Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-04-26
POPULAR GRAZES.
:;
THEY CONE UNANNOUNCED AND
DISAPPEAR AS SUDDENLY.
r.

1t Is Impossible TO Account for the Rapid
Spread of New idea or Fad-some of
the Crazes Which Have Had Recent
Runs in This Country.
A careworn philosopher met a Tribune re-
porter and made him the receptacle of his
secret woe. That which burdened the philos-
ophers mind was his inability to trace to its
first cause the impressionable nature of the
mind, not as that quality is found in individ-
uals, but in mankind collectively Superior
strength of will or natural affinity or any
one of dozen other forces will fully explain
the influence of ono Individual over another,
but will not account for the manner in which
certain ideas, confined perhaps to few per-
sons at first, spread rapidly and finally
sway whole communities or nations. The
names given to these phenomena vary with
the character of the impression, and the i'm
preston itself may be lasting or it may dis
appear as quickly and mysteriously as it
rose A profound thinker gives some theory
to the world and it is dubbed philosophy; a
theologian discovers, or thinks he does, some
new meaning to a scriptural passage, and
pOAlllo OuG q llOn way W ettlO4i, 40
called religion; but when a general impress
sion is made by something that has no con-
nection with either philosophy, science or
religion it is contemptuously called ''craze"
by those who escape its influence, and made
a butt for the rdicule of the unbeliever.
THE BLUE GLASS CURE ALL.
In the last named class there is no more
conspicuous example than the blue glass craze
which was inflicted upon the world by Gen.
Pleasonton in a book printed in blue ink and
bound in blue boards This publication pur-
ported to demonstrate that the blue or ac-
tinic ray Of the spectrum was the source of
life and a panacea for all the ills to which
the human flesh, and mind, too, for that
matter, was heir. Tho new idea Caught
on" as it We're, and swept the country like q
Manitoba zephyr. Blue glass windows, blue
glass conservatories, blue glass spectacles,
and blue glass in a dozen other shapes ap-
peared as though they had been summoned
by witchcraft Every one who had an ache
or pain became his own physician and
bathed the affected part in copious streams
of sunshine filtered through a piece of blue
glass. Regular practitioners were left to
NOPE in their offices. The medical profess
sion appeared to be on the point of annihila-
ton The newspapers of that day contained
by this remarkable agency-cures which a
few skeptics malciously attributed more to
the absence of professional treatment than
to the efficacy of blue glass. The reign of
the cerulean school, however, was brief and
the actlnlc ray was allowed to resume it's
legitimate function of making photographs.
Another craze which seized upon the femi-
nine mind and ragged with great virulence for
a season was the ''crazy quilt" craze, which,
it must be conceded, was felicitously named.
Women are more prone to lose their heads
over q novel idea or new bonnet than men,
and hence the enthusiasm with which they
took up the erratic thing under consideration
called for no extraordinary expression of
establishment When the craze struck it
struck hard, and womanlzind surrendered I'M
conditionally Something of this kind seems
to be essentially necessary to the female con-
stitution. A natural and irrepressible force
that otherwise might lead nobody knows
where finds vent in the harmless occupation
of making sickly sentimental notices, paint
ing impossible flowers, Or sewing the odd ends
of silken finery into conglomerate mass and
calling the product thing of utility. The
crazy quilt affords an opportunity for working
up into ornamental and useful shape all the
silk, satin, plush, velvet and broadcloth
during many years. and as no woman was
ever known to despise the ornamental, no
matter how she looked upon the useful, the
crazy quilt soon became popular. 1t has,
however, gone the way of all crazes
RISE AND FALL OF THE ROLLER SKATE.
The most malignant type of this peculiar
mental disease that has appeared in recent
years was the roller skating mania, which
placed all the world On wheels and set the in
habitants thereof to chasing one another
around in endless circles, with no other ap-
parent object than an imbecile ambition to
see who could keep up the monotonous round
the longest. Every village, town and city in
the land had its roller rink or rinks and
many shrewd speculator reaped golden
harvest while the craze was at its height,
Many another Spectator, not SO shrewd put
all his capital into rink just before the bot
tom dropped out of the fad and found him
self the owner of a big barn like structure Of
no earthly use whatever.
The world has no reason to mourn the fact
that roller skating is practically dead Fol-
lowing hard upon its heels came the tobog-
gan, which from rural point of view can
not be said to be great Improvement.
The spectacle of young woman seated on
ashingle and shooting down an icy incline
with her feet clutching the sides of a young
man in front of her is not an edifying one for
coldblooded observers, however pleasant the
situation may be for the young woman and
the young man. In the mad rush for the
bottom of the slide and as the velocity
of the toboggan increases, doubtless the
weaker vessel finds it necessary to cling
tighter and tighter to her bold cavalier, and
doubtless the bold cavalier fully appreciates
that feature of the performance. Added to
the above attractions is the spice of danger
which gives to the sport piquancy that is
often a little more pronounced than desirable,
as recent events have shown, but the probable
tiles of fractured limbs, dislocated joints and
broken nec1s will exercise no restraining in
fuence so long as the slide is the fashion.
Chicago Tribune.