Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-12
ABOUT NECKLACES.
NOW ORNAMENTS, But ONCE THEY
WERE BADGES OF SLAVERY.
tives, and Ornaments for Brides
and Statues of Gods.

A beautiful necklace Of any of the many
different kinds which one can see in the
jewelers. stores, when around the neck of
handsome woman, must be said to improve
her looks greatly. The advantages which
the neck, both from its position and shape
possesses as point for adornment where early
seen by the human race, and the necklace
is one of the Oldest of human ornaments.
From the first broad distinction was
drawn between the necklace which could
be removed and the collar which could
not the first being the sign of the free
and the second of the slave. Collars of
metal were twisted or riveted around the
necks of caDtives or home-born slaves. and
upon them the name of the owner or con-
querer was rudely cut. The usage sur
wives to-day in the dog collars which are
placed on household pets.
The necklace, however, could for many
years only be worn by the freeman. In
primitive states of society it was the badge
of the warrior, and was often made of some
distinctive spoil of the chase or of war
To this day one of the most valued and
coveted possessions of the Western Indians
| is the necklace Of grizzly bears claws, a
| proof that he has met and conquered the
gray terror of the mountains. Among the
! Tartars of the time of Genghis Khan the
necklace was often made of human teeth
strung together upon wire. This particular
| form of ornament is found in South Amer
lea in the graves of the Indians
The earliest known form of necklace
outside of such primitive types as shells
and bits of colored stones comes from
| Egypt. They were of two kinds, orna-
mental and what may be called, for the
| lack of better word, superstitious. The
former were composed of small stones. of
| which blue was evidently the favorite
color, set in silver or gold, and joined to-
gether in a chain. The latter the armlets,
were made of figures Of gods, from three
to seven inches long. Three or four of
these were hung in a chain of beads
| The sacred images were believed to ward
off danger Of infection, misfortune, or bad
| luck. Sometimes these amuIets had no
gods on them, but were composed of cow
| rles or bits of stone arranged in the forms
OF locked horns, fish, or crescents, emblem
attic of their supposed powers. This su-
perstitious power of the necklace is widely
spread to-day among people who are MT
high IN civilization. In South America
there are found necklaces of 4 peculiarly
! marked seed, which belongs to plant
growing only on the mountains along the
snow-line. These seeds, when first gath
cred, are blue in color, and are strung on
strings. They are highly valued, not only
for their beauty, but because of the great
difficulty in obtaining them. In the old
graves which are found now and then.
strings of these seeds are often discovered.
and they are supposed to bring the great
est possible luck, especially to children.
But one does not have to 90 among the
poems Of South Africa or the negroes CT
Africa with their gee-gee necklaces to find
evidence of superstition. Thousands of
people place necklaces of coral beads
around the neclls of their babies with the
belief that they will assist the children in
teethlng, and there are many persons who
wear necklaces all the time, thinking that
they bring luck. The Southern negroes
constantly wear their bead necklaces, look
ing upon them as genuine charms, and
they are very particular about keeping
them intact, holding that the charm is
broken if even the relative positions of
the beads should be altered when wear
makes new string necessary. The COM
mon practice among religious sects of
wearing medallion around the neck hung
to chain or string is akin to this neck
lace idea, and, in fact, is a variant of it.
Among men who have worn the neck
lace must be ranked the warriors of ancient
times. The gold torques of the Celts, the
massive gold necklaces of the Medes,
Etruscans and Egyptians, which formed
the most varied insignia of the warrior
class, have come down to us through the
pictures in the tombs themselves. Some
Of these were enormously costly. They
were bestowed rs rewards of valor and as
marks of civic distinction. The latter sur
vive to-day in the gold chains of office
worn by the Mayors of cities Of the old
world
All orders of knighthood had the neck
lace or collar as principal insignium, and
this custom Of decoration with the neck
lace dates back at least as far as the time
OF Joseph, for as a mark of authority in !
Egypt Pharaoh put gold chain about !
his neck" The women OF antiquity rarely |
wore them except as brides, when to mark |
the respect in which they were held neck !
iaces were placed upon them. The neck !
lace, however, was a prominent adorn- I
ment OF the statues of the gods
The ornament of the necklace was so |
valued that when the Saxony dynasty was /!
overthrown by the Normans all persons be- !
low certain rank were forbidden to wear |
them, under heavy penalties. In the reign |
of Henry VIII, that King celebrated both |
for his wives and his revolt against Rome
anyone who had not se200 per year income |
could not wear necklace At that time.
however, they became the common orna-
ment of women, and in the Elizahetban
dramatlsts there are many illusions to
them. In England amber has always been
one of the favorite materials for the neck
lace.
Even in the barrows of the early Brit
aims amber beads are found, and the speci-
mems Of necklaces from the reign of Charles
l. have amber set in. gold. The Puritans
abolished them, as they abolished every
thing they laid their hands on which saw
ored of ornament but the necklace was
revived again under the merry monarch
more extravagantly than before. 1t gradu-
ally came to consist of several chains hung
around the neck, each reaching further
down than the one before. To the longest
was hung the whistle of gold or silver used
as call for servants. These necklaces
were of all materials-gold, silver, amber,
beads, jewels or medallions. Some of them
cost large sums of money! Y. Press.
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Lucerne and Alfalfa the Same.