El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-23

-ASHINGTON. D C., Oct. %
M Devils have faded out Of real
life, but infliction they are
still interesting and even useful Al
ways picturesque and amusing, they
appeal most strongly 10 the magma
lion, and once a year, when the les
tiVal of Halloween comes around
quantities of them are exposed Tor
sale in the windows Of shops. THey
are manufactured for this market py
tens Of thousands, chiefly of PAPER
mache and wood, by the humble toy
makers of the Harz mountains, in Ger
mauy-a region fun of goblin folklore
where the inhabitants still entertain
firm belief IN the existence OF inc
demons whose counterfeit present
meuts they turn out so cleverly.
In earlier days-even so short a time
as a couple Of centuries aSo-lt vas
seriously imagined that HallOWe en- was
the chosen anniversary occasion Tor d
coucOurse and festival of devils Not 70
believe in their existence and superhd-
tural powers was in those times equl-
valent to a declaration Of non faith IN
religion
Nowadays it is different-so much so,
indeed, that devils have become a sub
ject Of scientific study by the ethno-
IOgist and folklOrist
NAV Be Found in New Guinea.
In order to find them, one must Visit
ouU-Of-the-way corners of the world
such. for example, as New Guinea,
where the natives celebrate certain Oc-
casions with weird and horrible rites
of a quasi-religiOus character, in which
the participants wear terrifying cos
tunes consisting in part Of enormous
hermets with crOcodile-like Jaws that
are made to clap together in a realis-
tic manner as if with gnashing OF
teeth
Aobut the middle of the fifteenth
century there dwelt in the city OF
los EsnH- q INV
Johann Faust. He is supposed TO have
been a sort of partner of Gutenberg
who invented the art of printing Up
TO that time, Of course, all copies Of the
Bible, like those Of other books had
been produced by professional scribes,
commonly monks. such method OF
book-making was necessarily very Ia
borious, and a copy OF the New Iesta-
ment sold for 500 crowns.
Faust's Narrow Escape.
Imagine, then, the surprise of every
body when copies Of the New Tesla
ment began to appear on the market
at sixty crowns. At this price they were
offered by Faust, and he turned them
out as fast as they were wanted An
other remarkable point was that the
copies were all exactly alike It thus
became manifest that Faust had deal
fngs with the devil An Information
was laid against him: his house was
searched, and a quantity of red ink
was seized, among other articles. in the
beueL LlaL II was the DlOOQ Win winch
he had signed compact with satan
he was found guilty, and. to save him
self from the stake. revealed to the
authorities the fact that the books
We're printed-the art being at that
time wholly new and unknown to the
people generally
Devil Gets Much Credit.
Some writer's have aVerred that the
whole story Of Faust (pOpularized BY
Goethe twas based upon the facts IN
the case OF Johann Faust and his sup
posed league with Satan Certainly in
all ages the devil has received credit
for the labOrs of the learned and the
discoveries of the ingenious Roger
Bacon. il viii be remembered. was I'M
prisoned because the fiend had taught
him mathematics. Whatever accuse
tons may have been brought against
his Internal majesty. the highest
talents in many lines are attributed 10
him. Many wonderful buildings in Eu-
rope and other parts Of the world are