The Penn's Grove record., 1886-05-29
n n BANGLES.
The Extraordinary Decorations
Which Dandies + Begin
ming to Display.

Two men boarded a Broadway car
n night at Twenty-first street. Their
faces have been familiar in the windows
of the Union club for many years. One
of them is tall, rather corpulent, and
red-faced, and the other is very similar,
except that he isn't tall. They sat down
stifly, and looked with owl-like severity
at the signs on the roof of the ear until
they arrived at Delmonico's where they
alighted. The taller of the two wore
three rings on the third finger of his
left hand, one on the little finger and
two additional rings on his right hand.
As he displayed them all by resting his
hands on his knees, the other passengers
had a good opportunity for examining
them. OF the three rings on his left
hand, the upper one was of plain silver,
but square-edged. The second one
was gold. A valuable diamond was set
in it, thanked by a huge ruby on either
side. The third ring was a wide band
of gold with a sapphire imbedded in it.
There was a seal ring on the little finger
of that hand. OF the two rings on his
right hand, one was a heavily chased
serpent with a diamond in the head, and
the other was a very thin and delicate
plain gold ring. The fat hands of the
other mar were quite as profusely dec
Grated, and he wore a plain silver BAN
| gle on his left wrist. The bangle was
riveted on. The spectacle of these two
~gorgeously bedecked and bejeweled club
men drew attention to the fact that the
wearing of many finger rings has sud-
denly become very popularin New York,
A ieweler who was subsequently spoken
to about the matter said:
"'Ten men buy rings now where one
bought them a year ago, and they are
nearly all of the gloye-ring pattern
that is, the stone is not set up from the
ring, as is the case with solitaire dla.
mond rings which ladies wear, but it is
set in gold on a level with the surface of
the ring, so he can draw his gloves on
without removing his ring. The fash
| ion came as all such fashions do, from
across the water. The French dandies
are in the habit of wearing all sorts of
rings, the majority of them being SOU
venirs from some Of their romantic es-
capades. The fashion spread to
England, where it fourished two OF
three years ago. 1t is no longer consid-
cred proper on the other side for men to
wear a number of rings unless they are
utterly valueless. l have seen men who
were undoubtedly entitled to a leading
position on the other side who wore five
or six rings, the total value of which
would not have exceeded SIS. One
wonld, perhaps, be a small shell ring
bought for a shilling at some seaside re-
sort, kept to commemorate a moonlight
stroll, or perhaps something like that;
another would be a plain and narrow
band of gold twisted from a bangle in q
ballroom; a third, a little circlet from a
child, niece, or sister, and so on through
out. That sort Of thing never looked
vulgar on the other side, but over here
it is likely to arrive at great proportions,
| and the richer the man the more rings
he wears"
"What about the masculine bangle?''
81 believe the duke of Beaufort start
ed the fashion years ago, and it has been
continued by a number of American
actors, dudes and fools. 1t is of all af-
fectations the most effeminate. | am
glad to say we have only had three men
who desire that sort of ornamentatiOn.
The bangle is nearly always of silver
and without an establishment. Two
men who recently departed to different
and remote quarters of the world came
in not long ago and had bracelets rivet-
ed on their left wrists. They don't ex-
pect to meet again for years, so they
INDUCED in this little bit of romance.
This was the solideSt reason | ever
heard of for the masculine bangle, and
that wasn't very solid, either, when
you come to look it squarely in the
| aya -