The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-03-11
A Chapter on Gloves.

l4lNc duO IL "SiA O.
proverb. Very good advice it gives, and
| shall act upon it to-day. The fact, !
mean to write new chapter on gloves
having lately extended my information on
the subject
To begin at the beginning, it will prob
ably surprise many of my readers tolearn
that what are commonly known as "kid'
gloves, very often are not made from skins
of young goats.
On the contrary, the material is largely
composed of lamb's-skin A very small lot
of the finest gloves are made from the real
kid-skins, obtained from caEntries where
the milk and flesh of goats contribute a
leading portion of the general food.
The skins of lambs. which receive a
much lighter dressing than when they are
to be converted into pedal coverings, dc
duty TO large extent among the glove
makers, instead of kid.
1t may as well be mentioned here, before
entering more fully into the general subject
of gloves. that in several towns in England
it has long been the custom, when the an
nual or semi-annual fair was held, to indi-
cate its cotnmencement by hoistalg a huge
glove in prominent place.
1t is within my own personal observation
and memory that, until the measure of mu-
nicipal reform, in the year 1885, it was the
custom, while three days fair was going
on in Liverpool, to hang out, in front Of
the Town Hall, stuffed glove, some eigh-
teen.or twenty inches long.
While that was visible to the public, nc
arrest for debt could legally be made
Hence, creditor and debtor could meet dur
ing the fair, upon neutral ground, and ami
cable arrange their affairs.
In the city of Exeter, where the Lam
mas Fair was annually held by charter, II
is commenced by carrying gigantic glove,
stuffed with meal or wool through the
streets on very long pole. at the head OF
procession.
The tradesmen, artisans, gentry and no
bility, attended by music, constituted thi:
CAV eavalcade. When the mammoth glove
was brought back by this array, it was
placed on the top of the Guildhail, from
which il started; and then the fair begins
ending when the glove was taken down.
A very ancient practice, by no means
dis,lsed as yet in England Is, when there i
an assiIe, without any prisoners to be tried
thence called n maiden assize J, for ths
high-sherif to present the judge with a pan
of white kid gloves, richly embrOiaed with
gold thread.
On the same occasion the clerk Of ASSN,
and the judges clerk have money given t'
them-ealled glove silver. Not in Eng
land only. but in Ireland, Wales and Scot
land Is maiden assize thus honcred.
The use Of gloves is known to have come
down 10 the present time from remote an
tiquity. which, nevertheless, must have in
cladcd certain degree Of civilization.
The covering Of the head, whether hat
helnles or crown-derives It's import Of th'
human body, and the same may be said O
the glove.
The hand-particularly that one which
wielded sword. or spear, OF battle-axe--wa
an honored and honorable member of th'
human bOdy-eorporate.
The word amanus' Latin for the hand
indicated power, aud therefore Dagobert
/ who preceded Charlcmagne on the Frencl
throne, had his scepter tipped with an ex
tended hand, as a symbol Of sovereignty.
The ancient Roman held that the prop
erty Is an object passed upon the htera
transfer of il, or Of part Of it, into the han'
Of the purchaser. In the East, in earl
DAYS. the symbol Of transfer usually wa
the glove.
+ Thus, among Oriental people, the glow
became an emblem or ensign of dignity
and a luxury as well, though in neithe
+ character did Il commend itself tothe Greek
and Romans
Amongthe former, indeed, the glove lons
remained distinctive mark OF the barha
rians. sculptures at Thebes, visible at tb'
+ present day, representing Asiatic ambassa
dors offering gloves. probably as signs o
submission.
The use Of gloves was regarded, IN an
cirnt times, as eifeminate-mueh the sam'
a. umbrellas, when first introduced int
England. some two hundred years ago, wer
/ ridiculed as womanIsh.
Xenophoa, the Greek historian, men
tions gloves as not used in his time (tou
centuries B. c. by Greek or Roman.
Pliny the younger describes his uncle
who died A. d. 20, as travelling with a Sc
cretaFy hy his side wearing gloves to pro
teet his diligent fingers from the numbinI
cold.
About the eleventh century, toward tn
close OF the so-calIed middle ages, the GLOW
attained a character Of dignity throughou
Europe
When enfeoffing was performed by tn
synlbol of glove, the left-hand "hands
chubs. as the Gerrnans call it, was used.
The glove scarcely represented a person
al gage until the close of the fifteenth Ger
tury, but nearly three hundred years earle
ii came to be regarded, in France, as sig
of defiance
Perhaps il indicated the symbolieal stal
ing Of the prowess of the hand to whic
the glove belonged. To hang up gloy
in church was public challenge.
In the middle ages the glove was the r.
cognized privilege of digni6ed ehurchmeI
1t was embroidered and adorned at the bac
with precious stOnes.-Dr. Il. Shetto
HockeaSie.