The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-12-21

employment hath the daint'er sense.
Many lovers seeking a gemmed ring
with which to ask sweethearts to COM
mence happy new year of foretokened
wedlock, will remember that the ruby
has come to express the language OF
passionate love. Possibly he may re-
ceive in return ring set with a chryso-
lite expressive of jealousy: and that
sometimes was in very old times known
as species of Topaz, which an old
writer d, scribes "as stone of fiery
color mingled with sea-green.
Possibly its Christmas feminine re-
cipient may recall that as native of
Ethiopia the chrysolite was a charm
and, when set in gold and strung upon
hairs plucked out Of the tail OF an Ass
-progenitor of the donkeys upon
which tourists ride around the Pyra-
mids to-day,-drove away demons, if
worn as a bracelet on the left arm, as
we'll as dispelling all terrors common
to nightfall. Shakespeare has en-
"One entire aLd perfect Cary so.iie."
thus using it as Il s\ nonym for inca-
culable price.
If one wishes to emphasize his ap.
preciation of a womans candor-eX-
cepting, perhaps, if she has answered
negatively to his proposal of marriage
that highest exhibition of candor-
the man will select the Crystal, which
expresses that quality. A solecism,
perhaps, because while crystals are
comparatively cheap candor is not a
a cheap virtue in the mental wardrobe
of human nature.
Possibly a rejected lover may select
the emerald as the gem Of his Christ
mas gift ring, because it is an emblem
of Hope. And everybody knows that
the Emerald Isle has politically and
sadly cultivated this quality during a
century.
Such lover, if in that wise mag
nanimous-indeed, there are lovers of
such a kind when even under rejection
will select a carbuncle, for it is the
language Of faith. He who is court
ing widow will reject jet--it is ex-
pressive OF woe-but in its place he
will choose the modern topaz, which is
symbol Of joy-''la joie sans peur."
Girls who exchange Christmas gifts
of rings may be recommended by the
shop poet who attends upon Tiffany's
Benedict's or Lindo's treasures to pur'
chase the cornelian-synonym for
Modesty, or the Beryl that stands for
Beauty; but rejecting the opal, which
to many Of the superstitious signifies
change and caprice; or the amethyst,
that means Pride.
The lover who wishes to please his
"Her" will gem his Christmas gift of
ear rings with pearls-prototype of
Purity. Was it therefore sneer or a
sarcasm that induced Cleopatra to
swallow this gem in solution? Or did
she take this emblem of purity as a
medicine? Wheu the Charlatan. L"oNi
de Spoleto-as the elder Dumas nat.
rates in his book on celebrated crimes,
and in referring to the Borgias-dis-
solved pearls to give to Lorenzo the
Magnificent as a cure for gout, that
Charlatan certainly considered such a
dose as Observation-Disclosures Lon.
don Punch would say-for any Medici.
Doubtless 1t was a pearl in ring
that Shakespeare has given to his in
tended bride The pearl is the favor
ite gem for betrothal rings.
In instances of unhappy unions,
such as modern Marius standing
amid the Carthage of a divorce court
may have realized, the giver may UNI
derstand the feelings of ''the base
Judean who threw his Pearl away"
Shakespeare in writing his famous
punniug lines on his sweetheart said:
Talk not of gems-the orient list,
The Diamond, Topaz, Amethyst,
The Emerald wild, the Ruby gay!
Talk Of my gem-Ann Hathaway,
Who hath way with her bright eye
Their various luStres to defy.
To shame bright gems Ann hath way, etc.
\ fond wife for Christmas finger
ring should select the agate. 1t was
the ring OF 4Eneas, says an old writer
- Marbodus. upon gems: and he
ascribes "the escape from all his perils
of Nirgil's hero to the potency of tile
agate talisman he always carried on
his finger" The agate in earl y classic
days, besides bestowlng health upon
the wearer, gained him the favor OF
heaven and mankind. This was prob
ably the reason that London aldermen
in Shakespeare time wore the agate
Does not the bard say in describing
Queen Nab:
| In shape no bigger than an agate stone
| On the foretnger OF an alderman.
Fond mothers of the newly born
babes on the eve OF Christmas will
hunt for coral of the pale pink, the
shade of an opening rose. 1t has proved
a gem for amulets from the early times
of the Brahmins. Little branches OF
coral were then tied around the chill
dren's necks in order to keep off the
Evil Eye From the day when Or
pheus attributed tue origin Of the Cora