The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-26
rh amha au EAGLE: aa1eamsdaY 9orning 9nlg 26 1893.
THE SEDAN CHAIR.
History Of the Curious Vehicle Fashion Is
About to Revive.

History of the Curious Vehicle Fasnfon Is
About to Revive.
When his holiness the pope is carried
in his chair on poles supported on the
shoulders of twelve servitOrs from the
Sala Regia to the Sistine chapel, and
occasionally into the loggia above the
portico of st. Peters, he practically |
uses a sedan without roof, and it was |
in these chairs on poles that the Roman |
magnificoes sneered at by Juvenal were |
borne through the crowded streets OF |
Rome. These uncovered sedans must |
not be confounded with the ancient lit
tiers, which very much resembled IN
shape the palanquin which may be
seen every day in the streets OF Cal
cutta, and which were kind OF bed,
wherein the inmate reclined either on
his elbow or at full length. Wealthy
Romans when they travelled through
the provinces, of the empire, sat in
covered sedan chair during the day,
and Law in a covered litter throughout
the night. 1t is a curious fact, as re-
CARDS the oriental palanquin, that In
1874 the court of directors Of the East
India company ordered that their cove
nanted servants should lay aside the ex-
pense of either horse. chair, or palanquin
during their writership,' on the ground
| that indulging these embryo naboos
with chairs on poles. borne by coolies,
| contributed not a little to 1.-The neglect
of business and afforded them oppor-
tunities for rambling" Little more
| than half century afterwards we find
the frugal and self-denying Sir Arthur
Wellesley writing to Maj or Shaw to give
orders for palanquin to be made tor
him. Precise in this as in most other
matters. the hero of Assaye directed
that his palanquin should be very
light" that the panels should be made
of canvas instead of wood, and the
! poles fixed as for a dhoolie." Your
Bengai palanquins," adds the future
victor of Waterloo, ARE SO heavy that
they cannot be used out of Calcutta
To the traveller of moderate means,
the principal expense of the palanquin
was in the number of relays of bearers
required to carry it. This mattered
little to the Romans, since the bearers
were nearly always slaves, and the
price of labor in Hindostan is moderate
enough to warrant the employment OF
a large number of bearers, but IN
France, in the seventeenth century,
there was a duchess of Nemours who
half ruined herself by her craze for
travelling backward and forward in her
: sedan to her principality of Neufchatel,
, which was situated at distance OF one
} hundred and thirty leagues from Paris
RELAYS of bearers, amounting IN the
aggregate to fifty men, always accom-
, panied the duchess on these journeys,
| one of which took ten days to accom-
t plish. and the cost OF paying, lodging,
and feeding these retainers was neces'
} sarilv prodigious. French expert;
2 stoutly maintain that the sedan char
was invented by La Refine Margot,
: the first wife of Henry "; but ii car
Y orly be proved that the sprightly queer
' in question awaited herself SO constant
2 " of the facilities offered by an uncov
3, cred sedan that it is almost to be won
: dered at that the vehicle did. not come
to be called 'margot' instead of
1 "chaise a porteurs." In any case, 1t L
S certain that the first covered and CLOSED
, sedans were introduced into France a
e the beginning of the reign of Loul
i XIII. by the marquis de Montbrun. an'
/ that shortly afterwards a concession
for building them was granted to tire
h Partisan financiers-LondOn Iele
n graph.