The Washington times., 1901-07-21
VARIED uses or THE FAN.
First Made in China, 1t Once Fig.
ured in Warfare.
Introduced Into Europe by the Cruz
snae-=.seautiIui Specimens Man.
ufactured in France-An Attempe
Made to Organize Trust.

1t was In China that the first pliable
fans were made. while those used by tho
Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks were un-
bending; square. round. pointed. oval,
all were stiff. The inventor of the plant
fan was Chi Xxi Long. who lived at tho
beginning of the Christian era. made a
great reputation as a manufacturer of
fans and conceived the idea of lerfecting
the article. This he accomplished by beat
ing out gold until exceedingly thin leaves
were obtained. and these he placed one
beside another. fastening them together
with ribbon Of gold. He then painted
upon each leaf pictures of gods and god
desses. well as rare birds of exquisite
piumage and other creatures, so that the
golden leaves while agitating the air
might also disclose objects delightful to
the eye.
The folded fan originated with the jap
anese. A certain image of their god of
| happiness clasps between its hands
folded fan, and this image belongs to the
same date as that in which Chi XII Long
was fashioning his expensive wares The
earliest japanese fans were of silk, hav
ing verses inscribed thereon, and these
were. as they are yet, used exclusively for
religious ceremonies. In China, during
very long period, the only woman permit
ted to use a fan was the Empress: any
other person Of her sex infringing tho
prohibition was put to death for daring
to make use of an object consecrated to
religious ceremonials-
AT one time among the Egyptians and
Chinese the fan was standard used In
warfare as rallying signals. Such stand
ards were also used in ancient times on
the American continent, tne writer has
had opportunity 20 observe in the mural
paintings she examined in Yucatan-
The Crusaders introduced the fan into
Europe, where 1t was at once taken up
by the Spanish and Italians as pretty
domestic toy. an additional piece OF finery
for the seductiv, coQuette; as for the
French. they first regarded it as a rather
useless article, and were In no hurry to
adopt it. But Anne of Brittany, upon the
occasion of her marriage with Louis XII.
carried one in her hand, for which reason
the fashionable world of that kingdom
felt bound promptly to follow her exam
pie, and the fan became popular among
the upper classes.
In Italy, from the twelfth to the ff-
teenth century. the men. as well as vom-
en-, used feather fans mounted on gold,
silver. and ivory handles that were set
all kinds of birds of brilliant plumage. in
Guiding the peacock; ostrich plumes were
also used. The fans of gentlemen were
suspended from their sword belts. while
ladies fastened theirs to golden waist
girdles made in the form of chains, that
were rather suggestive of the slave mart
where fair women used to ee displayed
in olden times. Catharine de Medici in
troduced the feather fan into the court
Of France. where it soon became favor
lite addition to the luxuries of her cour-
tie~s and ladies-in-waiting.
IL is affirmed that in France men have
not used the fan since the days of Henri
Quatre. although his predecessor. Henry
III, and the mobiles of his court were never
without it But we may suppose that the
sensible Frenchman, like the American,
occasionally stirs the air around his
heated brow by means of a palm-leaf on
a scorching summer afternoon. During
the reign of Queen Elizabeth the fan was
a very expensive luxury in England, but
among several owned by the Queen was
one. presented to her as New Year gift.
| made of fine ostrich feathers; its handle
being richly encrusted with diamonds.
Exorbitant prices prevented the fan from
/ becoming popular among the English at
that time.
In France, although Henry " did not
follow Henry III in his use of the arti-
Gle, it was nevertheless during the reign
of the first mentioned that the fan became
of general use, and such were the profits
accruing from its manufacture. that GER
tain companies tried to monopolize the
industry-it seems they wanted to form a
| kind Of trust. 1t Is interesting to read
of this attempt. In 1864 all such preten-
sion was set aside by a judgment There
upon a petition was addressed to the
King, and Louis XIV proclaimed that the
sixty master gilders on copper thence
| forth constituted a corporation and wers
alone permitted to manufacture fans.
Thus monopoly won for time; but In
| 17'3 the number of fan makers was dou-
bled and gradually increased. the price of
fans decreasing until one could be bought
for cent. while fine goods brought then.
as they do now, their full value At
| that epoch the most famous artists were
willing to have their work mounted on
fans. and the carvings were in many in
stances no less admirable than the paint
ings. so that some OF those priceless old
specimens are veritable masterpieces
Those most sought after at the present
time are from the reign of Louis XIV
Those of the seventeenth century are kept
as curiosities.
The modern fan in Spain costs from 10
cents to $500, and Spain is the country
where the fan language Is most eloquent
ly used and best underst ood by both sex
es; it was Addison who wrote:
There is an infinite variety of motions
to be made use of in the fiutter of a fan.
There is the angry flutter. the modest
flutter. the tim0rous fiutter and the amor
ous fiutter. There is scarcely any emotion
of the mind which does not produce a
suitable agitation in the fan, insomuch
that IL 1 only see the fan of disciplined
lady know very well whether she laughs,
frowns, or bushes. 1 have seen a fan SO
very angry that it would have been dan
gerous for the absent lover who provoked
it to have come within the wind of it. and
at other times very languishing that
have been glad for the lady's sake the
lover was at a sufficient distance from it
/ need not add that the fan Is either a
prude or coquette. according to the nat
ure of the person who bears it." And this
attractive accomplishment has been trans
ported to Latin America by the Spaniards
whose creole offspring fail not to grace
fully avail themselves of the same-New
York Commercial Advertiser
MATADORS FEAR THE cows.
Bull Fighters Afraid tn Fool VIII,