Smyrna times., 1890-12-03

what shakespeare, Zen johnson AMI
other Famous Authors said About
Then--Thc Highest Priced Ones Sold in
New York-Sir Walter Raleigh Quoted
Dental Facts and CuriOs.
The members of the toothpick brigade
do not stand as high in the estimation Of
society people as the Old Guard of New
York or the Ancient and Honorable Ar
tillery of Boston. They, however, strut
along with all the dignity of warriors.
With a wooden toOthpick artistically
poised between their fangs they waltz
up and down in front of DelmOnico's with
the appearance of wel-dned men.
Their very air betOkens hauteur which
does not appear to sit so weightily upon
those whom they pass by, but who have
not had the questionable privilege of
tive-cent glass of beer and free lunch
thrown in, on one of the side streets, in
stead Of an honest good Old-fashioned
square meal.
A tOOthpick is mark of frespcctability.
It's use is supposed to be a certificate to
the fact that one is neither impecunious,
nor hungry. 1t is true that the great
Webster's unabridged defines the tooth
pick. or toothpicker," as, "an instru-
ment for cleaning the teeth of substances
lodging between them Any bartender
will tell you that Webster knows nothing
dbOub H. IOI bllt tlSDtuStI Ol COCK LdllS Is
an aid-de-Camp to the tOOthpick brigade,
and INDUCES only in cold facts.
TOothpicks have place in literature,
as we'll as in history. The ancient
Romans used tOOthpicks made of mastic
wood in preference to quills. Hence we
get our word mastication. The wood of
the mastic or lentisk tree common to
the south of Europe had its use i'm con-
nection with the teeth as does its as
tringent and aromatic gum until this
day, it being employed by dentists for
stopping the incisors and molars of the
human species.
The most fantastic use to which the
t"Othpick has been put was the wearing
of it in the sixteenth century and later
as trophy in the hat, or as an ornament
much as Louis the Eleventh did his
leaden medals. Sir Thomas OVerbury
thus concludes his description of "A court
gallant of the time of James the First
who doubtless considered himself a dude
of the period IF you find him not
hcere, you shall find him in Paules with
tOOthpick in his hat, a cape cloke and a
long stocking They appear to have
been out of fashion for this purpose a
few years previously, for Shakespeare in
"Alls Well that Ends Well makes this
reference: Richly suited, but insult
able; just like the brooch and toothpicl
which wear not now"
There is little doubt, however, that
Americans inherited at an early date
tOOthpicks from the mother country, al
though there is no record of either
sturdy Miles Standish or astute John
EndicOtt using them The English
adopted them from travellers who had
visited Italy and France, and as Mares
says, the using of it in public was long
deemed an effected mark of gentility."
With this new fashion, probably Just
brought into England, we can imagine
the Virgin Queen oging Sir Walter
Raleigh and gurgling out in her mascu-
line vOi-c:
Odzooks. our good Lord of Virginia,
then our faithful colonists in America did
not discover our savage subjects using
these strange picktooths, which. beshrcw
me, We like not. Marry 90 to; our royal
father picked his teeth with his good
finger nails, as did our ancestors before
us
And the LOYAL knight glancing up into
the red-haired shrews goggles with the
look of alteration that he bestowed upon
her when he threw his broldercd mantle
in the dirt for her to walk over. and
murmuring: Nay. your Highncss, they
plague Themselves not with such fam
bangles. These wild barbarlans make
use but OF their tomahawks with which
they pickle alone their enemies skulls
withal. Such Florentine fashions pleas
eth neither thy lieges in the newfounde-
lands nor our sturdy Yeomen at home"
The metropolitan Museum of Art and
the National Museum at Washington
have no specimens of medieval and early
tOOthpicks in their superb collections Of
antiquities but there are early exam
Mos in fhn Aftsn, In ID, !
in the British Museum of London.
Doubtless some ofthP English Governors
Of the American Provinces and the
PATRONS from Holland brought with
them toothpicks from Europe Perhaps
some Of the Revolutionary sires, includ.
ing George Washington, who was a gen
tleman and nice in all his ways, may have
used them, but history records il not.
The modern knickerbuCxer who belongs
to the " -Four Hundred " does not neglect
this necessary implement Of tooth tor.
ture, He may thrust it into his mouth
by the aid of both hands, according to
the latest proper capcr, looking very
much as il he had a sudden attack of
sea-slckness, or was in danger Of swal-
lowing an entire set of false teeth, or he
may use 1t in the vulgar old unfashion-
able style, without prudery, but he does
it all the same.
Whether it he gentepl or not to lab
toothpicks into ones iaw-and there are
some anti-toothpick iends who object to
them in toto, a5 disgusting and not in
good form STILL there can be no doubt
that 1t IS preferable to use them than to
suffer from the deposit of salts Of lime
and organic matter, from which result
tartar of the teeth, inflammation and
absorption OF the gums and the gradual
loosening of ones grinders, if not ar
rested in time by the scaling Instruments
OF the tooth doctors. When we consider
the value of teeth in the estimation of
mankind, one should take every precau-
ton to preserve the weapons given us by
nature for gastronOmical purposes. Even
the teeth of lower ANIMALS have had
strange values. Formerly n VOLTS tooth
was worn as a charm on little children
to drive away fear. The tooth of an
elephant is still devoutly genuflected
before by the Singalese as tho molar of
Gautama Buddha Aud 1t is recorded
that the Siamese once upon time Of
fered to the Portuguese as much as 100
OOO ducats for the restoration of the fang
OF sacred monkey. How much more
valuable then should be considered those
OF members Of the human family, and to
which should be offered for sacrifice in
the words Of Dryden, only toothsome
- dishes for thy dainty teeth."-N. Y.