The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-08-02
Sword in Song and Story; Mohammed
Called 1t "the Key to Heaven and He'll
CLOS Angeles Times.)


days when fighting was the principal
occupation of life. So highly was the
sword esteemed that Mohammed, In
the Koran, declared II to be the key
to heaven and hell"
The warrior or knight gave a name
to his sword; he vowed at the altar
never to draw 1t In false cause; 1t
was his companion and friend and de-
seconded from father to son for many
generations. One sword, named
Brother of the Lightning" had
golden hit inscribed with magic
words. In times of peace these words
were said to be legible. but before
battle ''they glowed red as blood"
1t was believed, moreover. that a
sword after long use acquired life
OF its own. Many famous swords were
said to utter cries before battle, and
after a weapon had killed five score
men 1t became blood hungry and leap
ed from It's scabbard at the approach
Of a foe. Certain swords were said to
refuse to give a wound in bad cause.
Among these was the brand Excali-
bur, which was given to King Arthur
by fairy, and which Richard Occur
de Leon professed to own.
The family OF Convers, in England,
won their estates and have held them
for centuries by virtue of their pos
session of an old falchion, with which,
according to tradition. an ancestor
slew the famous Dragon of Wantley.
In the east superstitious reverence
is still paid to the sword. The dam
los Of Japan. when they voluntarily
surrender their rank. kept as rule,
the wonderful blades which had been
handed down from generation to gen.
Grafton, in some cases for more than
1000 years, and which had absorbed,
as they believed, some Of the charac-
ter and life of the men that had own
ed them.
Toledo Blades.
1t is probable that the manufacture
of swords continued at Toledo until
the epoch of the Gothic kings, and 1t
Is certain that 1t was in full sway In
the ninth century. These swords
served beyond doubt as pattern for
the weapons used by the Moors of
seen represented in the pictures of the
Ahambra.
The making of swords was not for
merlye confined to one establishment.
The espaderos or swordmakers, work.
ed at their own homes alone, or with
certain number of apprentices. Like
all craftsmen, they were bound to-
gether in guilds.
Many of the kings Of Spain accord
ed to the finest swordmakers of Toll
edo certain privileges, such as exemp-
ton from certain mposts and duties
appertaining to the sale of swords, the
purchase of iron and steel and other
primary material
The steel used by the espaderos of
Madrid was obtained from an iron
situated about three miles from Man
dragon in the Basque provinces
According to Palomeus, a Toledan
swordmaker of the eighteenth cen,
fury, 1t is an error to suppose that the
Toledans preserved particular secrets
for the tempering of their arms. They
were compelled to use the water of the
Tagus, as well as the fine white sand
that the river contains in its bed This
sand served for the operation of what
they termed refrescar la calda, or
cooling. for when the metal became
red and commenced to throw off
sparks the espaderos instantly sprin-
killed. 1t with sand.
The blade having become cherry
red. they plunged the point into a
wooden reservoir full of water of the
Tagus. and. having once cooled it,
they Strengthened it as much as was
desirable
They then subjected such of the
blade as had not hitherto been ex-
posed to the fire, and when it began
to redden they took 1t by the tongue
with red hot pincers and plunged 1t
into sheep suet until it cooled, an OPP
GRAFTON that impaired temper to 1t.
One famous Toledan swordmaker of
whom mention Is made was Julian,
surnamed FL Moro, or the Moor by
reason of his coming from Granada,
where he worked until the end of the
fifteenth century for King Boabdil.
Swords Of the Rising Sun.
Last year 1t was reported from To-
kio that 5000 japanese swords had
been ordered for the use of entente
officers in Europe. These swords of
the Land of the Rising Sun are OBJ
jects of art and science, and figure
Economically in the history of the is
land.
In fact, Japan is called the land Of
blades" by its own people, some of the
older scholars having declared that
the first sword was invented by the
same god that invented poetry. A
maker of swords in Japan was ever
highly honored among his fellow me-
chanics, an unusually skillful and ar
tistic smith sometimes being given
high military rank, yearly pension
or even raised to the lordship of the
province in which he dwelt.
At one perjod in the history of Ia