Evening Star Newspaper, September 29, 1894, Page 14

ian a KINGS AND KNAVES. The Origin of the Odd Figures on Playing Cards. THEY REPRESENTED REAL PERSONAGES History is Written in the Varying Costumes. THE EASTERN ORIGIN Written for The Eveving Star. HE ASSISTANT secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, Prof. G. Brown Goode, is preparing a monograph on play- ing cards and their history, which will include a description of many interesting packs and parts of packs preserved from ancient times, and now kept in the Na- tional Museum, in- eluding specimens with designs executed on gold and silver, tortoise shell, tvory, mother ot-pearl, parchment, leather, thin tablets of ‘wood, small tiles and even large leaves. The costumes of the pictured playing cards of the every-day pack are a fascinat- img study in themselves. They are so quaint and have become so highly conven- tionalized that one would hardly suppose them to have been copied originally from Teal people. Yet such is the fact. The king, for example, is Henry VIII, as is Proved by existing portraits of that mon- ‘arch, though on the card only a few sugges- tions remain of the fashion and ermine trimming of his garments, which were once covered with correct heraldic devices. In French and German packs the kings generally bear secepters or globes as em- blems of authority, but the monarchs of Early French Playing Cards, Repre- senting Justice. card-land in England and America are war- riors, those of hearts, clubs and diamonds holding double-edged-swords. The king of hearts is the most warlike in appearance, with his sword uplifted if to strike q blow. The king of spades alone is armed with a battle ax, though why nobody knows. - When Henry III ruled in France the cards became the reflectors of the extravagant fashions of the day. The card kings wore pointed beards, like the effeminate monarch, with collars stifiy starched, hats with lon; plumes, breeches puffed out at the hips, an to make them look as womanly as possible, doublets pinched tn at the walst. No sooner bad Henry IV mounted the throne than the pasteboard kings altered their costumes. At one time cards were influenced by the Ital- fan fashions and customs imported by Marie de Medici. During the French revo- lution not only was the royal family de- and beheaded, but the same fate fol- their majesties of spades, clubs, dia~ is and hearts. Their places were sup- d by the figures of sages and philosoph- ers. But the kings and queens of the pack returned when the monarchy was restored in 181 Since then they have not been dis- turbed, and they still reign tn republican Prance as they do tn the United States, The Queen and Her Costume. ‘The queen of the cards is Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, and mother of Henry VIII Various reasons may be imagined for her relection and elevation to the paper throne. Her marriage joined the houses of York and Lancaster, rival claim- ants for the English throne, and termin- ated forever the wars of the roses. In her portrait is seen, at a glance, the source of the cardmaker’s inspiration for the card ween. In the odd-looking head-dressés of the four royal dames may easily be traced the resemblance to the straight lappets, Fichly embroidered with jewels, forming a cap, anc hanging on either side of the face, Co A 3 Comic “Tarot,” Representing Two As- tronomers. which make part of the dress in the picture st Elizabeth. In it her hair, which was of @ pale golden hus, is banded plainly on her forehead, and she has long, flowing, ermine- edged sleeves. The color of the hair is re- tained to this day. It will be observed that the queen holds the rose of York in her hand, this emblem having always been copied and retained. ese matters of costume are described fm detail tn a work by Mrs. J. K. Van Rens- selaer, entitled “The Devil's Picture Books,” from which the writer has obtained a great rt of his information, = authoress, herself, sesses a fine collect ay play: img cards from all over the world. 6 | pe Private collection of playing cards existence ls the property of an Engiish THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 99, 1892—TWENTY BAGES, woman, Lady Charlotte Schretber, who ts now publishing a series of follo volumes, in which the most notable specimens are re- Produced. The history of England may be read on the cards of her first volume, which Presents a series of pictures illustrating the Manners and customs of successive epochs. The cards of Germany, France and Spain will appear in subsequent folios. Origin of the Knaves. Mrs. Van Rensselaer refers to the fact that the grotesque dress of the knaves of the English packs has remained almost un- changed during several centuries. It is copied from the ordinary costume of the lower classes in the days of Chaucer. American cardmakers have cut the knaves in two, giving to each one two heads and leaving off the legs. The dress, as shown im the English cards, appears to consist of Chinese Playing Cards. a short jacket with flowing sleeves, the body being crossed by a sash. The knave of hearts has a battle-ax, and in his other hand a laurel leaf. The knave of diamonds holds a pike with a hook below the point. ‘The queer-looking staff of the knave of clubs is supposed to have been an arrow. The peculiar attribute of the knave of spades is a twisted ribbon, which may have been a fool's staff once, with gay ribbons twined around it. The knaves of hearts and spades are in profile, while the others show their full faces. Why this is so no- body knows; they have had these positions as far back as the middle of the fifteenth century. The k ave is frequently called the Jack from his buffoon's dress, a slang name for jester being Jack. In German packs the knaves are represented as workingmen or peasants. The word for peasant being Bauer, hence the bowers right and left of euchre. The English term Jack-a-napes is probably derived from Jack-a-Naipes, or Jack-of-the-cards, Naipes being the Span- ish name for the pack. Cards in Early Days. Playing cards were brought to Europe from the east about the time of the cru- sade, very lkely by home-returning war- riors. The gypsies, who at that period be- gan to wander over Europe, are said to have introduced them, using them as they do now for telling fortunes. The first packs contained seventy-elght cards, in- cluding four suits of numbered cards and twenty-two emblematic picture cards, which served as trumps. The numbered cards were marked with swords, cups, sticks and money. Each of these suits con- sists of fourteen cards, four of which were king, queen, knight and knave. The em- blem cards had such pictures on them as an emperor, Cupid, a chariot, a hermit, the gallows, death, the pope, fortune, the sun and the moon. These early packs were called tarots or tarocchi. They differed a good deal in various localities. Packs closely resem- bling them are found today in parts of Germany and Switzerland which are not much frequented by travelers. In cards of this kind the emblem of death is numbered 18. The notion of bad luck attached to that number is of oriental origin. A tradi- tion relates that a Venetian—perhaps Marco Polo or his father, Niccolo—first brought cards from China to his native city, which was the first place in Europe where they were known. In China playing cards are called “paper tickets." They used to be called “bone tickets,” from the material formerly em- ployed. Several kinds of cards are used in that country. One pack has thirty-two covered with small circular dots in red and black, with court cards of one man and -one woman. Chinese cards are printed in black usually, on thin cardboard, one inch road by three and a half inches long. In some packs the cards have animals, such as horses or deer, printed on them. Whist is of Chinese origin, and other European games are more than suspected of being derived from the same source. The playing cards of Corea are strips of thick unpainted paper half an inch wide and six to eight inches long. The cards of India proper are circular. Persian cards are beautifully painted and lacquered. The quaintest cards are those of Japan. They differ entirely from any others in the world, the symbols on them having been invented on the islands. They are of the same shape as our cards, of pasteboard, with black backs, but only about two inches long. The designs are stencilled on them, usually representing the months of the year by flowers and other emblems. There are twelve suits of four cards each, with one plain white card for a joker. The Japanese children play with cards that have songs and proverbs on them. The modern cards are copies of the French packs of the fifteenth century, with modifications. But in Germany the old- fashioned playing cards of that country are still manufacutred, with sults of bells, hearts, leaves and acorns. Even the: however, have been so far changed that the hearts are surrounded by champagne bottles, the acorns have a loving cup, the bells are accompanied by a punch bowl and with the leaves are hour glasses and goblets as parts of the designs. There are no queons, the places of these royal ladies being taken by the knights on horseback in .beautiful uniforms. A German friar, Thomas Murer, first conceived the notion of adapting cards to the instruction of children. This idea has been developed un- til now it is possible to study history, geog- raphy and many sciences with playin; cards. Babies in the nursery learn to ‘Spell and to read from their games, —_——>— Hungary’s Thousandth Year, From the London Daily News. The Hungarians are making preparations on a grand scale for a millennial exhibition, and the government addressed a prayer to the emperor that he might lend them all the historic relics in his possession which have any connection with Hungarian his- tory. The emperor, our Vierna correspond- ent says, grented the request, and a num- ber of Hungarian historians and antiquar- fans have come to Vienna to study the im- perial collections and make a list of the ob- jects in question, They have selected a great number, which represent a value of 2,000,000 florins—if the value of unique historical relics can be ex- pressed in figures. Among these objects are copies of the portraits in relief of King Mathias, Corvinus, and Queen Beatrix, a brorze bust of Mary, Queen of Hungary; bropze reliefs of Adrien Fries, illustrating the Hungarian wars; the remnants of the crown of King Andreas and the Imperial globe, dating from the fourteenth century; the double cross that belonged to Lewis the Great, with relics of Christ’s cross;.a map of Hungary engraved in a metal plate, a nautilus-shaped cup, with the arms of the Batthyanis. It is easy to imagine what efforts will be made in Hungary ‘2 prevent these objects from returning to Vienna when once they have been inthe Hungarian capital; and if they are left there, surely Prague would ask for all that referred to Bohemia in the imperial collections, and Cracow for all that referred to Poland. ——+e+ Winter Exile in the South. From the Academy. © alien flowers! unseasonable blooms, That im this Sew translucent tem rate att ut Hide the sad truth, like garl from Winter within ta winter everywhere; An@ nothing me your heartless splendors stead. Mat, strange to that ar cllme where 1 was’ Dred, ‘Spek not of bone and friends THE PARIS BALLET The Music, Rhythm and Beauty of It Gone, THE FRENCH IDEA OF BALLET The Effect of the Conventional Teaching in Grand Opera. VIENNA’S SUPERIORITY Correspondence of The Evening Stan, PARIS, September 19, 1804. NH NATURALLY imagines Paris to be the center of the world for ballet. The Parisians themselves think so. Yet I con- fess that on the eve of the commence- ment of the Paris autumn season in amusements my thoughts go back re- gretfully to the grand opera of Vien- na, and that what I most look forward to in Paris for the com- ing winter is the advent to the New Olym- Pia of a fine ballet troupe from London. Shall I ever forget my first impressions of the ballet at Vienna? I had come fresh from the anatomical displays of half- trained and completely willful pretty girls in the scratch companies of our own dear land, as unruly and as fleshly as the heifers in the meadows, whom no ballet master could drill into shape, without a spark of sentiment or understanding or imagination; fresh from the comic opera and extravaganza choruses, all swaying rhythmically, idiotically, in three long rows to an interpolated waltz song, executed by a prima donna by the footlights. It was a change to sit in the Vienna Opera House of a serious ballet night. It was an education to watch the unfolding scenes of the ‘“‘Tanzmarchen.” This one piece lasted three hours, exclu- stve of the introduction, on Mount Par- nassus, where pretty Marie Kohler tripped alone upon her toes, then taught an amia- ble but clumsy goat-legged Pan to dance. He played his pipes while going through his steps. It was the birth of dancing. Scene after scene succeeded, religious dances by the holy Nile and on the heights of Gibea, the feast of Mars in Rome, with nothing lacking, for it is the Story of the Dance, until its modern apotheosis in the Hoft-Operntheater—very naturally—with all the pretty modern ballerinas of Vienna going up to glory in a@ blaze of gold and pink and white. Throughout the piece an extra human in- terest was kept up in the sentimental his- tory of a nymph. On Parnassus she was given her choice, either as a reward or punishment; the Genius of Time was called upon to pass her through the future; and she chose to know the future of the dance. In every scene there was this sweet girl changed—by the altar of the dog-faced An- nubis,in the holy mysteries of David's danc- ing worship, in the oak forests of Britain and of France, where stlver-bearded Druids worked themselves to fury. There was one scene by a castle of the middle ages, where some yokels came to dance beneath an elm. Attracted by the sound of flutes, two ras- cally young pages from the castle slip upon the scene to lead away the dazzled country beauties from their hayseed lovers. Again it was a dance school in the middle of the present century, where opportunity was given to see measures trod whose names are scarcely known now—the courant, the pavane, the Sarabande, the minuet and the gavotte, In another of their classic pleees—the “Wiener-waltzer’—it was the history of the Vienna waltz, from its conception in the brain of an old dancing master a century ago down to the dainty fancies of the modern ballerinas, shown to him, by es- pecial favor, in a prophetic dream, He had fallen asleep after the chagrin of fruitless lessons in graceful steps, which he had been giving to a party of pretentious country gentlefolks. The room begins to darken, and a great mirror seems to change into a door, as films of gauze rise one by one. Out step a dozen delicate and pretty dano- ing girls in modern ballet costume. They nod knowingly to each other as they tip- toe about the somber little room, holding their fingers to their lps for silence. Then one sits at the rickety, tinkling, little spinet of the time, commences gently one of Strauss’ waltzes, while the orchestra gives a discreet and gently modulated accom- paniment to the noiseless steps of the kind- hearted dancing girls of 1893—who are dream shadows, not of the past, but of the future. The French Way, Now I respectfully submit that this ts different from the skips and turns of bold- eyed Frnch girls at—well, say the Paris opera, if you ever get a chance to see them—for these dancing ladies seldom con- descend to dance; the bold-eyed girls who leave you no illusion, thelr armpits black- ened with burnt cork, even when they are blondes; their mouths obscenely painted out of shape, dancing of love and only love and always love. You will not see the “Pup- peafee” in Parts, the children’s story of the fairy doll who animates the dolls at mid- night in the doll fair, The French would laugh at its simplicity and childishness, Yet when you have a set of dancers who can act, and when you have a German poet to corceive the plot—but these you have not got in Paris, The Paris opera scarcely gives ten ballet nights throughout the season, There are dance interludes in operas, but even these are cut down or cut out outrageously. In Thais the composer, Massenet, placed a great deal of very pretty ballet music. As originally produced there was a long and pase ballet in the second act, with lemons and good angels and trials and en- chantments, in the good old style. Scarcely five nights passed when it was all cut out, Perhaps Miss Sanderson, who 1s extremely influential, thought that the public ought to be content with what she showed so— generously. Perhaps the dancing girls of the grand opera—who all hold government Positions—tired of dancing. Perhaps the Paris public—that is to say, the public of the opera—does not care for ballet. This latter has been often given as the explanation of the actual decline of serious ballet in the gay French capital, where all things seem to be upon a reckless gallop straight to a vulgar anarchy, where what is gross and mean and low will rule, The great restaurants have disappeared before the triumphant advance of the beer and sauerkraut brasserie and taverne; the great cafes have disappeared, because the public prefers to sit between, before and after meals in the same brasseries. The vulgar music halls are emptying the theaters. For eight years past the gay French cap- ital has been more celebrated for the danc- ing horrors of the Moulin Rouge and the Casino than for the classic or even the spectacular ballet. The chahut, the “eccen- tric quadrille,” with its “split” and “cari arms,” has been well termed the “phyi- loxera of choreography.” And after ft, the specialties in all the music halls. The state- ment of the bare fact that Otero, with her diamonds, with her crow’s voice and her stamping heels and silly movements, was the real dancing celebrity of the last win- ter season, and that the Sisters Barrison (from America) ran her a hot second in the popular estimation, is to sum up the whole situation. It is very different from the times one reads of when the Eden Theater was doing Sieba, Messalina, Vivi- ane and Djemmah. There are six places in the Paris of today where ballet continues to hold on as some- thing of a specialty, They are the Grand Opera, the Gaiete Theater, the Chatelet ‘Theater, the Folies Bergere (variety thea- ter), the Olympia Music Hall and the Nou- veau Theater (attached to the dance hall of the Casino de Paris), It_is true that they talk of reopening the Eden Theater, to revive the ballet glories of 1883, but every one predicts that the venture will end in failure. Add to the places already named the Porte Saint-Martin, which now and then gives comic opera on a large scale, with a dance, and the Bouffes, which some- fimes made a specialty of the new panto- mime, of which L'Enfant prodigue and Scaramouche are the best known examyler and you will have, the tale of the ballet told. The Graad Opera Ballet. As to grand opera ballet, it is sufficient to say that it is an expensive troupe to keep up (there are 120 tn it), although the in- dividual salaries, except to stars, are mod- erate. The opera ballet school is, like the opera, a state institution. Any parent may place his child in it, and have her education go on free, on signing a five years’ engage- ment for her after graduation. After graduation, as an actual fact, only a per- centage of the pupils are received into the opera ballet troupe. The others find places outside. The fortunate girl first goes into the quadrilles, at a salary of $180 a year, the mes @ coryphee at $300, and then a “subject” at $400, ‘and often finishes among the stars, if she has not stopped on the way in a “petit hotel.” There is an- other side, however, to the money qustion, from the danseuse’s'point of view. Between it and the creaking of the bureaucratic wheels an explanation may be found of why one seldom sees anything but vague and transitory dance interludes at the Grand Opera, in’ spite of its much boasted bailet troupe. All the best seats at the Paris Grand Opera are sold beforehand, for the season, to subscribers. Each subscriber has his seat one night each week. An orchestra chair costs 2,000 francs, a box 10,000. To be @ subscriber to the opera gives the right to enter the foyer of the dance and pay court to the ladies, As the French say, voila tout. After a girl has passed her ex- aminations and is received into the quad- rilles, her great preoccupation is, not to dis- linguish herself in her profession, but to find @ serious friend. It is an understood thing. Mothers count upon it when they place their daughters in the classes. The little girls themselves count on it as they do their painful exercises. To have one’s horses, and one’s house, to have a villa and to play the races—that is the ambition of the dancer of the opera. Beside the regular subscribers, who are pleased enough to chat with the danseuses, the transient public of the opera goes to see the house, admire and be admired. The great public does not require much dancing~or much singing either, if the truth be told—so there is little dancing. Pass the Grand Opera. I, for one, have never had a moment's pleasure in it. At all the other theaters where the dance still survives, the great majority of all the more important “subjects” are girls trained in the Grand Opera ballet school. Now, there Is something cut and dried about French teaching which is paifful to the foreigner wherever he encounters it, in dentistry, in medicine, in social usages, and even in religion. The girls who graduate from the Grand Opera ballet school have all their steps and turns; they do them just so, as they have been taught. And, in a single word, they dance like trained dogs. Last winter the Empire Music Hall, in London, sent over to the new Olympia a company to play the ballet “Brighton.” It had a@ great succ The star, Miss Love- day (I think that was her name), had move- ments full of flowing grace, a sentimental face, and pretty pantomimic ways, that seemed both honest and spontaneous. But when the ballet of “Brighton” had got well going, the Olympla manager, following French custom, began to weed out, one by one, the “foreign” dancers and to substitute French girls. At last the star went also. The Woodenness of It. It {8 a woodenness which characterizes all French ballet of the present hour. I think it comes directly from the ballet school of the Grand Opera. And It, perhaps, has had no small effect in weaning the great public from the classic ballet, to wan- der in the free and easy meadows of the Moulin Rouge. The wooden girl spins, steps and bounds, with her fixed smile of invita- tion, her bold eyes, -her painted arm-pits and her mispainted mouth. To finish with the new Olympia, the latest news !s that it has been sold, together with the Moulin Rouge and the Jardin de Paris, en bloc to the Empire Music Hall Company of London, This winter the Olympia will be run as a first-class London music hall, with ballets from the empire, which will have at least pe virtue of great novelty and life and ac- tion. At the Galete Theater it is the habit to give long ballet pieces, often of considerable merit, between the acts of some light opera, like the “Chimes of Normandy.” They pay such dancers as Litini—who, to be correct, is not a dancer, but a “mime.” ‘The ballet of the “Chimes of Normandy”—"The Gath- ering of the Apples'’—which {fs now on at he Galete, is long, and makes a very pret- ty picture. But it is not great ballet. They are also always on the lookout for novelties at the Galete. Not long ago they had a ballet interrupt itself to let a girl do the “serpentine dance” in a cage of Hons. When Loije Fuller was dancing at the Follies Ber- gere she had a young American girl stay- ing with her, waiting tor a London engage- ment. Her specialty was wing dancing, if that is what they call it, a kind of ne; dance, and very entertaining. The ballet mistress of the Galete was present at one of her impromptu rehearsals one rainy win- ter afternoon, on the stage of the Folies Bergere. She liked the wing dance, and she offered the American girl a good sum _week- ly to interpolate it into a ballet of Breton fisher girls, in the piece then running. The offer was accepted; but when Miss went down to the first rehearsals, the mis- tress of the ballet and the ballet also were all scandalized because she said she must black up and wear the costume of a south- ern ncgro girl. “You can’t dance blacked up! We canrot allow it!’ “How shall I do, then?” “You must wear a premiere’s cos- tume—white gauze, white tights—you must make yourself convenable and pretty.” The girl explained it was Impossible to do a wing dance that way—that it would be ridiculous, But they were obdurate. At last they told her that she might dress like a Breton fisher girl. She refused. She said it would be too ridiculous. So the engage- ment was canceled on the spot. The French girls, who were interested and not at all jealous, told her she was foolish. “What difference does it make to you, if you get your salary?" they would ask her. At the Chatelet Theater they run to fairy pieces and spectacular representations, like the ever-youthful Michael Strogoff. The ballet company ts recruited from all over; though regularly the stars are even better than the Galete affords itself. But the great majority of the coryphees and lesser lights are distressing in their personal ap- pearance. It is not alone that they are often well along in years; both Subra and Mauri, the two stars of the Grand Opera, are fat and middle-aged, each having the appearance of being scmebody’s aunt or mother rather than a fairy of the dance. But the dancerg of the Chatelet are also very plain faced. Here, at least, America has its own advantage. Most of our giris are pretty, to say the least. At the Folies Bergere there ts a very special company. All the girls are gradu- ates of the Grand Opera school, and some of them have left the Opera troupe to make more money in the less aristocratic theater, Campana, the chief dancer, is a beautiful young woman and a really good dancer. There are scarcely more than thirty in the company. Most all have pretty faces and do well. The Folies Bergere has long been known for its ballets. Now and then such men as Armand Silvestre and Catulle Men- des write scenarios for this company. Do- ing so, they go in for the beautiful as the French understand it—love pieces, which are, nevertheless, utterly uitsentimental. What they amount to is scarcely more than a series of animated tableaux. Loie Ful- ler’s long engagement at the Folies Ber- gere raised the tone of the establishment very much indeed, And departing she has left behind her footprints which perhaps another—but there ig no perhaps about it. There will certainly be some other serpen- tine dancer at the Follies Bergere during the coming seson, for Miss Fuller herself has made other arrangements for Paris. But the higher tone which she gave to the establishment of the Rue Richter has had an elevating effect even on its ballet. Without knowing anything about the clas- sic ballet herself, she persuaded the young ladies who had graduated from the Opera school to loosen up a bit, to give themselves more swing, to be less wooden than their teachers had trained them up to be. At the Nouveau Theater the new panto- mime, which was going to astonish the world a few years ago, is varied by bal- let pfeces scarcely different from ‘the Folies Bergere. As to the new pantomime (I’En- fant Prodigue, Scaramouche, etc.), will it have the brilliant future which enthusiasts were only a short time ago predicting f; it? Will it become, as some have said, the sole and only theater of the future? “That is not flattering to the dramatic authors who still know how to write dial There Uttle danger of It.” This Is the staid and settled Paris critics say of very beautiful attempt to give to is something more like the story ballets which every one who knows Vienna has learned to love so well. ‘Tre attempt ts already a failure so far as Xhe tmmediate future is concerned. The pantomimes were pretty, but there was not enough real dancing in them to have suited the Vienna tas! Meanwhile Parisians who wish to see true ballet in its highest form—uniting beauty, youth, sentiment, story, scene and merito- rious music—must take the Orient express for the Hof-operntheater. STERLING HEILIG, iy VISITING CARDS A Glimpse Into the Workshop Where They Are Made. THE TRAINED HAND AND EYE Preparing the Pasteboard for Its Advent Into Society. CRESTS AND MONOGRAMS ‘Written Exclusively for The Evening Star. T THIS TIME OR- ders for engraved vis- iting cards are being left in the shops by those who have de- pleted the contents of their card cases dur- ing the summer out- ing. How few,though, even among those well informed in mat- ters of greater mo- ment, understand the difference between an engraved visiting card and one printed from type. A very general expression heard at the engravers’ shops from customers is “to strike off” such a number of cards, and they are surprised to learn when they have bought no plate that such a thing is necessary. In many respects the printing of an en- graved card is a process very similar to the printing of etchings, steel engravings and other pictorial subjects made on plates of metal. The pictures or impressions from these latter are in minute relief. That is, the ink lays on the paper like sand on sand- paper, and this relief is the cause of much of the softness and beauty of the pictorial subject, for notwithstanding the minuteness of the relief of the lines and dots of ink above the surface of the paper they each cast a shadow, and the blending of the real lines and dots with the shadows creates an effect that cannot be attained in any other process. This same effect adds, also, to the artistic value of an engraved visiting card or invitation, and coupled with this is the advantage of originality, since a per- sonal card can, of course, bo only imitated in the general style of the lettering. So one’s card case is filled with what may be considered not improperly proof engrav- ings. In the Hands of the Ungraver. If one a to use engraved cards and has no plate, a plate will have to be en- sraved. After an order for such has been left at a shop,it is sent,with instructions as to the style of lettering and such other de- talls,to the engraver. This artisan sits, usu- ally,at an adjustable sloping table placed be- fore a window—one that opens to the north, {f possible, in order to secure that subdued light which {s best for all graphic purposes. He also has before him, frequently, a screen of white tissue paper, which further softens the light and prevents reflections on the bright metal surface upon which he engraves. The implement most hard steel wencrally of a triantanr hapee ofa fitted in a handle and sharpened at the end, Engraver at Work, obliquely, to a point of requisite filneness. Then there are a number of subordinate teols, such as tiny double-pronged forks of different widths, for marking parallel space lines on the plate, T squares, burnishers and scrapers, all used elther to prepare the plate for the work of the graver or finish it uj after that tool has been used. Copper and steel plates are used, the former abdut a sixteenth of an inch in thickness and the latter about double that thickness, and these are procured from the manufacturers in a nearly finished condition, and are fur- nished in certain sizes, When an engraver is given an order to execute, say for a visiting card, he first takes a copper plate that will suit the size of card selected, rubs down the surface with charccal and oll and then buffs it bright with a felt buffer, Upon the now highl: polished surface he slightly scratches, wil @ quill or pointed stick of wood, a sketch of the required name backward, as all such work must be in reverse on the plate. With the little forks he scratches next ide lines for the width and ye <A fo magnifying glass su) in a frame he proceeds to cut into the plate, with a raver, the name he has previously sketched i This is very delicate work and easily shows the skill of an expert in the beauty and firmness of the lines and curves and in the formation and joints of the let- ters. It is obvious that large plates require more time, and, when the subject is an elab- orate design or picture, the adoption of a combination of mechanical and chemical means is often necessary to accomplish the final result. The ruling machine is a deli- cately adjusted piece of mechanism for pro- ducing tints to imitate the flat wash cifects in drawings. The fine, close parallel lines that most often make up the skies in an en- graved picture, the background of a por- trait or the shading of lettering and fancy work in a letter heading, are done with a ruling machine, Nearly all fine engravings have some ruled tints upon them, and others are almost entirely of these ruled lines, as, for example, the steel engraved pictorial calendars, so frequently seen ef late on office desks. Bitten by Acid. These tints are made by a diamond point drawn over the plate by the machine, moved by hand. The plate has been first coated on both surfaces with an acid resisting wax, and the diamond cuts through this coating and exposes the surface of the plate in many fine Ines. In order that the latter may have depth enough in the plate to hold irk, chemistry 1s resorted to--that is, the plate is subjected to a bath of diluted acid, which eats into the parts of the waxed plate exposed by the diamond. This whole opera- tion of coating with wax, ruling and bitin, with acid, may be several times repeat with resulting effects of cross hatching, deeper tints and the like. In most instances before this ruling has been done the greater part of the hand work has been either en- graved or etched with the aid of acid into the plate. After the final retouching by the engraver with his instruments the finished late goes from his hands to the printer. Pike the engraver, the printer may be ac- cording to his abilities and ambition either an expert or merely a skilled workman, but in any cass he is one who must exercise ex- treme care in his occupation, or the easily damaged plates he handles will quickly be tell-tales of his bungling. For printing from engraved plates a platen press is used. It is made of, first, a bed or slab of iron, whi the en- ved plate rests, and this bed !: ea Between two tron or ra—a large one on the under side and a smaller polished surfaced one at the top. The roll- ers are supported in an iron trame, at one side of which is a large yrtome fara set of radiating arms, worked by hi for turn- ing the small roller, the revolution of which moves the press bed with its engraved plate under the roller and by pressure against the plate makes the impression. The frame i: supplied with screws for regulating th ressure of the small roller against the bed. jaten presses differ in some respects ac- cording to make and improvement in pat- tern, but the foregoing description is sub- stantially true of all. For ordinary com- mercial printing none of the presses is large. The bed reaches about to the prin- ter’s waist, and the press does not exceed @ couple of feet in width, Having received the plate, the printer de- cides, from the nature of the design or subject of the engraving, and from the quality of the paper or card to be used, whether hi rd Pilate Printer at His Press. He sometimes underlays the plate with thin paper in places where heavy shadows appear in the engraving, and this insures, by the differently distributed pressure, @ g00d rendition of the lights and shades in the printed impression, or if the subject be merely lettering, {t brings out the tine lines strongly. But this ling requires the greatest carefulness and judgment on the part of the printer. The pressure necesrary to bring all the ink out of the lines of the plates on to the paper having been exactly determined, the printer begins making the impressions. On more modern makes of presses the plate, with its underlays, is kept in a stationary position on the press ‘bed, without being ifted from the inking slab to the bed, as in the old way. The plate is “filled in” either with a roller made of soft textile materia) thoroughly coated with an ink composed of a mixture of dry color, oils and dryers, or the ink is daubed on wigh a dauber of simi- lar material to that of the roller. In either way, the plate is quite coated over with the ink. With a soft roil of cheese cloth the printer dexterously wipes off the ink from the surface of the plate, so that none is re- moved from out of the lines, and then, with the hand alone and a little whiting, quickly polishes away the stains left by the oily ink. The paper is then laid upon the plate. Girls usually do this, and are called feed- ers. The wheel at the side is then revolved by the printer, sending the press bed, with the plate and ‘eo under the roller. Mod- erated by the “backer” on the roller, the ressure, to a certain extent, drives te | iber of the paper down into the engra lines containing the ink, which adheres to the paper after it is removed from the plate. Engraved Letter Paper. This whole operation of filling in, wiping and polishing the plate and printing each impression separately is continued until the order is completed. Expedition is gained on modern presses by @ quicker movement of the bed in going under the roller and in its being brought back to its former position automatically. The impressions being in re- Hef, are easily emirched, and have to be carefully laid aside in rows to permit the oily ink to dry. Etchings and the like, which require artistic development previous to the pulling of the impression, such as the mak- ing of tints and high lights on the surface of the plate by the printer himself, are best done on the old-fashioned presses of slow movement. The monograms, crests and address lines that are so much used on correspondence papers nowadays are also usua!ly made in shops where plate printing is done, as the two arts are closely aijlied. Combinations of letters making the personal monograms, or the address lines as they appear on let- ter paper, are engraved most usuaily on Httle blocks of steel, called dies, in a way similar to engraving on a plate. Crests and coats of arms are best when nk into the die. That is, the engraver, after first cutting or etching the rudiments of the design in the metal, sinks it deeper by beating into it with a hard steel punch, and afterward retouching the design with the graver. This method in the resulting im- pression presents a very high relief and beautiful finish. Some engravers make a specialty of sinking dies and do no other kind of engraving. Stamping from dies is an operation quite dissimilar to plate printing. The press used for the purpose is small, but massive, and rests on @ cogs f bullt bench. The die ig held engraved face downward, fastened in a littlemovable steel case that fits in @ groove at the lower end of a vertically supported short steel bar, which transmits to the die a stampi: movement, received by the bar being stru on its upper surface by the downward revo- lution of an upright steel screw, operated by hand. The die is drawn upward away from the paper, after the impression is made, by @ set of powerful springs. Like plate printing this process necessi- tates an abundant use of ink, a very small quantity of which appears in the impression on the paper. The die is removed from the Press, but while still in the small case is Girl Stampt “filled in” by the stamper, with a small brush full of a thick ink of the necessary color id mixed with a brilliant varnish. This ink or color, as it is better termed, fills the engraved depths of the die, while @ great deal more is left by the brush on the surface, which has to be wiped off by passing the die quickly over a pad of smooth, thin paper, kept for the purpose on the bench at the right-hand side of the stamper. Perfect relief in a stamped impression is attained by us @ counter die, made by gluing bits of straw board or card on the flat surface of an iron slot immediately under the die, which, when struck by the die, becomes a permanent relief impres- sion, which presses the thin sheet of corre- lence paper up into the die, whenever an impression is made. The pressure is thus exerted in two directions. The paper counters require to be trimmed with a band Saini ye eS design on the otherwise the paper bruised around the impression when comes stamped, RAILROADS, PENNSYLVANIA, RAILROAD. Station coruer of 6th and B streets, In effect June 24, 1 90:80 AM. PENNSYLVANIA’ LIMITED.—Putimeg vation ja Cincinnati, Bur — is, fet Parlor By é for na “Greenville stations’ and through train for Prout Herel ack ate Bee oe ee m.— W Nf NN CTH SESTIBULED LIMITED. compoeed of Palle man Vestibuled Sleepers and Dining Oars, rans vis camareiRe an se MM 5 W. IM Shee p.m, dal only.” for ‘Sur > for in. W. A. TURK, L. 8. BROWN, Gen Act Pass’ BALTIM Gen. Pam. Dept. “i Bebedule tn June % 1894. Leave Washington station, corner of New Senieee, oe trains, a ag ter B28, 33.53 FHILADELPELA. Failagelphie, New York, Boston laity, 4:20, 8:00 (10:00 a.m ex. Son. a2" ar), 200" (208 Dining, + guia Dm. Sleeping Car, open at 10: But For Se ee ere for PREG GLA sg oF. MEE Sete oe Mes gee tric-lighted, Steam-heated Train. al Washington to eS eetiieeeti . LADIES’ GOODS. 2 Sees ae re talned tor and Golivered, © eer ta Lapins, BEAISKIN re ot at inte stvles. ~~ Sairead, ? “SE MISSES CUNNINGHAM, ease 1808 Sth st. nw., near N et. —s— ANTON AND CAROLINE LERCH, 826 12TH AND 1206-1208 I +t. nw. French dyeing aod cleaning of every description: evening and party dresses made « specialty. Our patronage extends tnte the most fashionable circles. az STEAM CARPET CLEANING. AMMONIATED Ww STEAM CARPET cumAN J best manner, UNDERTAKERS. W. R. Speare, Undertaker & Embalmer, Telephone ree PALA, Bm