The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1929-07-18

| III|NHT perfectly true.
AAialxasEafzS Primitive man was accustomed to re-
sort to the making of magic to determine what
course he should pursue in world filled with
bewilderment and suEerstitious fears. Arrow
divinaton was favorite kind and to make this
magic circle was drawn on the ground with the
proper rites and lamentations and divided into the
"Four Directions" Then with more mystic cere-
monies arrows were cast into the ring and upon
the manner of their falling depended the future.
A survival of this rite and these instruments is
shown In the card game of the Koreans in which
an arrow feather appears upon the back of the
playing card. Figure No. A.
In fact it was among the ssiatIc peoples that
the beginnings of card games and playing cards,
as we know them now, took place. Marco Polo,
the famous traveller, returning to Venice late in
the Thirteenth century, told among other Won
ders, how the great Chan in far-off Cathay had
paper money made from the bark of the mulberry
tree The Chinese had been making this paper
money since the Sixth century. At first game
was played with the paper money itself but later
cards in the form of paper money were made,
using the old money symbols, coin, a string of
coins, myriad string of coins and tens of myriads
of strings Of coins, which are the names of the
Chinese suits today. The form of the Chinese
playing cards is shown in Figure No. 2.
The Japanese Is early as the Eighth century
were making prints from wood blocks and pilgrims
to the shrines in the monasteries were given
these prints as souvenirs of their journeyngs
These prints were used then, as now, to play the
Flower game, founded on legends which date back
to the beginning of the Japanese people. The
Hndus also have a card game but their cards
were thin painted disks of wood or ivory cotton
fiber paper In their game there are II cards to
a suit and the number of suits to pack vary
oil oh
cards liking, queen and jack always picture one
of the incarnatons of Vishnu
Ii was probably Chinese cards. however, which
found their way into Italy in the Fourteenth cen
fury and which soon afterwards became known in
every European country. The gypsies, after long
wanderings through Arabia and Egypt from their
homes III India also brought int Europe cards
which carried in their strange designs, parts of
the myths and legends of these countries. Grad
ually there evolved from all of the sources
game called "tarots," late in the Fourteenth
tury These tarot cards were made for the mobiles
and were painted with the greatest care They
were so costly that the poorer classes of people
could not afo them but eventually another card
game sprang up in which common cards made
with stencils were used. Johannes monk at
Buefeld writing in 1877, describes this new game
which "men call game of cards." The pack
consisted of 50 cards with three court cards to
each suit just like those of today.
IT is believed by some authorities that the
earliest wood-block prints made in Europe were
playing cards, made about the middle of the Fiji
.eenth century. BY this time playing cards
common in all parts Of Europe. Germany espe-
cially making great quantities of them not
only for use in tn country but In Italy Sicily
and other countries In fact, in 1441 the card
makers of Venice protested to the Doge against
the importation of cheese German products 'by
which our art is brought to total decay
The earliest German cards were very large and
were painted by hand The designs on them re-
Aected the early German fondness for hunting,
since the suit signs were deer, dogs, falcons and
ducks. In contrast to The German cards were