Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-02-02
EARRINGS IN ANCIENT DAYS
Worn by Men, Women and Children
in Bible Times Aid to
the Sight.

lAO OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES AuNO q
legend to account for the beginning OF
the custom of wearing earrings. They
say that Sarah, being jealous of Hagar.
vowed that she would not rest until she
had imbrued her hands in the blood of
her bondmaid. Abraham quickly pierced
Hagar's ear and drew a ring through it,
SO that Sarah was able to fulfill her rash
VOW without danger to the bondmaid's
life.
From that time, they say, it became
customary for women to wear earrings.
The story of Rebekah's earring is only
one of many early Biblical illusions to
the ornament. When Aaron made the
golden calf, it will be remembered, he
called upon the Israelites to "break off the
golden earrings, which are in the ears
of your wives, of your sons and of your
daughters, and bring them unto me-"
And out of these and other golden orna-
ments the calf was made. From this it
is plain that earrings were worn by the
Hebrews without regard to sex or age.
In Great Britain the familiar orna-
ments have been worm for many CEN
turtles and not by ome only. Charles
l., it is said, wore pearl earrings of con-
siderable value, and the day before his
execution took one from his ear and gave
it to Bishop JuXon for transmission to
his daughter, the princess royal. Ra-
belais says that it was in his day-thc
era of Henry ". of England-that men
in France first began to wear earrings.
1t is worth noting that at least one
existing portrait of Shakespeare repre-
sents him wearing such an adornment.
This is at Wentworth park, Yorkshire,
and shows the poet with mustache and
beard and an earring in his left ear.
Lord Sherborne possesses at %Sherborne
house, near the old-world town Of North.
leach, a portrait of one Thomas Dutton,
a sixteenth century worthy, who is rep
resented, says his lordship, "in the prime
of life and wearing g remarkably fine
pearl in his left ear The right ear is not
shown, but presumably he wore a CORE
spending earring In it,"
Nowadays few men wear them. save
some sailors and fishermen and navvies.
Among southern people their use by
both sexes is more common and often
begins at an early age. In Spain babies
ears are bored soon after birth. The
family doctor performs the operation
and inserts a gold ear wire. Boys wear
these ear wires till they attain manhood,
when the wires are removed. The idea
Is that the process has a most beneficial
influence On the eyes.
A Spanish woman wries: "Ophthal.
mia and scrofula are rare in Spain and
the natives maintain that freedom
therefrom is owing to the ear-piercing.'
In Portugal and Italy and frequently
in France, children usually have their
ears pierced at an early age. Many mon
in the south retain their earrings after
reaching manhood. Cardinal Mez.o-
fanti, famous for his powers as a I'm
guist, is said by his biographer to have
worn them from infancy as a preventive
against an affection of the eyes to which
he had been subject.
The popular notion that piercing the
ear exercises a beneficial influence upon
the optic nerves is widespread. An
English traveller of little more than a
century ago noticed that many men in
Vienna wore earrings and was told they
were worn a good deal for the eyeS--
"the hole in the ear and the weight Of
the earrings drawing any humor in the
eyes to those parts'-which is hardly
scientific.
Village folk in England believe in the
good effect Of ear-piercing on the eyes
just as firmly as their like in Italy and
elsewhere abroad. In fact, In some
places ear-piercing is regarded by The
rustics as a remedy for many troubles.
At the other side of the world boys have
their ears pierced from a different mo-
tive. A writer on Chinese superstitions
says that John Chinaman pierces his
little boys ears and makes him wear
earrings, for If an evil spirit happens to
see him he will mistake him for a girl
and will not take the trouble to carry
him away.