Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-31

| today that once. in the onward march
| of civiliZat ton candles were as great
an improvement over prior methods
of lighting as the electric light Is
over oil lamps.
The candle stabilized. If one might
put 1t that way. the wick. In other
| words, torches were essentially
wicks, but the candle added TO and
improved the bare wick, and, later,
aided the invention of bigger and
better 'wicks.
The Romans used candles. the
Latin being candida. from candere,
to glow. our word candelabra Is a
pure derivation.
Early candles were made out OF
beeswax and talIow, especially from
the latter. Wicks were rushes,
hence the designs ton flashlights. p
Wax lights were known to the Ro-
mans. but their favorite light was
the open lamp.
During the Middle Ages candles
were only used by the rich, owing to
their great cost, but from the f1f-
teenth century on they came into
wide use, hundreds of them being lit
"A time in the great homes.
Churches everywhere made large
use of them. Probably their sym
bolism, a showing the light of life
being lit and then passing out, &C.
counted for this.
Paris had two guilds of candle
| makers--waX and tallow. The first
sort of taper was much preferred.
owing to the lack of disagreeable
odor. London had it's "waxchan dlers'
and 'tallowchandlers."
BY the time the colonists came to
America candles were widely used.
Every one recalls pictures of balls at
which Washington danced, the ball
room being lit by scores of candles
in elaborate chandeliers.
candlemaking heca me quite an in
dustry. Minds of bright men worked
upon them, with the result that much
Improvement was made in them.
both as to essential components and
wick. The invention of stearine gave
great impetus to the manufacture.
Today, most of our candles are made
from combinations of wax and stea-
rine, the proportions being varied to
meet differing climatic conditions.
Wicks today are made out of cotton
yarn, braided. which has been treated
in boracic acid or other solution. Since
all combustion is in essence a gaseous
process, the candle on our table Is In
| reality miniature gas plant, with a
production of gas that might be meas.
ured by fairy gas meter.
X
Let us think on these things, to.
gether with the romance of this very
old form of illumination, when we sit
at table, now and then, with candles
burning.
II candles can help us keep in mind
some of the fundamental mystery of
| life, then by all means let us burn
candles, for we are in danger of for
getting 1t, sometimes, as we turn on
our lights with a flip Of a switch. or
click on our radio set, or toast our
toast without leaving our chair.
This is one of the primary problems
| Of life, to be solved by every man for
himself, whether he will allow life to
be made so easy that he forgets fun
damental verities, or whether he will
now and then face the disagreeable
because 1t is the true.
A candle may set him thinking as
well as light the path of toasted bread
from toaster to mouth. A candle may
make heroes pass in review before
him. Whereas he may seem to be
only engaged in the material act of
feeding, he may be. in reality, in his
minds eye. with Washington at Val
Low Forge