The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-07-20

4 Upon q 5tabletso OF baked clay. It is in TAR
teen lines. and the royal lady did moi
waste. words to express her contempt al
the others impertinence. The tablet was
written only a few years before the de
struction Of Nineyeh and the overthrow
Of the Assyrian Empire, which is gener-
ally placed by historians as having oc-
Cured m Cos B. c. It is one Of the few
remain Of thai period which have come
down to the scholars of the present day.
It was discovered a score or more years
ago. and many Assyriologists have tried
their hand at a translation. DR.. John
ston. in working upon It, did not have
| the original tablet, but a picture of it,
The royal lady who wrote the letter, or
who probably dictated 1t to her scribe,
was the Princess She~ruaeaterat, a grand
daughter of the famous Assyrian monarch
! Asurbanapal. called Sardanapalus by
Greek writers, who, in addition TO being
a great onqueror was the founder Of an
extensive public library and a patron of
literature and the arts. The letter is
translated by DR.. Johnston
Message of the Kings daughter 10
Asshur-Sharrat. Thou dost not properly
address thy letter sent TO me. nor use the
title 10 me betting thy station. People
might say, lis she the daughter Of She
ruaeterat. the eldest daughter of Ashur-
etil-ilani-ukinni. the great King, the
mighty King, King of hosts. King Of
Assyria?r But thou art only the daugh-
| ter of the dauehter-in-law Of the wife of
Asurbanapal, eldest son Of Esarnaddon,
King of Assyria.
DR.. johnson suggests that this last sem
tence was probably a crushing blow for
| the recipient of the letter, as the peculiar
| expression daughter of the daughter-in-
law of Asurbanapal's wife" was most
likely a reference to some delectable bit
of court scandal in the famous Asiatic
empire. The doctor also said that the
rebuke was a perfectly proper from What
is known today Of Assyrian etiquette in
letter writing.
"If the lady. Asshur-sharratt, adj
dressed the Princess as sister without be-
ing so related said he. ''she certainly
committed a gross breach Of etiquette
and was guilty of an impertlnence which
richly merited a rebuke. Even II she
were actually her sister, it is doubtful
whether she could lave addressed the
eldest daughter of the sovereign family.
We find a prince speaking Of his father
as the King. my lord but never as my
father And among private individuals,
| except in the case Of near relatives, it
was the invariable rule to address each.
| person by his proper title, with the adj
diticn of the words. My Lord"
A curious custom prevails in certain
| parts of India which may be called a
symbolic marriage. In families where
there are several daughters the younger
sisters may only marry after the elder
sister is married. That, Of course, E-not
always the case. but the obstacle can
easily be surrnounted if the elder sister
declares herself ready to marry some tree.
or a large flower or some other lifeless
object. In this way the disagreeable con-
sequences of disregarding the time hon
| ored custom may be avoided and. the
younge sister can safely be welded to her
iving choice. The elder sister must,
however, take care not to choose a
poplar tree, an elm tree or a pine; if she
chooses a plum. apple or apricot tree she
may get a divorce-that is to say, shake
it off as soon as a real man will ask for
her hand, while If she narries one Of the
first three named trees she cannot easily
shake her marital bonds. for these trees
are sacred and must not be trified with.
Striped shirt waists are very popular
here. A pretty suggestion for a striped
shirt waist is to pleat the front IKE a
chenisette to the depth of four inches,
bringing the colored stripes together. This
gives the effect Of another material On
either side of this from the shoulder comes
a wide pleat conveying to the waist. The
belt and the collar are both formed of
the same pleated arrangement of stripes,
SO that this style Of waist requires no
other trimming than itself. and yet it has
a very chic effect.
The latest striped shirt waists are made
with horizontally striped sleeves and
vertically striped bodice.
Another effective striped shirt waist
has the top shirred around to the depth
Of a round yoke; attached to this over
the sleeve are deep rippled epaulets trim
med with Insertion of braid, and Joined
to the yoke front and back by ribbon ro-
settles with ends. The sleeves rave a
puff to the elbow. A ribbon collar and
belt complete the costume.
Caps for domestic wear are Of four
sorts. There is the nurses ordinary cap
and there is the nurses's stringed. cap.
which has a foreign air calculated 10 de-
ceive the un~initsated into believing that
its wearer is an Importation from abroad.
Then there is the waitress cap and there
is the mop or sweeping car. Altogether.
the array is an imposing one.
The sweeping cap is made of Bingham,
ana it is not beautiful. 1t is circular in
shape and entirely covers the hair of the
sweeper. 1t is purely u~tilitarian- It IS
made of material heavy enough to pre-
vent the dust from httering through.
The waitress cap must be either square
or triangular. In either ease a point
les directly above the middle of the
forehead of the wearer-
The nurses caps are round. not unlike
the sweepers' in shape. They make up
for then simplicity Of form by their
elaborate material.
A cape has been invented to protect the
venturesome bicyclist who insists upon
riding in the rain from the rheumatism
which would naturally follow in the wake
of her folly. 1t is long enough to come
over the handle bars. 1t is made of water
proof cloth and is lined with rubber cloth.
The gloves which properly clad bicy-
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