The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-24
EVOLUTION OF THE FAN.

In an age when evolution is claim ing much thought and attention there is yet to come. think, the writer who will tell us of the evolution of dress. writes Miss Margaret P. Boyle, in The New-York Observer" Without a doubt a history of its changes from the garment fashioned by Mother Eve to a modern Worth creation would be of sufficient interest to attract many readers. Take, for instance, that simple article, the fan. Perhaps no one can tell how many ages it has been in use in countries where the climate it hot. But it must have been since very early date, for in the British Museum is to be found a bass-relief of Sennacherib with figures of women attendants carrying fans. And since it was more than seven hundred years before
 Christ that Semacherib began his re- ign in Assyria fans must be at least | twety-six centuries old.
 Like the umbrella, the fan in those fdays long ago was intended for the use of royalty only, and if one examines
 the plates of the old Egyptian and | Therban sculptures he will see the an- cient rulers with their fans. As in the 1 case of the umbrella, however, the fan carried by those old rulers differed greatly from the costly painted arti- cles wielded by society ladies of to- ! day. For the fan of 5000 years ago consisted really of a wooden handle, in
 which were holes for feathers. One of | these handles, taken from the tomb of Amen-hotep, of the seventeenth cen- tury /B. C.-more than 1000 years be- fore Sennacherib-may still be seen in Q museum near Cairo, Egypt. In the matter of economy these fans see to
 have been an improvement upon our own. Instead of having a fan to match each costume it would be necessary to have only different sets of feathers to insert in the handle, and the change
 would be easy. s,..t.. r5..~
 In India, as well as in Egypt, fans | were symbol of authority, though people of the former country some- times held them as sacred emblems al- so. And custom, in vogue during the Middle Ages, of holding fans as. sa-~ cred, since they were used to keep the flies from sacred elements during the celebration of the sacraments. These fans were usually rounded, and the fact that silver bells were attached to them must have somewhat distracted l form the solemonfty of their use. How ever, that they were an important part of church furnishings is shown
 by the fact that they were mentioned in the old records of St, Paul's Sails bury Cathedral and other churches. l The custom of using fans for this pur-
 pose has long ago passed away ex- ! cept in some Oriental rites. But feath- CT fans still play part in the state processions of His Holiness the Pope. i Ancient Roman ladies, like some Wo- men of our time, used to consider fans
 a necessary part of their rousseau. Fans are always so associated in our
 minds with Japan that one is not sur
 prise to learn that folding fans had. even the trees grow fans, as you will
 see if you notice the gingkho tree, large
 ly used in this country as an orna-
 mental shade tree. For you will find each small leaf a perfect fan. This tree in Japan is sacred to the god Gin gkho, therefore our slang phrase "by Jingo," is probably derived from the
 Japanese oath by Gingkho. In 1885, the
 Japanese gave a site on an artificial island in Nippon for the settlement of
 Portuguese merchants, and had the shape of a fan, signifying an object space laid out in the shape of a fan,
 signifying an object agreeable for general use. ..- s:a | 4Jn faY rra1y Unto China, and in both of these coun- tries it is used by men and women of all ranks. Eleven workmen may be seen
 working with one hand and flaming with the other. The Chinese make very beautiful fans of carved ivory, fasten- ling the sticks together with ribbon as you have often seen: while the Jap- Ianese sometimes show their skill by
 making the outer sticks of iron beaten
 livery thin damascened with gold.
 Probably the first European women
 to use fans were the Portuguese, per-
 haps introduced by merchants from
 their trade with Japan, though we find
 mention of their having them in the
 fourteenth century. In France the in-
 ventory of Charles V. at the end of the
 same century, mentions folding ivory.
 fan. Doubtless the wicked Catherine
 de Mediei, with her knowledge of and
 love for the luxuries of Italy, introduce
 ed fans to her sisters in France. The many wives of Henry VIII of Eng
 land, and their court ladies, were used
 to holding fans, and Queen Elizabeth
 had as many as twenty-seven in her
 elaborate wardrobe. Fans grew into
 general use about this time in Italy,
 Franco and Spain.
 A regular code of signals was
 arranged, so that ladies and their ad-
 rnirers were able to carry on a regular
 fan filtration. Perhaps it might be
 easier for an anxious suitor to have
 his rejection come by means of fan
 than to receive a mo, point blank
 from the mouth of a woman,'' but an
 acceptance by means of signals would
 certainly have its drawbacks.