Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-17
ANTIQUITY OF UMBRELLAS.
USED FOLLY a.OOO YEARS AGO DY THE
 CHINESE

CHINESE.
 Iss Iaventor's Personality shroud cd in
 Mystery-ThrouRhout tho East the
 Umbrella Was the sign Of sover-
 eignty-Women ahe Eirst to Appre-
 ciate Their U.efulneas.
 As in so many other instances, we arc indebted to the Lands Of the Rising Sun for that useful invention which protects us from the burning heat rays and from the chilling showers of rain and snow.
 The great man into whose fertile brain the brilliant conception of such a ma chine first penetrated is shrowded in mystery Like other inventors he prob ably had in view his own immediate point and convenience, and was far from appre- ciating the benefit he conferred upon his species, or from forseeing the extent to which his discovery would be used by posterity. History knows not the uni- versal benefactor.
 The Siamese monks are accustomed to improvise sunshine out of folded palm leaf. Such leaves we learn from Pliny to have been used in the manu- facture of umbrellas in classic times, and Capt. Cook found them so employed when he visited the islands of the South Pacific.
 But in whatever manner 1t had it's in- period vastly remote.
 Eleven centuries before the christian era, if their writings may be credited, the umbrella was used by the Chinese, while its employment in the great Indian peninsula dates from 8 period of which we have no record.
 Here the dome-shaped umbrella, the h'hatra or chata, was used only by the reigning princes or by few favored no- bles to whom the privilege was accorded, the common herd having to content an "aftab-gir." The chata, indeed, was a possession not unattended with ex- pense, as its weight necessitated con- siderable dexterity in its manipulation and 8 ch'hata-burdar was required to boise the ponderous canopy over the royal heads.
 It is not too much to say that, through out the east. the umbrella was every where regarded as the emblem of domin- ion and sovereignty. This was doubtless due to it's close association with various ances. notably those connected with the worship of Bacchus, and this connection points to direct relationship with the mysteries of sun and nature worship. Hence was acquired the occult signifi- canoe in which It's high prestige lay.
 In Greece and Rome the employment of the sunshade was less restricted. The over the head of the Athenian belle, as was the umbraoulum over that of her Roman sister.
 The Latin church adopted the emblem of supremacy, and those cardinals who took their titles from basilican churches were attended by umbrella bearers. As an object of secular use the parasol be- came extinct, if we expect its possible sporadic existence in Italy; and It's gen. revived when extended commerce brought eastern and western lands into closer communion. Under these circum- stances, Venice is place in which one might expect to find it's resuscitation, and here, in the twelfth century, the doge had his umbrella of state. In Italy the use of the sunshade was gradually revived, especially. among horsemen, Florio speaking of it as ''a round fan or shadowing that they use to ride with in summer. The fashion passed into Spain. and Cervantys records that Don Quixote encountered monks who rode upon mules and bore umbrellas. Frances adopted the novel mode of protection, which was in general use at the court of Louis XIV. and in Paris the manu- facture of the parasol has rapidly perfection, whilst insular prejudices barred it's introduction into England. That 1t had been known in Anglo-Saxon times Is shown in the Harleian MS. Mo-. sos, which represents noble over whose head sunshade is held by 0 domestic but, if this were anything moro than an individual caprice, the custom became obsolete, and several centuries elapse before we again find record:o of its home use. Cartmell church, 1t Is true. owns a leathern umbrella said to be more that thre9centuries old but it was used for a shelter for the sacred elements, and we must como to later times to find instances of secular employmet.
 The adoption of the umbrella was slow, and 1t was first only found hanging in halls of the wealthy, where it was em- ployed by footmen to shelter guests in gaining or le aving their chairs or In the streets was primarily restricted to women, who, with their quicker wits, appear to have moro readily appreciated the novel boon.
 Coffee houses kept umbrellas, which were lent to customers on an emergency, if they chose to employ them, but to do so was to brave derision and a sarcas. tic writer in the Female Tatler inserted an advertisement that "the young gen. tlemen from the custom house who, m fear of rain, borrowed the umbrella from Wills's coffee house, shall the next time be welcome to the maids patten's. " Where aristocratic influence was un. felt the antiquated construction per- sisted, and specimens of vast propor- tions fingered on as survivals of an al most extinct species. A glorifled struc- ture of this nature, with a diameter oi five feet and an iron-shod handle oi seven feet, Is preserved in Bromley church. where in days before the intro. duction of the macintosh it served tc shelter the priest as he off1ciated at the grave. The cost of such an article was considerable. In 176O the church war. dens of Burnley paid @ los. for thei, umbrella, but by 1777 the price had fai- len, and the vestry of Sculcoates, Hull acquired it's specimen for twenty-three ehillings.-Gentleman's Magazine. He Foretold the Cardjnal's Birth.