee othlng marked
Cook, McRae A Co., .Mamo, (in. C-arges.
2 hair*b.*rr< In vinegar,* market! Ncwbl 1
Bros, a Co.. Seville, Ga. Charge* fS.20.
1 tub premie marked .T W Well, Seville, Ga
Charge 75*.
I part sack corn marked K. & Co., Seville,
a.
1 sewlt g machine mark'd T M Culpepper,
Preston,um. Charge s '1.43. •
2 bundle- cotton lie-, no mark; 1 cotton
planner bos, no mark; l putt sack flu
mar*
Ga.'
1 package tatli marked A. Peiklne, Ro.
chefl* Ga.
1 bundle- bidding marked Lula Jor.cs, J o
chelle, Ga.
1 sack pea* marked J. M. Vaughan, f o
cnelle, Ga C'-arges 25#•
1 box clothing marked Geo. McAllister
Rochehe, Ga charges
1 box marked F. w.
Astray.
1 barrel crockery marked Mc^Iath *ros„
Plains Ga.
8 pcs. ‘241o. drain pipe msrkcR Col. Holton
Abbeville. Ga. t lm’gtsfON*.
1 barret oil, marked Bowt-u Bros , Ab
beville, Grt. * Charge* 12.
7 bun* It s cotton He- marked J. 1). Wynn,
Abbeville Ga Charge* ?1 21.
‘ box H H good*. 2 Bends. 1 package "
s, marked JoeMcholson, Abbeville. G
Cbt.rgefl.57.
1 box groceries marked E I.alsby, Abbe*
vllle.Ga. Charges25*.
1 wagon axle marked J. C. Carter, Rich
land, Ga. Charges 25*.
2 keg* cider marked M. D. Rich?ird*on,
Hichlund. Ga < barge* |2.21.
•1 dozen plow fl d*-rs, l package callings
marked Z. f. llavcick/ ltlc!.lanil, Ga.
Charge - 75#.
2cr'ts Iron gales (2 beams short) marked
C. Iron Works Mfy. W. ,V. Shipp, Cordele,
Ga. C barges fl.OI.
M barrel syrup marked R. E. Hull,Cordeie,
Ga. 6harg' * oOf.
14 barrel R. oil marked Allen Kooks, Cor-
8 oases canned meat.marked A J Callahan,
Cordeie, Ga. 4 barges 11#.
1 bd e. L. belting marked Williams A H ,
Cordeie, Gs/ Charges fl.lH.
2 kegs lard and 1 cun oil marked J W Taber,
Cordeie, Ga. Charge* 50*.
1 stove arid contents, 1 pot, 1 kettle ard 1
bunule pipe, marked Jack Stubbs, Cordeie,
Ga. Charges f 1.40
1 axe marked R Riley, Helena, Ga. Charges
lsaw marked BUI Jones, Helena,
Chatgcs 50#. „
6 cases med,. marked A B Riggs, Lyons,