Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-11-01

A BOOK ON UMBRELLAS.

A BOOK ON UMBRELLAS.
An Official Record for EIghty-six Yea1
---Odd Inventions.
Books on all sorts of queer subject
being the fashion of the day, it is nc
| out of order to have one devoted G
4 Umbrellas. The English Commission
ers of Patents have just printed vol
ume of "Abridgments of Specification
relating to Umbrellas, Parasols, an,
Walking Sticks covering a period Q
elghty-six years, from 1880 to 1866, an,
containing great amount of curiou
information CONFORMATION, too, that i
valuable as we'll as odd, for it is al
ijtagether official One Of the Londor
literary Journals reviyes a good OLE
story In connection with the book, a
follows:
Towards the close Of his 10 years O
splendid watchfulness IN London, whe1
balllffs necessarily watched the door,
of Gore House and certain dwelling
IN modest terrace, little lower dowI
the road, Alfred, Count O'Orsay, gave
utterance to memorable sentiment
In reply to prudent friend, who vain.
ly tried to dissuade him from ordering
q new carriage that he did not need
and could not pay for, the last of the
dandies declared that as long as he
lived whatever he used should be the
best of its kind. When he could nc
longer drive the best carriage, he would
carry the best umbrella in town. The
prudent friend was set aside with 6
smile and in another year The beau
had retired to his native land, and en-
tered on the last stage of his career.
True to his word, when he could not
keep a perfect carriage, he made him
self the owner of a faultless ''ging
ham, and he went to his artistic grave
at Chambourey leaning on the daintest
umbrella that could be found in Paris.
The paropluie that alternately aided
the tottering steps and shaded the wan
features of the fading Count, was the
newest specimen of a continuance whose
story is almost coextensiye with that of
human civilization.
lg Umbrella have pedigree of venera-
BILE antiquity. Their efligies may be
found on sacred sculptures, in theruins
of palaces and temples their mystic
f1ous powers are commemorated in the
adornment of antique vases, and the
traditions of superstitious faiths. in
the fifth incarnation of Vishnu, when
the god went down into hell, he bore
In his hand the same implement that
we was use as defense against the sun
and rain. In like manner, an old bas-
relief represents Dionyslus descending
to the internal regions, holding a speci-
men of the same ingenious contrivance,
and from time lmInemorial the right to
bear a single umbrella has been a dis
tlnctlon In Eastern lands. To this day,
to be the lord of many umbrellas is to
be sublime parsonage.
Though drawing preserved In the
Harlelan Manuscripts represents an
Anglo-Saxon fop of high degree taking
the air under an umbrella, made with
ribs and a sloping handle, which is held
over his head by his body-servant, the
general use of the umbrella in England
may be said to have commenced no ear
lier than
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
In James the First's time the major.
ity of women. no less than of men, ,seorn-
ed to screen themselves from the sun,
rain, and wind with the little ssvmbrell
laes." made of leather, 3" something an
swerable to the form of little can
nopy, and hooped in the inside with
divers little wooden hopes that extend
the UMBRELLA IN a pretty large compasse; =
which Thomas Coryat, in his 'SCrudi-
ties, ridiculed as the absurdest con-
trivances of, the fanciful Italians.
The amount of ingenuity expended
during the last eighty5o or ninety years
on improving the umbrella, is illustrated
by the fact that this collection of Alb
judgments ofSpecifcations contains alb
stracts of
TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-Two ENGLISH
ieai 9-2iis' 81 PATENTS, b'0'@ 5@
the earlier of which was granted in
October, 1856, and the latest in July,
1861. Some of these patents are for
walking sticks not furnished with drap
cry and many of them refer only to
Improvements, or proposals for the I'M
provement of one or more of the sub
ordinate parts of the mechanism of the
umbrella, such as ribs, tips, handles,
ferules, notches, springs. But the ma
jority of the specifications are of con-
trivancesl affecting the umbrellas gem
eral design or principal materials
Some of the schemes are very fanclful;
but the entire collection is an enter
tanning exhibition of human ingenuity
acting on a trifiing matter of conven-
lence. .=, -.sa.se-sr sz,;..~sl - -,f;,,.
Whoever wishe for an umbrella SC
fashioned that it's silk may be shut up
within tile stick, may have his desire
by buying rhabdoskidopheros. =
The warlike citizen is provided by an
other invention in 1903, with an imple-
ment that may be used at will to ward
off rain or kill a foe; for it may 8 be
shnt up in its case, to beused as walk
Iing-stick, and may be used as defen
siye weapon by having q spear attach
ed, which is prevented from running
into the stick when used by spring.
For the benefit of umbrella bearers
|. whose blood circulates sluggishly, ano
whose hands are table to suffer from
cold, another man invented an umbrel
la-handle with sockets to hold heating
substances. fiba sst25L iLit1t
Ladies who like to have the lates
and best information about the time O.
day, may have sun dials fitted in the
handles of their stn-shadcs by patent
ed process. ..-..
Three varieties of pipe stick, to be
used as walking staff or umbrella,
have been devised for the happiness O.
smokers. The pedestrian who likes te
shoot wild birds, and be armed againsi
capricious climate, may have an UNI
brelIa fixed on needle gun cane. Still
another of the latest contrivances is ;
patent S'mode of inserting glass O.
other transparent platesin the fabric 0
umbrellas sE 10 o5s 4
How is this for scene in church
The place is sacred edifce in Bath
Me- The pew is crowded. The SCI
mon is long. A respectable citizel
goes there to sleep. In close proxim
| ity to him is lady. The preacher wa
in the midst of the closing prayer
when the slumberer astonlshed th
congregation by grunting in tone c
complaint: ssCome, come, Sarah
lay along / Don't crowd so! La
I Oyarf Law OyariD sfSorab - who wa