The Brookhaven leader., 1883-06-28
GLOVES.

gudntata non piglid sOrice; "Cats with
gloves on catch no MICE" meaning that
success rarely attends the efforts of one
who is not prepared for his work. How
everill-adapted to the use of cats or any
other animal gloves may be, they are of
great service to mankind, and have been
used for many centuries. Indeed, as is
the case with various articles of utility or
ornament, the antiquity of gloves is in
determinate. The word is derived from
the Anglo-Saxon word glof covering
for the hand; but gloves were worn long
before the settlement of the Teuton in
England.
Anciently, as pledge of good faith
in making a contract, glove was
given by one of the contracting parties
to the other. When Boaz purchased a
field from Ruth, according to Scripture,
he drew off his shoe" and passed it to
her But the Chaldean version of
the same transaction reads: 1.-THE
clothing of his right hand" and it
is certainly a more reasonable interpre-
tation than the one commonly adopted.
Xenophon mentions gloves as forming an
important part of the Oriental dress, and
states, in language that indicates his sur
prise, the circumstance that Cyrus once
appeared in publicwith uncovered hands.
The Egyptian Atheneus,-h died 1874
years b. C.-gives an account of noted
glutton who always wore gloves to the
table, "that he might handle the meat
while hot, " and so be able to eat more
than his companions.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used
gloves to protect their hands while en-
gagged in manual labor; never when in
full dress" During the Middle Ages
gloves were worn by the rich and noble
as ornaments; by officers-civil and
ecclesiastical-as badges of honor; by
the common people not at all. In many
instances they were adorned with pre-
cious stones; but Louis l. forbade monks
to wear any save of plain sheep-skin.
For season they were considered ex-
clusively part of the Bishops dress,
and were not permitted to the lower
orders of the clergy. Those in author
ity conferred honor and dignity upon
person by the gift to him of gloves, and
their removal was an evidence of his
degradation. When the Earl of Car
Isle had been impeached and sentenced
to death for conspiring against ths life
of the King, Edward H., "his spurs
were cut off with hatchet and his
gloves taken from him."
As early as the middle of the thir-
teenth century it was customary for one
knight to challenge another to single
combat by throwing down his glove at
the feet of him challenged. In case the
latter was willing to contend with his
would-be antagonist he picked up the
glove and cast down his own.
A very impressive part of the corona
ton ceremony, where the early French
Kings were concerned, was the '.Bless-
ing of the Glove" Briefly, it was as
follows: The director of the spiritual
affairs of the realm, holding aloft the
monarch's gloves, prayed that Heavens
richest boons might be enjoyed by him
whose hands they were to encase, that
he might be enabled, through Divine
assistance, to deal Justly by all his peo-
Pile. When, in 1899, Richard III. had
been deposed, and the Duke of Lancas-
caster, under the title of Henry w.. had
seized the throne, a knight in full armor
entered the hall where the mobiles were
dining and hurled his glove. upon the
table, thus challenging to mortal fray any
one who should dare assert that the
usurper was not a lawful sovereign.
Nothing afforded Catherine of Aragon
greater happiness than to have devised
some method which compelled her sue
cessor in the favor of Henry VIII, Anne
Boleyn, to play cards without the gloves
which she almost constantly wore to con-
ceal a defect in the shape of one of her
finger-nails, the sight whereof greatly
disturbed the King. Both Queen Mary
and Queen Elizabeth paid especial at
teniion to the matter of their gloves;
and the latter was passiODately
fond of the perfumed gloves, en-
broidered with coiored silk, that
in her day were imported into
England from Italy. In the old En-
glish records the expression - glove
silver" is frequently found. BY some
it is supposed to signify the money
given to servants wherewith to pur-
chase gloves, while others attach to it
meaning not unlike that of modern
.'pin money the sums allowed
ladies for providing themselves with
knick-knacks.
Many gloves of no inconsiderable
historic interest have been preserved to
this day. In the Cathedral of Canter-
bury may be seen the gauntlets-from
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