The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-10-17
THE BR Z SIS PIN.
It Has Many Uses and Il Has Figured
il Great Events.


The often-put question, "Where do all the
pins goF' is no less interesting than the
other, ''Whence come all the pinsp One
has to rake very deep into the dead ashesn
to discover a time when women-more
strictly speaking mankind generally-did
not recognize the essential qualities Of the
humble little pin. True, there are records
OF days when pins were made of brass,
bronze, wood, bone and ivory. Necessarily
these were cumbersome implements. wholly
| unlike the slender little spikes in use today,
while they were both sea &c and costly.
Bronze pins, with handles of ivory, have
been found in ancient British barrows,
! among the treasures buried centuries ago,
sufficiently well preserved to attest the use
that had been made of them, which was,
beyond doubt, that OF fastening the rude
clothing of those times.
The date of the first manufacture Of pins
IN England is shrouded in uncertainty, but
1t is automatically recorded that as early as
1854 when money was tight" extensive
cIoth-workers compelled their laborers to
accept in payment for their work ''pins,
glrdles, and other Improbable wares instead
| Of money! The march of improvement
begun and kept on steadily until toward the
middle OF the sixteenth century pins began
TO win appreciation 50 high that sta utes
! were enacted protecting their manufacture,
| and rigid laws were passed prohibiting the
| Importation of numerous minor articles, iu-
GLIDING pins, gloves, knives, tailors' shears
| scissors and irons. up to this period fe-
male dress was fastened with ribbons, laces,
clasps. hooks and eyes, and skewers of
brass. silver and gold; the latter were, in
| tact pins without heads"
During the reign of Henry Will, due
| probably to the influence of that kings
numerous wives, pins were IN great demand,
| and an act was passed cautioning manu-
facturers to ''avoid the slight and false
| making of pins; only such are to
be sold as are double-headed and have the
heads fast Ildered to the shank of the pin,
| we'll smethed, the shank well shaven, the
point we'll and round filed, canted and
| sharped.n 1t is hattering to our
patriotism to learn that the first
solid-head pin, although made in England
and its manufacture delayed until 1854, was
he invention of an American, Lemuel w.
Wright by name; and it was another inge-
4ious American DR.. John T. Howe of Con-
Iecticut, who, some eight years later, to-
.epted the first successful machine for
completing solid-headed pins by single
process. Marvellous, indeed, does this seem
when we pause to consider that prior to the
| invention of this machine it req lired from
| Twelve to fourteen men to complete pin
there are as many different processes in
Is manufacture, each requiring to be per-
,ormed separately and by a different hand.
\ single machine now turns out constant
tream of pins, averaging 200 a minute, all
'eady to be transferred into revolving bar
cels, where they are turned until secured
| sufficiently to be plunged into the acid bath
rom which they emerge, bearing out the
Did saying, clean as new pin. One ma
| chine performs the several duties of holding
| and crimping the paper sheets and sticking
| the pins into them, in even rows, with re-
narkable dexterity.
| When pins were scarce and dear they
/ ormed very acceptable gifts to the fair sex,
| I'D, as now aud then money was besto wed
the value of pms in lieu thereof, not a
ew phrase hunters believe that the term
lin money originated from that practice.
| Vas it not Addison who took exception to
| what he called ''the doctrine of pin money, q"
proposing that 1t % changed TO needle
money!" as more expressive of thrift and
| sconomys
Nor has the pin teen neglected in romance.
" hich of US has not felt a sympathy for
me imprisoned man who saved himself
rom madness by each day casting from him
| hree or four pins and breaking the despair
ng monotony by seeking for them in the
ELLIS darkness? When at the expiration of
TX years freedom papers were brought to
i'm the messenger found him on the floor
f his cell in earnest search for one pin that
| lad been two days missing. The sequel
| -uns that the prisoners wife testified her
| gratitude by having the four bent and
| listed pins set in a brooch, which she wore
and valued more than jewels.
Superstition, also, has special claims upon
| he pin; it should, we are told, "be lent, not
| gwen" There is by no means small class
t sensiti ve-minded folks, who regard the
Exchange of pin a sure and sharp prick to
| friendship; and there is another goodly
lumber that put themselves to all manner
If inconvenience to stoop and pick up every
pin that lies In their pathway.
Another curious fact In the early history
x pins is that when they were first sold in
"open shop" there was such a great demand
Tor them that a code was passed permitting
7her sale only on two days In the year
Jan. ! and q Those days the court
aides and the city danes fiocked to the
.epots to purchase them in such numbers
5hat they were accounted festivals.
An odd use that the pin was put to long
ago was that of checking the Incorporate
habits of the English. st. Dunstan con-
,eived the idea of dividing the tankards out
# which the liquor was drunk into eight
| equal parts, each part marked with a silver
pin. The cups were generous affairs, hold
ng two quarts, consequently the quantity
rom pin TO pin was half pint, and the
| equation was that the drinker "stdp at a
pin" RoiSterers, however. prevented TIE
purpose of good st. Dunstan and established
the rule of good fello wship,n by which the
lrinker was to stop only at a pin; if he
frank beyond he had to go on to the next
mark AS il was difficule to stop exactly at
The pin, the vain efforts always excited
mach mirth, and the trial usually ended
with the draining of the tankard.
In Longfellow's Golden Legend" we find
the lines:
Come old fellow, drink down to your peg,
, But do not drink any further, beg.
Also from this custom grew the phrase,
I'm merry pin" meaning the same as in
merry mood.
The frequently quoted. 81 do not pin my
faith upon your sleeve" is traced in senti
ment to feudal times. when the partisaus of
4 leader used TO wear his badge pinned
upon the sleeve. Sometimes these badges
were changed for specific reasons, and per-
sons learned to doubt, hence the phrase
You wear the badge, but do not intend
20 pin my faith on your sleeve"