The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-23

odd bonnets and gay wraps. You must
fetch instead something that is part.rpl-
larly odd. 1t may be ugly-in fact often
is-but its popularity makes it II JOY
| forever One girl | know put all her
money in French poodle about three
| inches long ana two inches high, made
of topaz, while the curly part Of hm,
and especially the tip of his TAIL was Of
clear white diamonds. But there wasn't
much originality in that. She just went
into IA iewery store, picked up what she
wanted and possibly paid her bill. Pos
sibly. if she had any sort Of credit,
she didn't pay her bill, but she sent
over So or $40 at time until it was
settled.
| / like the English system. 1t induc4s
you to buy a most beautiful thing that
cost big sums of money and then gives
you from two to five years to pay little
sections of money and in the meantime
| buy something else to keep everything
whrling around, for what people really
want are absolutely odd things.
| There is an Irish gentleman wGo
| condescends to keep cake and apple
stand near our corner, and last summer
| he was over to see 1.-The ovid mother.
| He had been saving his money and no.
| even blowing the froth off a glass of
| beer so that he might sail the ocean blue
second class and feel himself equal to
| Victoria herself He noticed that every
| shop and every wagon had on it "Pur-
veyor to the Prince of Wales, "Pur-
veyor to the Queen" "Purveyor to Her
| Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, y
| and after he had told everybody over
| there what n great country this was,
| where a man could own railroad even
| if he could not sign his own name, then
| he concluded to freshen up the old stand,
so he got a sign-oh, a beautiful one, a
blue background with gold letters upon
it. and these letters read ''PurveyOr to
| the General Public"-and the whole
| neighborhood so enjoyed it that business
| has been great. 1t has an addendum
which reads, "Pies, Pickles and Peach
| es.'' He glories in the combination.
suppose he thinks the pies and pickles
are always with us, like the much talked
| of poor while the peaches come during
| the summer time and sell for cOnsid-
erably less than in the land of old Eng
land, about which we all talk.
But to return to the souvenirs A
good many of them get smashed coming
over--I mean souvenirs, not peaches
and a good many more are not placed on
the right kind of table, so they suffer
untold indignities. You put your collec-
ton in one of those rather large glass
idded tables, where small children can
look with their fingers and feel with
their eyes. You want to pick up some
| thing queer, something that nobody else
| has. Now, Mrs Van Rensselaer, Cruger
possesses a something that has a real
| tang to it. 1t is a cradle in which was
rocked the great Napoleon and which she
picked up in one of those secondhand
| stores in Paris. 1t is vouched for and
| is filled every day with great masses
| of flowers, so that where once the rest
less brain was quiet, now there are the
| perfume and beauty of the blossoms,
something that the Emperor of the
French or the prisoner in st. Helena
never gave thought to.
Then in the jewels you must have odd.
| queer rings that were made by hand and
made in such a way that each had a spe-
| cial use. There is queer silver ring,
with an uncut emerald in it, that rests
| in Il well-filled bric-a-brac table, and
this is said to have been worn by one
| of NapoeOn's numerous loves and to
| have been brought by him from Egypt.
| Another old ring shows a heavy band
| of gold each end terminating in such a
way that there is a space left so that
| the flesh shows between. The one end
is an asp, the other tiny lotus flower
carefully enameled in white. That was
one of Caesar BOrgia's rings and when
you were his enemy and he invited You
| TO dine with him he knew how to press
the back of that little ring so that the
| asps tongue came out and there was
a little scratch on your finger. Tomor-
row it grew black, and your hand swell
ed. while your friends talked about
cholera, and nobody dared whisper 'pois-
on" though everybody knew. There is
| another famous ring. 1t belonged to Il
great explorer-a heavy band of gold
with a cameo having the face of a beau.
tiful woman cut in it. But the cameo
is like a lid and lifts up, and under it is
a vegetable poison that, softened by a
little heat, will kill two or three men,
and this one man took it rather than
ride to the guillotine in a common cart
In a little town near Vienna an eli
terprising American girl found and. never
| was satisfied until she had bought the
wedding dress of Marie Antoinette
Like all Of the house of Hapsburg, she
had given her marriage gown and vel
to some poor church, where the lace
might be used as a veil and the dress
be cut into vestments. Here it was
waiting it's turn, and the frock worn
by the girl bride will probably remain
always souvenir, something thai
has a history and one that is so de
lightful. Queen Victoria counts among
her treasures the walking stick tha
Bonnie Prince Charlie forgot when NJ
started off that morning to fight the pat
tie of Culloden. 1t was discovered az
terward and shows on its handle that
has carved on one side the head OF WIS
dom and on the other the laughing heat
of Folly. :,
From all the world over we hear ina
Jewels were never worn to such great ex'
. tent as now, but nobody wants Just a
diamond band. The diamonds must be
SET in some strange way and must have
been worn by some great and good wo'
man or some great and bad woman
which would you rather have, the rms
of n nun who gave her life to prayer