The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-12-10
ORIGIN OF MODERN CUSTOMS
MANY OF THEM HAD THEIR IN
CEPTION IN MEDIEVAL TIMES.
How We Came by Custom of Shaking
Hands. Sword, Helmet and Gaunt-
let Responsible For Habits.

ANA A'OA AhttOlNSs
Certain customs in vogue at the
present day, such as shaking hands
or Offering the left arm to a lady,
are of considerable antiquity. 1t is
said that Phonecians introduced the
former habit into Britain, and that
upon the shores of Mounts Bay many
a bargain in tin between Eastern
merchant and Cornish man was rati-
fed by this method of clasping hands.
Certain other customs no less
widely observed have come down to
us from a later period, and yet one
sufficiently remote. In medieval
times he who shook hands, whether
in salutation or as defensive meas
retaining the sword hand while
some treaty was being arranged
must needs strip off his steel gaunt
let.
So at the present time men pull
off their right glove before shaking
hands with lady. The wearing of
glove or gauntlet, indeed, at one pc
riod, was something of a challenge
in itself; thus no men wore gloves in
the presence of royalty, an absence
which indicated also absence of hos
tile intent.
A similar idea in all probability
accounts for the habit of showing
courtesy by lifting or removing the
hat. Only when no danger threat
ened would a warrior in olden days
venture to stand uncovered; in the
royal presence was Safety-thus ran
| the chiyalric cOde-therefOre each
| knight who drew near the king or
emperor swept off his helmet, show
| ing that he dared to stand uncovered.
| Helmets, as time went on, were ex-
| changed for less warlike forms
| of headgear, but the custom, becom-
ing general, outliyed all changes, and
remains unto this day the principal
method of showing reverence.
The age of chiValry has left its
mark upon several customs. Sword,
helmet and gauntlet-the fact that
| these were once part of the necessary
| equipment of knight or gentleman
| cOlOrs our habits even now
j Still man offers a lady his left
arm, a practice which recalls times
when escort was by no means solely
a matter of pOliteness, but when in
/ order to guard against sudden attack
it was necessary to have the sword
arm free.
Still when a stranger calls for the
| first time he sends in his card, partly
no doubt in order that his name and
possible business may be made clear,
| but partly also because in olden days
he who desired entrance to palace
or castle must send some token as
| warrant Of Dp9cpfI11 infant
This token was perhaps a ring or
some jewel known to the lord of the
castle, which would serve as a guar
antee for the sincerity of its bearer;
in less artistic age the stranger who
desires admission contents himself
with a slip of pasteboard wherein his
name is printed in black letters.
The visiting card is the undoubted
descendant of that ring or piece of
parchment which often obtained for
it's possessor admission into the me-
dieval castle. Today the moat may
be gone, the drawbridge, too, and
armed retainers no longer peer over
the battlements with arquebus or
halberd in suspicious readiness, but
| the front door often acts as an eff
cient moat and retainers need not be
| armed in order to prove repelIent