News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-01-25

| dOny of which we have been speaking,
we spring to the emerald, and we arc
One-third of the way to the top of the
foundation, for the fourth row is emer-
aid. That, would judge, is Gods favor
tie among gems, because it holds what
seems evident is his favorite color on
earth, the green, since that is the color
Ylost widely diffused across all the earth's
continents-the grass, the foliage, the
everyday dress of nature. The emerald!
Kings used it as a seal to stamp prOnun-
ciamentos. The rainbow around the
throne of God is by ST. John compared
| to it.
! Conquerors have considered it the
greatest prize to capture. What ruth
| lessness when the soldiers of PizarTo
| pounded it with their hammers! Elmer
aids have had much to do with the des-
tiny of Mexico. Five of them were pre-
sented by Cortez to his bride, one of
them cut into the shape of rose, anOth-
Ell into the shape of trumpet, another
into the shape of bell, with tongue of
pearl, and this presentation aroused the
! jealousy of the throne and caused the
consequent downfall of Cortez. But the
depths of the sea were decorated with
! those emeralds, for in a shipwreck they
| went down off the coast of Barbary.
| Napoleon wore an emerald at Austerlitz.
| In the Kremlin museum at Moscow
| there are crowns and scepters and out
| spread miracles of emerald. Ireland is
called the Emerald Isle not because of
| its verdure, but because it was presented
to Henry II of England with an emerald
ring. Nero had magnifying 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.
sARDONYX AND sARDIUs.
But upward still and you put your
foot on a stratum of sardonyx, white and
red, a seeming commingling of snow and
fire, the Snow cooling the fire, the fire
melting the snow.
Another climb and you reach the sar-
dius, named after the city of Sardius.
| Another climb and you reach the chrysO-
| lite. A specimen of this, belonging to
Epiphanus, in the Fourth century, was
said to be so brilliant that whatever was
put over to conceal it was shone through,
and the emperor of China has specimen
that is described as having such pene-
| trating 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 en-
craving purposes. 1t was accounted
among the royal treasures of Tyre. The
hilt of Murats sword was adorned with
it. 1t glows in the imperial crowI of
Great Britain. Luther thought the berry,
of the heavenly wall was turquoise.
Kalisch thought it was chrysolite. jose
plus thought it golden cOlOred jewel.
The wheels Of Ezekiel's vision famed
with beryl and were a revolving fire.
The beryl appears in six sided prisms,
and is set in seals and intaglios, in neck
laces and cOronets. 1t was the joy OF
ancient jewelry. 1t ornamented the af-
fluent with eardrops. Charlemagne pre-
sented it to his favorites. Beautiful
beryl! Exquisitely shaped beryl! Di-
vinely colored beryl! 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 flint.
Climb higher and you reach the jacinth,
named after the flower hyacinth and Of
reddish blue.
THE FABLE OF THE AMETHYST.
Take one more step and you reach the
top, not of the wall, but the top of the
foundations of the wall, and st. John
cries out, THE twelfth an amethyst"
This precious stone when found in Aus
tralia or India OF Europe stands i'll col
umns and pyramids. For color it is
violet blooming IN stone. For its play
of light, for it's d0ep mysteries of cc:or,
for It's uses in Egyptian, in Etfuscan. in
Roman art it has been honored. The
Greeks thought this stone preventive
of drunkenness. The Hebrews thought
it q source of pleasant dreams.
For all lovers of gems it is subject
Of admiration and suggestiveness. Yes,
the word amethyst means prevention
of drunkenness. Long before the New
Testament made reference to the anne
thyst in the wall of heaven the Persians
thought that cups made out of amethyst
would hinder any kind of liquor con-
tanned therein from becoming intoxicat-
ing. But of all the amethystine cups
from which the ancients crank not one
had any such result of prevention.
For thousands of years the world has
been looking in vain for such prevent
i've amethystine cup. Staggering Noah
could not find it. Cornwall Ahasuerus
driving Vashti from the gates could not
find it. Nabal breaking the heart of
beautiful Abigail could not find it. Bel
shazzar. the lIingly reveler, ON the night
that the Chaldeans took Babylon could
not find it, Not one of the millions of
inebriates whose skulls pave the CONT
nents and pave the depths of the sea
could find it. There is no such cup.
Strong drink from followed amethyst
imbrutes the same as strong drink from
pewter 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
today, out of cups cOstlier than anne
thyst, men and women have been drink
ing their own doom and the doom of
their children for this life and the next.
All, it is the amethystine cups that do
the widest and worst Slaughter The
smash of the filthy goblets of the rum
meries would long ago have taken place
by law, but the amethystine chalices
preventive chalices out of which leg
islatures and congresses drink before and
after they make the laws. Amethys-
tine chalices have been the friends of in
toXication instead Of its foes. Over the
fiery lips of the amethystine chalices is
thrust the tongue of that which biteth
like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.
Drunkenness is q combination of apo
plexy and dementia. The 400 GOO, 600
victims of opium come out to meet the
150,000,000 victims of alcohol, and the
two agents take the contract for tum-
bling the human race into perdition, but
whether they will succeed in fulfilling
the contract depends ON the action of
the amethystine cups, the amethystine
demijohns, the amethystine ale pitchers,
the amethystine fagons, the amethystine
wine cellars. Oh, Persians! Oh, Assyr-
ians! Oh, Greeks! Oh, Egyptiansl you
were wrong in thinking that a cup Of
amethyst would prevent inebriation.
THE HEBREW SUPERSTITION.
But standing on the top of this amc-
thystine layer of the foundation Of the
wall of heaven l bethink myself of the
mistake that many of the ancient He
brews made when they thought that the
amethyst was producer of pleasant
dreams lust wear q niece of amethyst