Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1902-07-24

MIbl CluSS Liubl Dt luhhNh SUN EHtASN7
ly groupings after beauty as pendants
OF human bones, strings of glass beads
and the celluloid anachronism; in the
second, various adornments in gems,
lace and linen. Between these eX-
tremeS, winding into each and having
some of the qualities of each, may
be named the collar of medieval and
modern knighthood, the knOttcd neck
erchief of the bandit, the chain of
servitude and the halter OF punish
ment.
Humanity has ever shown strong
1mpulse to bedeck its neck. CiviliZa-
Mon must not claim regard for the
collar as its peculiar development, for
barbarism gives phenomenal promi-
nence to the adornment. Informal his
tory, not yet twenty years old. has
recorded the unaffected surprise OF the
captive Zulu king to find that the pa
per collar in which he was eXulting
would not be accepted as full presen-
tation dress at Cape Castle. A glance
sat the pictured ruins of Nineveh and
Babylon and ut the carved records OF
Memphis and Thebes shows that cir
clets, rich and tiamboyant, abounded
both for neck and arm. The Hebrew
Joseph had gold chain hung about
Ibis neck as the insignia of power. The
tornament was probably harmless as
far as Joseph was concerned, but 1t set
a perilous fashion. Eight centuries Ia
tter we find Isaiah lamenting over 1.-The
chains and the bracelets and the muf-
tflers" with which the daughters of
Jerusalem were frivOlously adjoining
themselves. AS for three famous danes
fof myth and poetry-Helen, Penelope,
Clytemnestra-they doubtless shone at
home in jeweled necklaces, while their
lords cleaned up and down the road in
collars Of mail 1t may be here added
that necklaces are interviewer with the
legendary tragedies Of Queen Guine-
were and the glossy throated Isolde,
aud with the modern tragedy Of Marie
aAntolnette.
! Pictorial representations Of Greece in
its prime show general scorn Of the
Collar-aS If statesmen and orators
would not allow any hamper whatever
put upon their eloquent threats. But
far away, were, even then, forging
Ghain Of servitude for the Hellenic
meek.
Chivalry made q man an esquire by
Investing him with collar and spurs.
no these equipments were added, in
the case of the fullgrown knight, an
entire shell of metal. In the develop
.ment of honorary knighthood the col
liar has been a conspicuous badge of
ornament
The sixteenth century may be taken
as the boundary between the ancient
and the modern collar When Henry
i'll. of the house of the Italian ruff,
Catherinede Medici ruled as to mat
tiers of politics and religion through
-four reigns-those of her husband and
her three weak sons, Francis H.,
Gharles TX. and Henry III.-and with
her ruled the ruff. 1t Is impossible to
think Of this woman-whether her
head Is lifted toward the heavens In
the study of the stars or bent toward
the earth In the mixing of poisons-
without an investment of Medicl col
lar. Spain adopted the fashion with
gravity and comparative moderation.
England first eyed 1t as vice, then
endured it-then let 1t embrace her.
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the
Latin ruff attained It's greatest Anglo
Saxon proportions. The gallants and
ladies who gathered around Henry ILL.,,
wore wre-framed ruffs one-thrd of a
yard deep, but Elizabethans were, as
,,,;t a
quarter of yard AS may be mag
ined. courtiers-French and English
found banQuetng an inconvenient
pleasure. Long handled spoons came
into use as a fashionable necessity. For
a time 1.-The stately arches of pride"
stood up, three or four deep, supported
by what u satirist of the age called
"a master devil ruff"-a frill stiffened
with gold, silver, lace and jewels. If
the satanic support could not be af
forded the ruffs were fastened to the
ears or allowed to fall over the shout
ders like windmill sails. Everybody
will have them" mourns the satlrist
whether they can afford them or not
No people is so curious in new fan
giles" And then he adds, more seri-
ously: "Monstrous ruffs-three steps
and half to the devil! God be merci-
full unto u.s."
Ruffs were first made OF holland. but
this fabric yielded to lawn and cam
brio when starch was brought into En-
gland. It was in 1864 that Mrs Wing
ham, Fleming. came to London as a
starcher of ruffs and teacher of the
art. She drew around her large classes
of pupils, and as she charged rs per
pupil with an additional fee of 20
Shllings for instruction In "seething
the starch" she found her handicraft
profitable,
In the reign of James |. the run con
tracted its circumference somewhat
and then 1t assumed a modified form
known as the BANDA wide. stlff col