The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-09-27
AN5IIQUII5IIzYlz, OF sP0QINlis..
they AREi IiNEAL DESCENDANTS OF
Y ANCIENT eAgLIi aQQpPsa III

Days-Anoint4nE5 Spoons Are, ~ old
na the Time yvheB I'FePllet Nathan
Anointed I1ins5 s99tglnePBi fry1T
a French scholar says: s1.speens are
old. do not claim that they are,fas
old as, the world. bqtthey sare certainty
as old MS soup, After which it4is easy
to believe that. for the last i've or si1
centuries no self Respecting family, Of
however humble station, SPutc could
b6ast ut least one spoon to its name,
whether OF silver. pewter or even
wood. -e-,--s, 4
That spoons are the direct 7iineai de;
sccndants of the shell and horn scoops
with which our ancestors =wefe wont I'd
convey 1iufd food to their mouths Would
seem u safe assumption Many exam.
pies of these ancient spoons are seen In
museums and also Of the spoon Of
wood, which was the next step toward
the spoon of today. It Is, from the
wooden spoon that the word is derived,
us the old English word ''spon" meant
a small piece OF wood.
That metal spoons we're used in hfbIt.
cal days is certain, for In Exodus the
Lord tells Moses to make spoons Of
gold for use in the tabernacle, and to.
day there are to be seen in the British
Mus cum spoons which certainly were
used in the early days OF Christianity,
besides others found in the ruins Of
PompeII and Herculaneum.
Amounting spoons are as old as the
time when Nathan, the prophet, anofnt.
ed Solomon as, the ruler OF Israel, and
.hey have been used to .anoint kings
from that time to the present day. The
spoon with which EngIand's rulers are
anointed by the archbishop OF Canter-
bury is Mt least 500 years old and has
been used for the purpose of amounting
the kings of England ever since 1t WIS
remqde for the coronation ceremonies
of Charles IL ~
Another spoon of great antiquity is
hesF.'Pudsey spoon" given by Henry
VI. to his friend and protector, Sir
Ralph Pudscy, in 1445, at the time
when he was conceded in Sir Ralph's
house after the battle of TIexam. This
spoon has the pear shaped bowl of the
usual form of all ancient spoons pre-
vious to the restoration. The handle is
octagonal and at the end is 6attened
out to form a seal, on which is carved
the kings badge, single rose. Inside
the bowl. near the shaft. is the hal
mark Of the thirteenth century STERLING
silver, a levpart's head. and on" the
back OF the bowl is the mark of the
maker, heart Ia outline. stiH ~
This spoon is the most ancient
known piece of silver in existence that
bears the ihdisputably authentic basil
mark of the English "Goldsmtths' COM;
pany.'' "E
All tho eorltes+ snoons have pear
shaped bowls. It was not until the lat
ter part. of the seventeenth century
that they began to elOngate toward the
ogg shaped spoon of the present time
Up to the seventeenth century all
spoons were large and closely resem
bled the modern soup spoon! the bowl
being very deep.
The handles of the early specimens
we're straight and rather heavy, but
about the time mentioned their shape
was entirely changed. The stem and
handle became nat and broad and at
The extremity were divided into points,
or scallops, and slightly turned up
When this great change first began
teaspoons were made as small as the
after dinner coffee spoon of modern
times, but as the art OF making them
advanced they became larger and lar
ger until they attained the size they
IRE now.
Agnin. ut the beginning of the eight
eenth century the handles showed a
still further change in that where the
sides were straight they had curves
and the shaft itself became slightly
undulnted. At this same time were
also seen some mnbvatiors In the
shape of spoons for specific purposes.
one being n spoon having n perforated
bowl, with straight stem, which w&e
presumably intended to clean the
spout of n teapot, while the bowl was
for the removal OF floating tea leaves
from the cup. ...i.,,,.y
This was undoubtedly the forerun-
aer OF the tea strainer. Another spoon
was the snuff spoon, and besides this
the marrow spoon made its appear
ance. This first marrow spoon was a
crude affair indeed, but it was. not
very long before it reached the form
IN which 1t is seen even nowadays
that IS, with the two ends of Different
sizes, one for the large bones and the
other for the very small ones.
Probably none of the old spoons
equals In interest the apostle spoons
which came into fashion in the six
tenth century. 1t was an English
custom ut that time for sponsors to
give these spoons, to the children for
whom they made themselves respon-'
sible us bGptismal gifts. "A wealthy
godparent gave n complete set OF thir,
teen, but a poor one generally content
ed himself with but one, that having
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