Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-10-10
siik-Something of Its History-A Case of
PiOus Smuggling.
A writerin 4Hhe Year P,uDd saws :.

| siik-Something of Its History-A Case of
| PiOus Smuggling.
\ Awriteri i'm AHthe Year Found says
The two Greek monks who, hiding a
handful of silkworms' eggs within the
hollow of a cane, eluded the lynX-eyed
officers of the Chinese Custom House.
and robbed the Fiowery Land of its
most cherished monopoly, could hardly
have known how immense was the
boon which their evasion of the revenue
laws conferred upon the Roman En-
pire of the East. Previous to this act
of pious smuggling, Europe, Persia,
and even India, were dependent on the
pigtailed producers of kathay for every
pound of the raw material. Pagan
Rome, like Tyre of Persepolis, had to
be content with such silk as the mon
sOons enabled Moormen and GentoOs 10
carry in their square-sailed craft from
the Yellow to the Red Sea. The small
store of the silken seed which the Greek
monks brought home proved fruitful
exceedingly, and presently CONSTANT
nople, not Canton or Nankin, became
the centre of the silk trade and the
chief seat of what speedily rose to the
dignity of a national industry. Thrace
and Hellas, the IOnian Provinces of
Asia Minor, and above all, Cyprus and
Syria, possessed a climate admirably
suited 10 the new cultivation and To the
growth of the mulberry-tree. They
had, TO, the advantage of numerous
population of gentle, patient workers,
well fitted to make the most OF this
novel source of wealth. For hundreds
of years Byzantine silk was as well
known in the marts of East and West
as that of Lyons is now. The inroadS
of the Turk. and of barbarous invaders.
Avar, Oghur, and Bulgar. less known
than the turk, gradually dried up the
well-springs of prosperity. Every year
saw lessening of the area of cultiva-
ton, diminution i'm the number of
buyers. as fertile lands were laid waste
and fair cities plundered, until at last
the headquarters of silk production
were in the Lebanon, out of reach, for
a while. of the Paynim robber. Silk.
like tobacco, had to face what might be
called the personal hatred of enemies
who were in a position 10 give practical
effect to their antipathy. The Gothic
conquerers, such a. Alaric, had taken
to it kindly enough. But the fierce
Attiia prescribed il, and the rulers of
Islam denounced il with Puritanic fer
vor of bitter contempt. The austere
Caliph Abubekr ordered such MoslemS
as were strutting in silken garb-part
of the ''loot' of captured Greek towns
to be rolled ignominiOusly in the mire,
as unworthy believers. Grim Omar'S
footstool was not TO be approached by
Emir or kaimakam, glistening in the
effeminate robes from the Syrian loom.
But fashion, as usual. got the better of
sumptuary laws, and silk was soon in
as high demand in Bagdad or Cairo "a
ever il had been in Christian Antioch
or Damascus. Singularly enough,
sericulture was not an art which COM
mended itself to the wealthy and in
dustrious Italy of the middle ages, and
that in spite of the fact that Milan,
Mantua, and Florence supplied half
Christendom with holiday clothes.
Lombard and Tuscan wcaverS looked to
the Orient for silk, as they looked to
England and Spain for wool. Mulber-
ries were planted in Italy, as they were
planted in France, by some exception
ally far-sighted prince or statesman,
but the systematic rearing of >ilkwOrms
dates from period more recent than
that which saw the great city common
wealths flourishing in their free >plen-
dor. As the steadiness of the demand
called into being fresh sources of supply,
and as France grew larger and more
powerful, the once imperial town OF
Lyons began to claim a silken pre-
cedence. From the earliest dawn of
the Renaissance the silk manufacture
had been with French kings petted
industry. Shrewd. sordid Louis NJ
tried to make Tours rival Pisa. Superb
Francis | desired that the Gallic shuttle,
As well as the Gallic spear, should con-
quer the foreign competitor. And free
trade being as undreamed of as the
steam horse aud the electric wire, the
manufactures of aliens were heavily
handicapped by protective duties, while
France learned to dress no longer in
the Spanish or the Italian, but distiuc-
lively in the Frenclrstyle.