Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-05-12
PLAYING CARDS IN NEW LIGHT
History Told in Packs Of All Countries
and All Times. !,

: Z 7
! ~ >,l.., and All Times.
What is, said to be the most com
plete collection Of playing cards in tn
world is the property Of Mrs. Johl
King Van Rensselaer,. who founde,
the original chapter of the Daughter
of the American Revolution in New
York city.
Her collection was begun 20 year
ago with pack brought back by I
traveller from Algiers. 1t has growl
until 1t fills dozens Of broad. shallow
drawers in a specially made waist
high mahogany cabinet in the librar.
Of her home. The cards themselves
are on yard-square sheets Of rec
pasteboard. held in place by strips o.
the same material. . ~ =
Some Of the cards are In separate
boxes Of their own, Like the round
red-edged pack from Hindustant with
It's eight suits and the long slender
EavarIan cards made Of celluloid will
only room for a single emblem ant
the number A few Of the most inter.
| esling OF the packs are hanging frsm.
ed in the entrance hall along with 9
pen sketch of a New York ball Of 81
years ago. in which every face is ar
easily recognizable likeness. ~
Fernaps the slrangest OF the packs
Is painted with the spanish emblems
Of rods, swords, money and cups and
the cavalier on horseback instead OF
the queen. It is onsa yellowish, slight
ly wrinkled substance. eE IN 90
mo. 1t is not leather" Mrs. Var
Rensselaer, corrects. 'It Is skin-hu-
man skin. The pack was bought in
a locked handbag at q railroad auc-
ton. A man who came to see my col
lection told me the history OF the
pack"
Briefly, the bag belonged to the
young wife of an army officer at 9
western post. She was very badly
treated and found her only consola-
tion In long games OF solitaire
the sympathy Of all her acQuaint.
ances. a. Among these was the young
chief of a tribe Of Indians on O neigh
boring reservation who worked about
the fort. After particularly brutal
the hills, killed him and made pack
Of cards out Of his skin. They we're
painted with vegetable dyes In the
spanish emblems, the only ones the
Indian knew. When the pack was
finished he sent 1t to the wife with the
message that he knew 1t would be
more of comfort to her than her
husband had ever been. BtL 3 10
Horrified though she was, she de-
cided not to betray the young chief
but to take the grewsome reminder
east and bury 1t In the family vault
But her care Of her handbag convinc-
ed The porter on the train that It con-
tanned her jewels and he stole It. Be-
fore she could have any thorough
search made for the bag the train was
wrecked. She deci -ed that her bae
must have been destroyed and went
ried another officer and is now living
happily. The porter was killed and
the locked bag, found In his closet
was sold by the railroad company.
Not all Of Mrs. Van Rensselaer,
cards have such startling stories con-
nected with them. Most Of them have
come from the dusty book shelves OF
the little stalls which card making
families Of Europe have kept for gon-
erations. The histories Of some of the
packs will never be known. What vi
cissitudes brought the pack Of the
king Of Wurtemberg, who married the
daughter Of George Ill, to little to-
bacconist's shop2 It Is In q leather
case with his name on 1t. 1t has only
the king and an upper and 1t0wei
knave for court cards, while the suit
cards show acorns, leaves. hearts and
bells brilliantly colored, instead Of the
sober red and black OF French cards.
- AS people, Americans have made
no contributions to the history OF
cards, Mrs. Van Rensselaer, says, ex-
cept TO add the joker to the French
pack. But that card carries the pack
pack into the mists Of antiquity, even
to the casting Of rods mentioned In
the Bible. 49, ..t, ~ u. y,
In her new book, "Prophetical
Educational and Playing Cards." she
traces the history Of the cards back to
the worship of Mercury, the Nebo Of
the Abbyssinians, and the Thoth OF
the Egyptians. The gypsies brought
him with them when they came to
wander over Europe. For 1t was to
consult Mercury, the joker, that the
rest Of the pack was invented.
Originally Mercury was consulted
in his own temples. Various figures
were painted on the. walls and before
these the inquirer cast bundles OF
rods, swords, money or cups. BY the
way they fell the priests foretold the
future. % ~. afs rst - 2at5
All four emblems were sacred to
Mercury, who was the cupbearer OF
the gods before he got too busy and
had to give up the job to Hebe. The
offerings Of money meant that he was
the god Of merchants and OF thieves
He always carried rod or caducsus
which Apollo had given him in ex-
change for the Tyre he had invented
And he had stolen the sword Of Mars
AS a messenger Of the gods he presid-
ed at births and deaths, conducting
the soul across the Styx or, writing the
future Of the newborn on the tablets
Of fate. Naturally he was the god OF
physicians, who carried his sacred
staff into the sick room. It is still left
to US In the barber pole, painted to
simulate bandages. Mercury was busy;
but he was decidedly the divinity to
consult. iaf' ~
But with the coming of Christianity
the walls Of his temples were razed.
So the pictures, and the bundles OF
rods, swords, money and cups were
transferred to bits of parchment.
Again the way in which they fell
foretold the future. The first card
game was played by two persons, the
man who came to consult, and the
priest or soothsayer, who interpreted
the cards. Besides the 81 picture
cards, which represented all sorts Of
things from Mercury to the wheel OF
fortune, strength, justice, death and
temperance, all appear along with the
world, the devil, the sun and the fool.
Besides these atouts, as they were
called, there were the four suits, with
four court cards, arcayalier mounted
on horseback, as we'll as the king,
queen and jack, and the 10 suit cards.
These fortune-telling cards are still
used in Italy, the only country were
the picture cards have survived, ex-
cept in Persia, where they are used
without the suit pack. Mrs. Van Rens-
selaer has a very rare and valuable
old atout pack, discovered in the
wainscoting Of Venetian palace and
dating back from the sixteenth CEN
tury. They form illustrations In her
book. ..,at a.a-a
1t was many years before the cards
were used to play games. But one ILL
fated evening Charles vi. Of France
went to a masked ball given by one OF
his favorites, Hugonin de Jouzes.
Charles and five of his courtiers were
dressed precisely alike, with red cloaks
and long boards Of tow, and chained
together. Every one was trying to
find the king, and his brother, the
49, 4. -