Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-08-15
For the Ladies'.

that the fashion of wearing gloves is
of high antiquity. The historian
Xenophon, in his Cyrop@dis, makes
alluson to the circumstance that
CYRUS once went abroad without his
gloves; AMI there is good reason for
surprising that these articles were in
common use among the Persians
lon. prior TO TIE age IN which Cy-
rms lived. l. j. wei known that the
ancient GrechH and Romans used
coverings for the hands almost eX-
actlv similar 10 the gloves of the
present day But we suppose It Is
of much more interest tn our fair
readers to know at wha, period
thesc elegant accrssOr!, : q! the toll
ct were introduced INFO med:Tyal
and modern society. Away bach i'll
the time Of E;helvrd II. We read that
German merchants were required 10
pav duty of five pairs of gloves,
per year, as is supposed, for TIE
privilege Of selling these articles to
IT," lords and ladies of his realm.
Hm.ug The reign Of Richard and
.Iuhn. cloves were extensively WON
by the higher classes on al public
occasions. According TO the within
Of fashion, they we've sometimes
short, ouly covering tie hand to the
whist and sometimes reaching to the
elbow. O,d illustrations and re-
cords show that the gloves in those
days were elegantly jewcled on the
back and richly embroidered mt the
top. There is reason to suppose
that the cost of n pair of the finest
gloves, during the reign Of the early
Euolish sovcreigns would suffice foi
ia hionable bridal outfit, even in
these days of cXt.avagance and vau
itv. Volumes might be written of
the part taken by the glove in the
romances of war and love, espec
il ~ in the ilowery age of chivairy.
The custom of throwing down the
glove us challenge, seems to have
grown out of the necessity of grasp
ing the sword and shield with the
naked hand, in order to hold them
more firmly and securely in mortal
combat. The challenged party sig
nified his acceptance by gracefully
picking up the protlored glove and
throwing down his own Perhaps
= the prettiest bit Of romance connect
ed with the glove in ancient times
was the use made of it by o lady
in accepting the love of II sutton.
When brave knight was fortunate
enough to receive from his lady
love n daintily embroidered glove, of
the left hand, it was mutually UNI
derstood to be his privilege to make
all haste to the dwelling of his fair
inamorata and seal the engagement
by more tender endearments.
In the following lines from Mar
mion," an illusion is made to this use
of the glove in the chivalric age of
the world
" For the fair Queen of France
Sent him turquoise ring and glove,
And charged him, as her knight and
love,
For her to break a lance"
There is quaint old custom yet
extant in some parts of Scotland
that shows how the glove once fig
ured in the mysteries of jurispru-
dence. At the converting of an as
size if there were no criminal cases
to be tried, the sheriff presented the
judge with pair of white gloves.
This custom has barely reached the
present age and the ceremony is now
rarely witnessed. The uses of the
glove in our own days, being entirely
of the practical sort, we dismiss the
subject.
TIE outnorities IF Map,nb;, oro