The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-11-06
.NOVEMBER===THE TOPAZ.
THE MONTH OF GOLD.
There is a tale OF Faustus--that one day
Lucreta, the Venetian then his love
Had, while he slept, the rash ness to remove
!. His magic ring, whom fair. as God he lay.

Iidup niIlC sllN EIEp
His magic ring, when
4 And that a sudden horrible decay
O'erspread his face; a hundred wrinkles
Their network on his check; while she
above
His slunber crorchcd, and watched him
shrivel away.
There is upon Lifes hand a magic ring
Tho ring Of Falth-ln-God, LIES gold Of
kemeys Il not. lest all Lies charm take
wing y; al
1senove It not lest etralghtway YOU
LIES cheek fall In and every earthly
thing * 4 IL
Grow all at once nnutterabiy old.
Eugene Lee Hamilton. IN The Novenl-i
i Der Madame ~
Rings.
Aliady's interest Is given chiefly and
primarily to the two rings bestowed
upon her in betrothul Ind marriage. It
e has come TO be the established usage OF
modern times for the lover 10 seal his
Z VOWS of love Wit n diamond. because he
~ the shrine of his lady fair. The
marriage ring, used from time mme-4
n,tGfal among all nations, takes e the.
form Of g. circle, to symbolic the love
without ending, and As made OF the pur-
est gold because its sacredness renders
II priceless.
The ring came to be givenFi,1,5marrlag 81
because 1t was ancien.lyst used as IL sc a :
bs4which orders were signed The deliv.6
4 cry OF a ring was a sign that the B!Ter
endowed the person who received IT With
ell the power he himself possessed. The
woman who had the ring could Issue
commands sasS her husband might, and
& was In. every respect his representative.
q II! tie Roman espousals, says Macroblus.s
The man gave the woman ring by
way OF pledge and the woman putt
on the third finger OF her left hand. be-
causc8it was believed that n nerve ran
from :hat finger to the heart, Tho fact
? has nothing to do with the question.
4 That 1t was an article OF faith with the
ancienLs Is all that Is required. Thus
the thumb and the first two fingers re-
presented the Trinity. The bridegroom
said: In the name of the F'a ther, and
4 touched 1.-The thumb: In the. name Of
the Son and touched the first finger
and ''in the name OF the Holy Ghost,
when he reached the long or second
4 finger. The next finger was the hlls-3
bands to whom the woman owed ale
glnnce next to God The left hand
was chosen to show that the woman
should be subject to the. man. In the
Hereford, York and Salisbury missals,
the ring was directed to be put first on
the thumb, then on the long. and lastly
on the ring finger.
Rings have different meanings ac-
cording to the way III which they are
worn. According to an authority in ring
lore, II milady desires to express her
Willingness to marry she places her
ring upon the Index finger OF her
& left hand If she DIS engaged 1t appears
!. on tho second finger; II married, on the
third. and. III she is determined to es-,
Chew matrmony on the little finger
The Same authority declares that a ring
worn on the forchnger indicates
naughty bold and overbcarns spirit;
on the long finger prudence, dignity. and
discretion; on the marriage finger, love
and AFFECTION on the llttles finger, al
independent disposition. I. & ].
Posies or notices have beentassoclat-
eli with many famous and historic we'd
ding rings. That given viking Henry
ssvIl. tolfAnne of Clcves had Inscribed 4
Within itFthes sentence: God tend me
well to keep f5s
rho wedding ring OF Matthew Paris.
found at Hereford Enclosed the motto:
"Tecta lege.g lectaf tege."'s The Earl
OF Shrewsbury placed ring on the fin
ger OF Margaret his wife, With,tle posy.
It'll death MS depart and a similar
sentiment, "ril my LIES cnde,' was
engraven in the wedding ring Of Eliza
beth. wife of Lord Latymer.
In tho many legends Of rings, there,
Is theytradtion told aby Sir t. Ma llory$
in his "Iistory Of Prince Arthur con-
corning tho ring given by Dame Lione*s
to Sir Gareth during a tournament
mat ring, said Damo Liones, Sin
creaseth my beauty much more than IT Is
) OF itself: and this is the virtue OF my
ring; that which is green 1t will turn to-
red, and that which Is red It Will turn
Il green: that which Is blue 1t will turn
white and that which is white It Will
turn blue. and SO with all other colors,"S
AlIlady will be equally rs much In
terested IN g ring referred !, TO by tho
gcndsn This WAS called s'srhe Talking
Ring and was given by Tartaro, the
Z BASQUE Cyclops. TO a girl whom he wished
to marry, AS soon as she put It on, 1t
kept incessantly saying; You there, and
here" So to get rid Of he nuisance
ellascut fiber finger and threw both ring
and finger into q pond,
n milady Is a n,atron she Will natur-
ally desire for her spouse a ring Ike
the one described In "Chinese Tales"
OF Corc,ld, called "csorcuds Ring" IT.
was composed of six different metals
which insured the wearcrs success In any
Undertaking upon which she embarked,
while YOU have this ring on your fms
ger" said The legend attached to. it.8
'mlsfortinn shull tlysfrpm5 your house.
and nobody shall be able TO hurt yoll;
tut one condition Is attached to the 4
gft Which is his: when YOU lave chosen
4 for Yourself wife, you must remain
faithful to her IS long ms she lives, The
moment you,negleet her for another .you
N viii lose the ring
Tho topaz is fine emblem Of fidelity, IT
holds the November gold prispned In Its /
Y heart II II oallcd the yellow diamond