Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-02-10

| putting one foot on the chalceioaY o. which
we have been speaking, VS. spring TO the
| emerald, and We are ons-third or tue way
/ to top OF the foundation, for tie fourth
row is emerald That, | wonld judge, Is
Gods favorlte among gems, because IL holds
what seems evident Is dis favorite color on
| earth, the green. since that Is the cotoT most
| widely diffused across all the earta's conois
nents-the grass, the foliage, the everyday
| dress of nature. The emerald klnSs use
1t as seal TO stamp prcnunclamentos Inc
rainbow around the throne or God Is OS
st. John compared TO It.
Conduerors have considered 1t the great
est prize to capture. What ruthlessness
when the soldiers OF Pizarro pounded it with
their hammers, En- aralds have had much
TO do with the destiny of Mexico. Five Of
them were presented by Cortez to his bride,
one Of them cut into the shape of rose, An
other into the shape of trumpet, another
into the shape Of a bell, with tongue oe
pearl, and this presentation aroused the jeais
ously Of the throne and CAUSED the conss
Quent fall OF Cortez. But the depths of the
sea were decorated with those emeralds. for
IN shlpwreck they went down Off the coast
or barbary. Napoleon wore an emerald a9
Austerlitz.
In the Kremin museum at Moscow there
are crowns and scepters and outspread MIRA
Giles OF emerald. Ireland Is called tne
Emerald Isle not because OF its verdure- but
because it was presented to Henry Ii OF
England with an emerald ring. Nero had
magnifylng glass OF emerald through which
he looked at the gladiatorial contests at
Rome. But here are 1900 miles of emerald
sweeping around the heavenly city In one
layer
But upward still and you put your foot on
a stratum of sardonyx, white and red,
seeming coInmingnng OF snow and fire, the
snow cooling the fire, the fire melting the
snow.
Another climb and you reach the sardius,
named after the city Of S ardius. Another
climb and you reach the chrysolIte. A
specimen of this. belonging to Epiphanus. in
the Fourth Century, was said to he so
ceal it was shone through, aud the emperor
of China has specimen that IS described as
having SUCH penetrating radiance that it
makes the night as bright as the day.
A higher climb and you reach the
beryl. Two thousand years ago the Greeks
used this precious stone for engraving pur-
poses. It was accounted among the royal
Treasures of Tyre The hilt of Murafs
sword was adorned with 1t. 1t glows in the
imperial crown of Great Britain. Luther
thought the beryls Of the heavenly wall was
turquoise. Kailsch thought it was chrYso-
lite. Sosephus thought it a golden colored
jewel. The wheels o. EzokiePs vision famed
with beryl and were a revolving ire.
The beryl appears ia six sided prisms. and
Is set in seals and ntagl1os, in necklaces and
coronets. 1t was the JOY OF ancient jewelry.
1t ornamented the atfiuant with eardroJ IS.
Charlemagne presented IL to his favOrIte.
Beautiful beryI Exqusitely shaped berylf
Divinely colored beryIl 1t seems like con-
gealed color. 1t looks like frozen fire.
But stop not here. Climb higher and you
come to topaz, bewilderment of beauty
and named after an island Of the Red Sea.
Climb higher and you come to chrysop-
rasus Of greenish golden hue and hard as
aint.
Climb higher and you reach the jacinth.
named after the flower hyaclnth ana Of red
dish blue.
Take one more step and you reach the
top, not of the wall, but the top OF tho
foundation of the wall, and st. John cries
out, ''The twelfth an AMETHYST! This pre-
cious stone when found in Australia or In.
dia or Europe stands in columns and pyra-
mids For color it is a violet blooming in
stone. For its play OF light for it's deep
mysteries of color, for its unseen Egyptians,
in Etruscan, in Roman art it has been hon.
cred. The Greeks thought this stone 6 pre-
ventive of drunkenness. The Hebrews
thought it source of pleasant dreams.
For all lovers of gems it is subject Of adj
miration and suggestiveness. Yes, the
word amethyst means a prevention Of
drunkenness. Long before the New Tasta-
ment made reference 20 the amethyst in the
wall of heaven the Persians thought that
cups made out OF amethyst would hinder
any kind of liquor contained therein from
becoming intoxicating. But OF all the anne"
thystine cups from which the ancients
drank not one had any sucn result of pre-
yention.
For thousands Of years the world has been
looking in vain for such a preventive ame-
thystine cup Staggering Noah could not
find it. Convivial Ahasuerus driving Vasnti
from the gates could not find it: Nabal
breaking the heart of beautiful Abigail
could not fiad it. Belshazzar, the kingly
reveler, on the night that the Chaldeans
took Babylon could not find it. Not one of
the millions of inebriates whose skulls pave
the continents and pave the depths OF the
sea could find it. There is no such cup.
Strong drink from followed amethyst inn
brutes the same as strong drink from pew
ter mug. 1t is not the style of cup we drink
out of, but that which the cup contains
which decides the helpful or damning result
of the beverage.
All around the world last night and to-
day, out OF cups costlier than amethyst, men
anu women have been drinking their own
doom and the doom of their children for this
life and the next Alb. it is the amethystine
cups that do the widest and worst slaugh.
teri The smash of the filthy goblets of the
rummeries would long ago have taken place
by law, but the amethystine chaliccs pre-
vent-the chalIces out of which legislatures,
congresses drink before and after they make
the laws. AmethYstine chalices have been
the friends of intoxication instead of its
foes. Over the fiery lips Of the amethy slime
chalices is thrust the tongue Of that which
biteth like serpent and stingeth like an
adder.
Drunkenness is a combination of apoplexy
and demehtia. The 400, 900. 600 victims of
opium come out to meet the 150, OOO 600 VIC
Tins of alcohol, and the two agents take the
contract for tumbling the human race into
perditiou. but whether they will succeed in
Al. u