El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-24
w

zASHINGTON. D. c.. Oct. %
M Devils have faded out Of real
W life, but infliction they are
still interesting and even useful Al
ways picturesque and amusing, they
appeal most strongly to the magma
tion. and once a year, when the les
tfvaI Of Halloween comes around,
quantities OF them are exposed Tor
sale in the windows OF shops They
are manufactured for this market by
tens Of thousands, chiefly of papler
mache and wood, by the humble toy
makers Of the Harz mountains, in Ger
many region fun Of goblin folklore,
where the inhabitants stil entertain
a firm belief in the existence Of the
demons whose counterfeit present
ments they turn out so cleverly-
In earlier days-eveu so short a time
as couple of centuries aSo-lt was
seriously imagined that Halloween was
Tie chosen anniversary occasion Tor a
coucourse and festival Of devils Not 10
believe in their existence and supernat-
tUral powers was in those times equl-
valent to a declaration Of non IalJh III
religion.
Nowadays il is differeut-so much so,
indeed. that devils have become sub
ject Of scientific study by the ethno-
logist and folklorisL
May BE Found in New Guinea
in order to find them, one must WISH
out-Of-the-way corners Of the world
EDEL. LDE example view Guinea
where the natives celebrate certain &C
casious with weird and horrible rites
Of a Quasi-rellGious character, in which
the particI pants wear terrifying cos
tunes consisting in part of enormous
hermets with crOcOQlle-llke jaws lndI
are made 10 clap together in a realis-
tic manner as if with gnashinS OF
teeth.
Aobut the middle of the fifteenth
century there dWelL in the city OF
hITTnE GERMANY uHrE0m named
Johann Faust He is supposed TO have
been a sort Of partner Of Gutenberg
who invented the art OF printing Up
10 that time. Of course. all copies Of the
Bible. like those Of other books had
been produced by professional scrlbes.
commonly monks. such method OF
bcOl1-malzing was necessarily very Ia
bOrious. and a copy Of the New Iesta-
menL 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 We're wanted An
other remarkable point was that the
copies were all exactly alike. II thus
became manifest that Faust had deal
ings with the devil An Information
was laid against him mis- house was
searched and a quantity Of red INK
was seized. among other articles in the
he had signed q compact with satan
He was found guilty. and, to save him
self from the stake, revealed to the
authorities the fact that the books
were prinued-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 Cpopularized by
Goethe was 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 I
for the labors of the learned and the 1
of the ingenious. Roger !
Bacon, it Will be remembered. was I'M
prisOued because the fiend had taught :
him mathematics. Whatever accuse
tons may have been brought against
his Internal ma iesty. the highest
talents in many lines are attributed 10 /
hin Many wonderful buildings I'm Eu-
rope and other parts OF the world are l