The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-02-27
Conc Daft on J8W8l8
Women of Fashion Fairly GIsten With Gems Must Wear
the Tiara as Well.

- o"7N Iudb DFlnGS OUT Cue SIOHeS DcSt'
she has grown to be expert in her judg-
ment of stones. No foolish superstition
would cause her to give UP beautiful
opal, and the woman who is prOudest, in
New York this winter is she who appears
III her opera box wearing necklace of
opalE, set around with diamonds, which
cost $4,000. Extravaganza? Oh, / don't
know. The money is at least spent, the
tradesmen gain it and everybody is help
ed, since each man can the better pay
his bills.
TRADITIONS OF THE RING.
The fondness of women for rings is
easily understood. 1t is as old as the
hills; as old as Solomon himself. By the
by, apropos of Solomon, the Talmud
tells a story of a ring which he wore. 1t
was a wonderful emerald with some
mystic characters engraved upon it, and
on his keeping this ring depended his
kingdom. One day when he was in the
bath he took his precious ring off and
put it on q shelf. Amina, one of his
wives, was angry at him, and stole the
ring. The fiend fiattered her and got
her to give it to him, took the form of
/ King Solomon and ruled the nation.
Solomon was distracted. Every body de-
MED him. but at last he did something
wonderful in the way OF an incantatiOn.
Tie fiend grew frightened and threw
the ring into the sea. Naturally a fish
swallowed it. A fisherman caught the
fish, recognized the ring, gave it TO Solo
mon, and he had his kingdom back. I'm
fortunately the Talmud doesn't say what
Solomon did to Amina, but as strangling
a wife was not thought much OF in those
days, it is fair to imagine some such
little contretemps occurred.
1t is funny how many ring and fish
stories there are. There is Scotch
story about the Queen of Cadzow, rather
gay young person, who gave to some
gentleman friend a ring which her has
band had given her One day Roderick,
the husband, came home in the usual Iln-
expected husband fashion. The Queen
was all broken up, but, being religious
kneeled down and asked st. Mungo to
help her. st. Mungo had evidently been
q man before he was a saint, and told
her he would stand by her, or some
thing to that effect. Then he cOmmunn-
icated with a monk he knew who was
a bit OF a fisherman, and told him to go
ont and. whip the stream, or whatever
was the proper thing in those days, and
to fetch him the first fish he might catch
Inc monk took his fishing apparatus,
artificial flies and reels and swept the
river near Glasgow and a beautiful fish
arose, and when he. had gated at and
played at he brought it To st. MungO
and in its stomach was found the ring
Thus the Queens honor was saved. and
probably her neck, and that is the reason
why there is a salmon wearing a ring
in its mouth which belongs to the armOr-
ial bearing of the City of Glasgow.
TROUBLES TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
Rings and women and trouble and
precious stones all seem to go together,
Since they initiate fruit so we'll in pre-
cious stones l have often wondered if
THE appetite in the garden of Eden was
not in reality a pretty little brooch
wrought out in emeralds with ii dia-
mond leaf. This is tine sort of thing a
woman would long for and not a mere
ordinary everyday apple. True, tastes
differ, and the Roman matrOn, 30 his
tory says, was proud to wear iron rings
as a symbol Of her wifehOOd. To-day
Il woman would remain bachelor girl
forever before she would walk around
carrying half pound Of iron on her
finger. The ancient Romans may have
been great, but they certainly were not
what one would call stylish. / hate
that word, but as their usual full dress
costume is only initiated by us in the
Turkish bath it seems as if they had no
real idea of suitability in dress or orna-
ment. Everything that was good was
given to the men. We have changed all
that nowadays. If liberty cap was put
upon pole for the American man to
worship, | agree with the great Polish
writer with the unpronounceable name
that it would probably take the form
of a womans bonnet. He is another
one Of the cads who have come over
here, eaten our dinners, got our money,
and then "sassed back Well thank
goodness, i'll less time than it takes to
read his tiresome books they will be
forgotten! They are "a bad imitation
of Dumas at their best, and their best
does not come mean to the worst that
was ever written by the great French
man. Perhaps you do not agree with
me, but if You knew of the nasty things
he said about America and American
women you would think that nothing too
bad could be said about him. even by
the usually amiable person known as
BAD.