The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-30
HISTORY OF THE SWORD.
MADE OF STONE, WOOD, BONE,
COPPER, BRASS. BRONZE, IRON.

the Dinerent Nations-BIsdes of Da-
mascus and the Lost Arr'-Inscrip-
tons Found on Old Blades.
From Kate YIELDS Washington
Perhaps no manufactured article has so
variously adapted itself to circumstances as
the sword. 1t has been made of stone.
bone, copper, brass, bronze and iron. 1t has
assumed many shapes and sizes; it has been
long and short, wide and narrow, curved
and straight, heavy aud light, pointed,
round and square. sharp on one side, on
both sides and OF neither side.
The uses to which it has been put seem to
have been almost as varied as its appear
ance, when we recall the anecdote told of
Charlemague, who said, as he used the
pommel OF his sword to put his stamp on
treaties: 81 sign them with this end. aud
with the other will take care that they are
kept
The names applied 10 the sword are more
numerous than the shapes of the weapon
itself. A collection of them as found in
some of the museums in Europe is made IN
OF a thousand and one different kinds, with
their peculiar varyings of blades, handle
pommel, spindle, and hilt. They have been
gathered from everywhere-the battle field
the buried city, the temple, the sepulchers,
the cave and even the lake and river bed !.
In these museums may be seen the curt
Greek sword; the Roman weapon OF as
many lengths as the different countries
1t has conquered; the soft, plant
Gaelio blade; the hooked scimeter of
the Turk with an inside edge, and
the curved Arab yataghan with
the crusader. with which he prayed and
slew alternately; the Malay kriss; the
notched blade OF Zanzibar; the espada Of
the Spanish matadore; the glaive of the red
clothed headsman OF the middle ages: the
eighteenth century court sword; the schi-
avona of Venice; the Turkish kandiar: the
Kabyle fiissa; the Albanian outlass, and the
claymore of Scotland. Scabbards, too, have
been OF all sizes and shapes, almost I'M
oountable.
The various inscriptions found on the
blades Of swords may be said to constitute a
literature in themselves. This CUTLERY DO
etry," as Shakespeare calls it, is not the
least interesting feature of a sword collec-
ton. Hundreds of Toledo rapiers were en-
graved with the wise counsel; "Do not
draw me without reason; do not sheathe me
without bonor." On an old Ferrara blade
is the following inscription: "My value va
ries with the hand that holds me. A battle
ak of formidable appearance bears the COM
Portable assurance: when l go up you go
down." and on an old Hungarian sword
is inscribed: He that thinks not as do
thinks falsely" Besides the notices on the
blades are engraved the makers name and
address, or the owners arms. During the
sixteenth century warriors regarded elab-
'orately ornamented hits with at much In :
terest as we look upon works of art OF the
present day. The blades of Italian swords
were also sometimes beautifully ornamented.
AS men in early times fought hand to
hand, tho Oldest specimens of the sword are
short; i'll fact, the sword is probably but an
evolution of the club, which at first, made
OF hard wood, was gradually sharpened on
one and then on both sides, so as 20 infliot a
more deadly wound. Even to-day we find
some savage races employing wooden weap-
ons. Wood gave way to stone, which in
turn was displaced by bronze, iron, and
finally steel. The sword increased IN length
as men became more civilized and showed a
disposition to fight farther away from each
other, which required more dexterity in the
use OF the weapons. Some specimens we
have OF swords of the middle ages are
almost If not quite as long as the warriors
who welded them. During the fifteenth
century the science Of fencing was invented,
when the sword in the form of a rapier
reached the highest point of development
At present the sword in any form is sell
dom employed In warfare. Neither the
saber OF the cavalryman nor the cuslass of
the sailor is used to any extent. Cavalry
charges are seldom made and there is very
little room for the old-time custom of board
ing men-of-wAr and engaging the enemy
hand-to-hand on the decks Of our new and
wondrously armed iron-clads. The sword
in naval warfare has given way to the
gigantic steel ram by which one vessel goes
crashing into another. The ram may be
the more terrific and deadly in its work, but
the hsnd-to-hand cutlass fight of the last
century is by far the more picturesque and
thrilling-to the general reader.
To put it more concisely, it may be said
that the evolution of the sword has passed
through five distinct stages. First came
the epoch of pure carnage, when men
seemed to hew and hack each other for the
mere pleasure it gave them. Next the era
of legend, when stupendous and impossible
feats of arms were said to have been &C
complished. Then followed the feudal time.
scurious mixture of bloodshed and re-
ligion. when the piety of the crusaders was
proved by their ability to slash the equally
bloodthirsty Saracens. Succeeding this
brutal period sprang the noble season of
skillful fence, as the sword, no longer a
weapon of pure attack, became a mixed
arm of offense and defense combined.
Finally, we see its fall, being to-day a mere
military accouterment, after attaining a
glory that no one dreamed of during the
days Of its first rude and barbarous USE
The most celebrated weapons in history,
uniting miraculous sharpness with wonder
full elasticity, are undoubtedly the blades of
Damascus. The sabers of Japan, although
as hard as diamond, and taking an edge
50 acute that they will go through pillow
or poker as if they were air, cannot COM
pete with the old Syrian swords because
they have no elasticity. This elasticity is
not altogether lost art as even to-day
one may see in Toledo, Spain, blades packed
in coils like watch-springs. Swords have
been made dhring the present century In
Russia that rivaled in edge and bending
qualities even the famous Damascus blades.
At the imperial factory of Zlatoust, in the
Urals, some have been turned out which
bent TILL the point touched the hllt, and
which would also cut through an iron bar.
More than this no blade has ever done or
can do.
Among the many curious notions obtain
ing among the different nations using the
sword may be noted the gender of the
weapon. In the north of Europe it was
either masculine, as in Britain, or neuter, as
in Germany; while in the south it was uni
forrnly feminine Its force and cruelty APP
pealed to the northern mind its grace and
elegance attracted the warriors of the sunny
south. IL typihed to the one strength, TO
the other dignity.
The sword of noble knight was men
toned almost as often as himself in the
songs of the troubadours of the middle ages.
In the olden time this trusty weapon was
named and personi6ed as accomplishing
countless brilliant deeds. In the proverbs
OF all nations it is spoken OF with reverence