Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-11-04
The PockethandkerchieE.


We may forget our purse, our pen-
knife and many other things, says the
London Halter, without experiencing
any great inconvenience, and even with
out lts being known at times, but TO lose
or mislay the handkerchief may be fol-
lowed by very grave consequences, AZ
we all know. Moreover, we make use
OF this article In many other different
ways. All who make use OF spectacles
DO not remove them from their nose I'm
order to put them very carefully in the
case without using the h.ndkercbief.
and they use 1t again before putting
them on, wiping the glasses with great
care. The majority of people pay by far
too little attention TO an object 80 in
dispensable. Many put it into the same
pocket with their keys, their purse, their
snuff box, without troubling themselves
concerning the many strange substances
with which its tissue will not fail to
come in contact in 30 miscellaneous q
company, and which might sully the
purity which the handkerchief ought
TO possess. Does one 90 to pay a visitt
Before presenting themselves to the per-
son they wished to thank or solicit.
| some have been known TO dust their
boots with the handkerchief. Does the
careful wife see some grains of dust left
on her ornamentsP She makes them
disappear with her handkerchief. Bows
in the schoolroom clean their states
with them; in the playground the hand
kerchief is the necessary attendant of a
multitude of games. With this they
wipe off the dirt; they strike off the
dust. 1t is used 10 stop the blood that
flows from wounds-always very nu-
merous in the age of leapfrog and pris-
oners' base; the age also of communism
in handkerchiefs. With wounds come
tears, and the handkerchief. full
OF dust, spotted with dirt, with
the blood OF bodies known or un-
known, serves again for wiping the
eyes, the nose, or the cheeks
furrowed with tears. We do not wish,
and we cannot tell here all the strange
uses that people make of the pocket
handkerchief. And then what signals
have heen conveyed by i'll How many
sad Iarewells, how many cheerful con-
gratulations! The very method of wav
ing 1t has language, as the motions of
the fan also have. But no one has
hitherto discoursed on the language of
the pocket handkerchief. And how
useful it often is as help TO the pocket
or handbag! How many mushrooms,
myrtle-berries, strawberries and rasp-
berries have been gathered into the
! handkerchief in young days, and more
valuable things in later lifel Then there
may be evil results traced 10 it-a num-
Der OF ailments OF which one cannot
guess the origin; diseases of the nose
and eyes. Fortunate it is for him that
incur nothing worse; diphtheris, for
example. which the handkerchief may
| heedlessly transmit. Let us not use the
handkerchief except for it's proper pur-
pose; let us devote II to 8 special placas
let us change 1t as often as possible, and
inspire our children with a great dis
gust for another's handkerchief on ac-
count of the disagreeable, nay, danger
Gus consequences that may ensue. Much
more might be said about the pocket
handkerchief, but enough has been
limited at TO set n readers a-thinking
upon its Importance, its uses and its
abuses.