The Portland daily press., 1881-05-19
HandkarchiAf [ literature.

lis true there's magic in the web of it.-Othe{to.
Such an innocent looking little square of
camoric-so unpretending and useful, yet what
world of harm it has done first and last in
the hands of designing people Many fair
name has been!ruined, many: happy home
broken up, through that which should have
stood fora signal of danger-the wave of
handkerchief, diverted from its original use
and employed by idle fingers in the service of
folly. There is story told Of gallant Union
soldi+r who fell hopelessly in love with the
beautiful daughter of confederate general,
and carried on by handkerchief signals sys-
tea of correspondence that BETRAYED his reg
iment into the hands of the enemy; as a re-
ward Tor his unfaithfulness to duty, he was
admitted 10 a secret tryst with his love from
which he never returned A northern poet
has told the sequel in verse:
- iIAnd from the easement futters
49, A square of cambria white,
EsSS 1t is her handkerchief that gives
E--tE Loves signal call tonight:
But not for love, brave soldier
ssss % She lures you to her side;
nEs5s ..That flag of truce, upon the morn,
,ssz ~. Your pale dead face will hide.
Owen Merideth, in his tragic verse of the
Count Rinaldo Rinaldi, thus sanctions the use
of the romantic kercbief:
He drew from MS BOSOM q kercnleI-
'would,'' he sighed, that her face was less
fair!
That her face was less hopelessly fair
And. folding his kerchief he covered
The eyes of Mnemosyne there.
In London handkerchief stealing is regu-
lar profession, and Dickens gives in "Oliver
Twist description of the manner in which
old Fagin taught his boys to snatch the
"Hipes" from the pocket. The outside pock-
cts which the ladies wore a few years ago
greatly facilitated this business, and it did
not require an expert in the work to snatch
the object SO careessly exposed.
Wordsworth's little maid in ''We are Sew
en-" sings:
My stockings then often knit,
My kerchief then hem.
nomming the kerchief (the earliest work of
SIN al feminine fingers) is almost lost art
nov. The nuns of foreign countries spend
many hours every day in embroidering deli
cate muslin with exquisite needle work; these
treasures are then sold ''pour le bon Dieu."
And in the wealthy converts of Moorish Spain
handkerchiefs of lace, fine as the spiders web
and costly as the raiment of kings, are
wrought in silence and seclusion.
frequently, after some gay ball has taken
place, one sees in the daily papers such no.
tice as this:
'LOSt-a point lace handkerchief. Large re-
ward if returned to"
This may have been a treasure, handed
down from generation to generation: yellow
and priceless with age; sacred from associa-
tons, and worth anywhere from $50 to $500 in
commercial value. The possessors of such
handkerchief intuitively heeds the advice of
Othello to Desdemona, when he is reciting-
manlike-the virtues of his mothers handker-
chief:
Make it a darling, like your precious eye.
The cobwebby treasure was as likely to get
its owner into difficulty then as it is now, and
cost Desdemona her life.
Sure there is some wonder in this handkerchief
am most unhappy in the loss of it,
Jealous Othelo seemed to suspect even in
those remote days, handkerchief filtration
between his wife and Cassie
Alexander LII. dipped his handkerchief in
the blood of the murdered car, saying he
would keep it "to forever remind me of the
oath have sworn in the innermost of my
heart in this trying and terrible hour
Tragic scenes happen nowadays which begin
with the dropping of handkerchief. In an
Gent times, when knight Grant riding abroad
discovered a handkerchief floating from the
tower of a castle, he knew some fair damsel
was in distress, and he CALAMITY rode to the
rescue, and by prowess or strategy released
her, and as romantic sequel carried her off
az his bride. Now the knight is usually
the fair damsel wears poke bonnet and
walks along serenely, with self-satisfed
smile on her peachy lips.
"But the heart feels most when tho lips
speak not" and both are adopts in language
originated by school girls, but spoken" uni
versally-the language of the handkerchief
of which the following is an initial chapter:
RULES.
Drawing it across the lips 1 wish to know you.
Across the check, love you.
Across the forehead, are watched.
Opposite corners in both hands, wait for me.
Over the shoulder, follow me.
Winding it around the first finger, engaged.
Around the third finger, married
Dropping it, We will be friends.
Twirling it in both hands, Indifference.
Letting it rest on the right cheek, yes.
On the left cheek, no.
Putting it in the pocket, goodbye.
After all the best and legitimate use of the
handkerchief and the safest is that which
Hood embodies in his famous lode to My
Little Son.
Thou balmy opening rose
Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!