The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-09
DIGNITY OF UMBRELLAS
They Were Marks Of Distinction
in Olden Times.
Kings and Rulers Of Great Countries
ship-An Article Always PrOmi-
nent In the FlOwery Kingdom.

The umbrella is not taken seriously
nowadays. Some people may shrug their
shoulders at this ard say if the umbrella
is lakeland not returned-it is very
serious. indeed. True. And herein lies
the trouble. There are SO many recurring
| jokes about the misrepresentation Of UNI
brellas that we have come to regard the
| article as something altogether humorous.
losing sight entirely OF its origin and
| early history. We are all familiar with
the anecdote Of the man who. because Of
his earlier experience. when he left his
umbrella in stand in public place
wrote upon a slip of paper which he at
| tached to the handle: This umbrella
| has been left by man who will return
| in an hour and who, when he came back
| in the stated time found merely the slip
| Of paper. with these words traced under
meath: And has been taken. by a man
who will not return at ALL" This and
kindred bits of pleasantly have led US by
degrees to look with lightness upon one
OF the most useful of our personal ef
fects.
As study the umbrella is deeply in
y,
my biology. and religion. In the sculptured
remains OF Nineveh and Egypt there are
repre- sensations of kings and occasionally
CT lesser potentstes, riding in state or
going in procession with umbrellas over
their heads. This would seem as IL in
those early days umbrellas were more Of
a mark of distinction than for either use
or ornamental purposes. And, indeed,
many Of the writer's persuade us that this
is so.
IL has been quite solemnIy averred that
the very first suggestion of the umbrella
was in inc humble mushroom and toad
stool, and to this day the Parisians call
the erections set up in the Bots de Bou-
logne as shelters for their pedestrians
"champignons. The shape is certainly
in a crude way similar. In spite of our
present humorous attitude, we are told
| by those well up in umbrella lore that in
the early times, because of it's royal sig
nifcance, proof of this. the Mabratta
princes OF India had among their august
titles lord of the umbrella
Speaking of the umbrellas place in his
tory. writer in the New York Evening
Post" says:
In China the umbrella has always
played a prominent part. In the second
invasion of China by the Tartars the En-
peror's son was taken prisoner by the
Tartar chief and made to carry his UNI
brella while out hunting. In religious
ceremonies the ancients regarded it Sc
riousIy. their gods being frequently shsd-
ed by umbrellas and canopies. In Hindoo
mythology we find that Vishnu once paid
a visit to the Internal regions with his
umbrella over his head. We can hardly
imagine what usefulness or protection
the thing afforded in those shady quar-
tctA and ic ;he r-fr-'.H" why he could
not carry Il there as veil rs als where
We should be inclined 10 rspiJ he same
was as to the couundrurr Why can't the
? ~ shaie1 but possibly FnnG had
some private reason OF H. ewn icr carry
iug his sunsha ie "A hades. The 5lia5srsssf5.a.s
erected over ecclesiastical chairs ana al
tdrs and me canopies Of thrones pulpits.
and portals are t..s.. orlgiHat clcs1ly
related to umbrellas, and have the same
sympbolical meaning. In each of the
haSilican churches of Rome there still
hangs u large umbrella.
IN Greece during the feast Of Athene
Sciras white parasol was borne as
symbol by each of the priestesses Of the
goddess from the Acropolis to the Pha!e-
rum. In the Panathenaea the daughters
Of foreign residents carried parasols ever
the heads of Athenian women as mark
of inferiority. In the Roman classics also
we find that it was a post of honor for
their mistresses. In more modern times.
however. it was considered the greatest
effeminacy for men to carry a paraSol or
umbrella. Those who yentured to DO SO
were looked upon probably as We should
now look upon a man who carried pow
der puff a vinaigrette. though Ovid in
his advice to Il lover did suggest TO him
to make himself agreeable by holding his
lady's parasol: Ipse tene distenta suis
umbraccula virgis.'
1T is strange to think that the fair sex
alone required protection from the ele-
ments. and we learn with no little sur
prise that the traveller Jonas Hanway.
who died in 1856. is said to be the first
Englishman who habitually carried an
umbrella. 1t is said that his persistent
employment Of the article almost gave
rise to Il revolution. He was derided.
Knocked and laughed at. Everyone had
some quip for him, but his particular tor
mentors were hackmen and chairmen, who
considered that he was deprivins them
of their vested rights.
''It was n practice of the coffee houses
early in the eighteenth century TO keep
an umbrella on the premises. but its use
cannot have been very well known or ap-
preciated. for Colonel Wolfe. writing from
Paris in 1852, mentions the carrying of
them there as defence against both rain
anu sun. tndt tue CUSTOM
has not been introduced into England.
I'VE see from fragments. cuiled at ran
DOM that the umbrella has always been
a subject for the writers. Ovid speaks
of 1t more than once. There occurs line
in a fragment of Anacreon: He carries
his ivory parasol as women do NJ De
La Loubere. who wrote 4 historical ac
count of Siam in 1857, describes at length
the umbrella and its Importance in the
court OF the king. Beaumont and Fletcher
allued TO it. so also did Ben Jonson
and in later times probably all our writers
have had something to say of it. So Why
speak lightly OF an article that has shaded
kings gods. priestesses: that has taken
part in royal pageants, served 20 keep
the rain off the unjust as well as the Just
and even in its temerity descended into
the lower regions urscathed?''
Quarric~ of Old Egypt.
(FroTn the Chautauquan)