The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-01-15
Modern Business Women
Discarding Wedding Ring
New York Evening SUM-

In those dark ages when the cave
man was something more real than
the hero of Broadway melodrama,
when the cave was unquestionably
women's sphere, marriage we are told,
was little more than an adventure
in wife catching, and the wedding
ring was worn as a symbol of the
wife's captivity.
\ NOW, OF course, we are more en-
ightened. When Mr. Bernard Shaw
and other wise men tell US that mar
riage is merely the contamination of
husband catching, (devoutly to be
wished!) the question naturally arises,
Should not the modern husband wear
a wedding ring as a symbol of his
captivity? OF course, some Of them
do. Fair minded gentlemen every
where are realizing the justice of the
contention, and the double ring cere-
mony Is coming more and more into
vogue.
On the other hand, however, many
modern business women are discard
ing their wedding rings entirely, re-
garding them as a symbol Of bondage
unworthy Of an autonomous individual
"a voter and a bread winner. The
time is happily past when a wife is
merely, her husbands chattel, '11is
household goods" to quote our friend
Petruchio.
Merely an Episode.
Nowadays marriage Is apt to be
merely an episode in the life Of an
ambitious business woman. She asks
for an afternoon off; is married and
returns to the Office the following day {;
such an instance occurred only re-
Gently in New York office. Another
young woman not long ago had the
courage to start off on her honeymoon
with neither wedding nor engagement
ring-they simply didn't appeal to her
was the reason she gave for leaving
them at home. Had she but known 1t,
she was following an old Jewish GUS
tom, for the elaborate Jewish wedding
rings of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries were used only during the
ceremony and then were laid away
and carefully preserved by the family
Small wonder, If they really were as
cumbersome as descriptions of them
suggest! Sometimes they took the
form Of q plain old filigree band, but
quite frequently, in place of the
bezel, the model of a house was at.
tached--a house with high gabled
roof and enameled tiles, with open
windows, and sometimes even a NOV.
able weather vane!
The old Romans, we are told, first
made use of the ring as a marriage
symbol. Usually made of bronze these
rings were given at the time Of the
betrothal as a pledge Of the engage
ment-"an earnest Of faith" During
tho middle ages the practice continued
and the "fede" ring, bearing the de
vice of two right hands clasped, be
came especially popular. The same
used on the "gimmel rings" of the
period, unique affairs composed OF
two hoops wrought so exactly alike
be but single circlet. The outside
| of these rings is usually convex anc
deliberately ornamented, while the in
side usually bears some sentimental
| inscription. Picture the romantic pos
sibilities-the missing heir identified
thei distressed ramsel delivered or the
pledge redeemed! No wonder they
| figured largely in the romances Of the
times.
"Posy" Rings Fascinating.
Particularly fascinating are the Eng
lish wedding rings Of the seventeenth
century. The "posy," or "poesie,'
ring, with its engraved verse or motto
was especially favored. Although as
early as the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries these "posy'' rings were
used, at that time the engraving was
usually placed on the outside, while
later it was almost invariably in