The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-10-02
COATS OF ARMS IN DEMAND.

|
for dies of coats of arms is as great as
ever, Our engravers have had all they
could do for over month, and the or
ders ahead will keep them busy for two
months more. Every year, as certain
as one month follows another the work
of arms engraving is heaviest when the
demand for wedding invitations is
| heaviest
you know, according to the highest
social authority, whatever that may be,
the proper season for weddings is eth
er the spring or the autumn. April and
June, the months of buds and of bios
SONS, and October and November, the
months of harvesting and housing, are
the months most favored by those con-
templating double blessedness. 1t is
during these months that we are kept
busiest engraving arms. 1t would be
easy to understand this If our custom
ers belonged largely to the nobility of
monarchical country. AS it is, it can
only be accounted for on the score that
young Americans of the present gene
ration about to start out for them
selves like to have evidences about
them of as long and distinguished line
age as possible.
| "Of course, that is very laudable
| desire, when, to crafty it, it is not ne
| cessary to hunt with a dark lantern
and search warrant for the connec-
| ton between those who order the dies
and those to whom the arms originally
| belonged. OF course there are any
number of persons in this country, and
many in this city, who have no difficult
| ty in tracing their line directly back to
the person who originally adopted the
| coat of arms they themselves use
There are many more, however, who
are unable to do this, and, to attend to
the orders of this latter class, it is ne
| cessary for us to keep on our pay rolls
| a man who is an authority on heraldry.
1t is also necessary for us to maintain
library, containing the best works on
| the heraldry of the leading nations Of
! the world. There is a history of Ger
man or French or Dutch heraldry, as
| distinct from italian or Russian or
Spanish heraldry as the history Of one
| of these nations is distinct from the
other. We never know when an Amer
| lean, with line running back to Span
| ish progenitors, may come in, any more
than we can know when one of German
| ancestry may come in for die, and we
must be prepared for any emergency.
1T is sometimes a bit embarrassing,
all around, when customer, having
| left an order for wedding invitations,
| orders letter paper to be engraved with
| the family coat of arms For example,
a young woman and her mother came
in the other day and ordered the invi-
| tations for the young woman's we'd
ding. Having attended to this matter,
the young woman said:
Please show me some letter paper
Our book of samples was brought,
| and, after a time. having made her Sc
lection, she said, very jauntily:
This will do. Please send me five
quires, with envelopes to match. And
please have our arms engraved on the
paper
Very well, said the clerk, we have
your die?
oh, yes! The die is here; isn't it,
mammal"
Il suppose so, my dear replied the
mother with evident embarrassment
I think your father had it made here
several years ago. However, you know
1 pay very little attention to such
things
g" If you will describe the arms ven
tured the clerk we will be able to find
the design very readily from our libra
ry.'
""To be sure chirped the young wo-
man; let me see 1t is a unicorn ram
pant and, and. what is the rest of the
design, mammal
Mamma really couldn't ten. She
paid so little attention to such things,
you know
" Perhaps if you saw the design you
would recognize it,, suggested the
clerk, very politely but enjoying the
situation hugely by this time. OF
what nation was the original bearer of
the arms?'
"'Oh! English was the young wo-
mans prompt reply.
THE clerk got from the library a
| work on English heraldry with designs
of English coats of arms One after
another he turned over the leaves,
while the young woman inspected
Catching sight of one illustration, the
young woman put her finger on it and
cried:
Oh, mamma! Isn't that pretty?
Mamma thought the arms were
really very pretty, and then started off
to the silver case.
Again the clerk began turning the
pages. When near the end of the vol
ume the young woman said:
" T think you passed our arms just a
minute ago
1.-THE clerk turned back the pages I'M
til finally he came to the page contain
ing the design which the girl thought
was so pretty.
That's It, she cried eagerly; sc
stupid of me that shouldn't have rec
ognized it at once
"'Oh, that frequently happens said
the clerk, particularly when one hasn't
seen ones. arms for a long time and
really is not particularly interested in
such things.
'As it happened the arms which the
young woman picked out, as belonging
to her family, We're the arms of Henry
VI, who, as is we'll known by students
of English history, died before he was
twenty, leaving no descendants. She
had simply hit upon those arms be.
cause she liked the design. The design
was, as she had said pretty, and thai
was enough for her. Having settled
the question, the clerk asked:
Will you have the full coat en-.
| graVed on the naDer or the crest OF