Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-11-11
NrcKl ACES IN Al AGES.
They 0aos Were badges Of sias"ry--U'e
NJ An Peoples.


~ All Peoples.
The advantages which the neck, both
from is position and shape, possesses as
a roint for adornment we're early seen py
the human race, and the necklace Is one
Of the oldest of human ornaments. FROM
the very first broad distinction was
! dawn between the necklace which could
I bc removed and the collar which could
l moi: the first being the sign of the nee,
! The second Of the SLAVE Collars OF metal
were twisted or riveted upon the necks
of captives or house born slaves, anu
upon them the name OF the owner OF
conaueror was rudely cut. This usage
survives today in the dog collars when
are placed upon 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 aud was often made
of some distinctive spoil of the chase or
of war. To this day one Of the most
valuable and coveted possessions of the
western Indian is the necklace OF grizzly
bears claws. a proof that he has met and
conquered the gray terror of the noun
tains. Among the Tartars of the time OF
the Genghis Khan the necklace was often
made Of human teeth, strung upon wire.
This particular form of ornament Is
found in South America in the graves OF
the Indians
The earliest known form of necklace
outside of such primitive types as shells
and bits of colored stone 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 apparently the favorite
color, set in silver or gold and joined to-
| gether in chain. The latter, the anu
lets, were made of figures of gods, from
three to seven inches long. Three or
| four of these were hung in chain of
beads.
The sacred images were believed to
ward off danger of infection, misfortune
| or bad luck Sometimes these amulets
had no gods OH them, but were composed
of cowrics or bits of stone arranged iii
the forms of locked horns, fish or cres-
cents, embematic of their supposed
powers. This superstitious power of the
necklace is widely spread today among
people who are not very high in civiliza-
ton. In South America there are found
necklaces of a peculiarly marked seed
which belongs to a plant growing only on
the mountains, along the snow line.
These seeds when first gathered are blue
i'll 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 greatest
possible luck, especially to children.
But one does not have to go among the
poems of South America or the negroes
of Africa with their gee gee necklaces to
find evidence of superstition. Thousands
of people place necklaces of coral beads
around the necks of babies with the be-
lief that they will assist the children in
teething, and there are many persons
who wear necklaces all the time, think
ing that they bring luck. The southern
negroes constantly wear their bead neck
laces, looking 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 a new string neces-
sary.
Among men who have worn the neck
lace must be ranked the warriors of an
Gent times. The gold torques of the
Celts, the massive gold necklaces of the
Medes, Etruscans and Egyptians. which
formed the most valued insignia of the
warrior class, have come down to us
through the pictures in the tombs and
the actual specimens in the tombs them
selves. Some of these We're enormously
costly. They We're bestowed as rewards
of valor and as marks of civic distinc-
ton. The latter survive today in the
gold Chains of Office worn by the MAYORS
OF cities i'll the Old world.
All orders of knighthood had the neck
lace or collar as a principal insignium,
and this custom of decoration with The
necklace dates back at.least as far as the
time of Joseph, for as mark of his au-
thon,y III Egypt, Pharaoh put a gold
chain abouy his neck The women of
antiquity rarely wore them except rs
"tiuVo' "ieh W Hldrk the respect III
which they were held necklaces were
placed upon them. The necklace. how
ever, was prominent adornment of the |
statues of the gods.
The ornament of the necklace was so |
valued that when the Saxon DYNASTY was
overthrown by the Normans all persons
below certain rank We're forbidden 10
wear them under heavy penalties. In
the reign of Henry VIII, that king cele-
DRAFTED both for his wives and his revolt
against Rome. any one who had not e9OO |
per year income could not wear neck
lace.
In England amber has ALWAYS been
one OF the favorite materials for the
necklace. Even in the barrows of fine
early Brtains amber beads are found
ana the specimens of necklaces from the
reign of Charles have amber set in gold
The Puritans abolished them as thew
abolished everything they laid their hands
on which savored of ornament but the
necklace was revived again under tbe
merry monarch more extravagentlv then
before. New York Press.