Show is 5 M el n P ayed at ca 4 ads h rou h t h e 7 ms B i 1 I 7 X AA raz i J V PIRT QT ja az 4 Y T by ELMO WATSON 0 0 YOU remember way back when your y 0 parents would have been horrified if they had found playing cards in your possession because tile the devil lurked in a pack of cards how flow surprised they would have been told them that eliat to 10 play cards was not a tiling thing of evil but a perpetuation of an ancient rite as old ns as the history of d for that bould have been perfectly true trite a man wits accustomed to resort to the making of magic to determine what course he should pursue in a world filled with bewilderment and superstitious tears fears arrow divination was a favorite kind and to make this magle magic a n circle was drawn buthe ground with the tha proper proper rites and incantations and divided into tile tha four directions then with mure mystic ceremonies arrows were rast cast into the ring nod upon tile the manner of their falling failing depended the future A survival of this rite and these instruments Is slown shown in the card game of the koreans in which an arrow feather appears upon the back of the playing card figure no 4 in tact fact it wits among tile asiatic people mat the beginnings of card games anti and playing cards as we know them now took place blageo polo the famous traveler turning returning to tn venice late ln in the thirteenth century told among other aoa wo ders how bow the great chan tn in far off cathay had paper money made from the bark of the mulberry tree the chinese brid been making this paper money since the sixth can century tury at first eltta a game gama was played with the paper mono money itself but latel cards tn in the form of paper money yere were made using the old money symbols a coin a string of coins amyr a myriad lad string of coins and tens of myriads of strings of coins which ard are the names of the chinese suits today the form of tile the chinese playing cards Is shown in figure no noa 2 the japanese is early its as the eighth century were making prints from wood blocks and pilgrims to the shrines tn in the monasteries were given these prints as souvenirs of their th these e e prints were vere used then as now to play the flower game founded on legends which date back to the beginning of the japanese people the hindus also have a card game but their cards were thin painted disks of wood or ivory or cotton fiber paper in their game there are 12 cards to a suit and the number of suits to a pack vary so sometimes eight and sometimes ten the court cards king queen andrack and jack always picture one of the incarnations of vishnu it il was probably chinese cards however which found their way into italy in the fourteenth century and which soon afterwards became known in every european country tile the gypsies gyp after long lone wanderings through arabia and egypt from their homes in india also brought inac europe cards which carried in their strange designs parts of the myths and legends of these countries gradually there evolved front from all of the sources a game called ta tar rots otsY late inte in the fourteenth century these tarot cards were made for the nobles and were painted with the greatest care they were so costly cosily that the poorer classes of people could not affo affat them na hu eventually ti another nother card game sprang up in which common cards made with will stencils ils were used johannes a monk at biefeld Bue feld wr writing biting in 1117 1377 describes this new game which men linen call e P game of cards the pack consisted of 52 cards with three court cards to each suit stilt just like those of toddy today it Is 18 believed by bv some authorities that the earliest wood block prints made in europe were playing cards made about tile lie middle of the fifteenth ren century tury ry by this time playing cards were common in all parts burts ot of europe germany donily was milking great quantities tips of them not only for use n tit th I 1 country but tri n italy sicily vind other countries in fort fact tn in 1441 the card makers nt venice protest protested pd to the hie doge against the of aliese caedmon products by which our ur art la Is brought to total devny decay the rhe elit Get cards were very ery large and were painted by hand the d signs sign on them re the early fier ninn fondness fondee 9 for hunting aln alnio e ilke the suit stilt ilni were ere leer deer rings falcons and lulin contrast cop cor to the german cards were D z the beautifully decor decorated ateo italian cards with raised borders which were sometimes dotted or checkered then to too the suli suit signs on the italian cards were very ery different from those thosa of any other country they I 1 hey were long curved swords or scimitars standing for the nobility cups for tho the clergy f danail or tanney money for the citizens a and nd bastoni basto nl or clubs for the peasants in fact it seems hat chat thera wits no uniformity in the matter of suit signs in tiny liny one country slice since most of the playing cards were made for the nobles on special order the makers often placed on them such designs for suit signs as would best please their patron pation Sonie sometimes tImes be ba chose them himself an in other cases figures from his coat of arms were vere taken reference has already been madeko made to the pre ailing suit signs in the cards made by the germans but these hunting symbols sym bola were not uniformly used in that country one set of round cards made in cologne had suit signs of lowers flowers parrots and rabbits another Acot liei used lions monkeys pl pir rots and peacocks the suit signs of today spades hearts diamonds and dubs clubs originated in france I 1 ranee aud and made mada their first appearance early in the alie fifteenth century centary they were called colura coeurs be hearts arts paques spades trebles clubs and carreaux carreaux diamonds the sult suit of coeurs conurs stood for foi the church or clergy the carreaux carre aus was symbolical of the arrow arrowheads heads of the vassals the class from which the archers and bowmen were drawn the trebles or clover signified the husbandman and tho piques or tho points of lances represented the knights it was waa about this time too that the court cards were first named and these too we owe to the french the earliest known aids bards printed from wood blocks which are preserved to tills this day tire six cards from a set made in provence Pro enc in 1440 four foul of these are in the british museum and two ore are in the museum odthe of the united states playing card company in cincinnati figure 7 they are the knaves or valets as they tire known in fiance F rance and beir bear the names of famous knights lancelot hogler and villery valery it la Is interesting to note that during the french revolution when the house of bourbon was dethroner dethroned the kings and queens disappeared froni from playing cards also instead there were substituted philosophers for the kings emblematic personages for the queens and sans suns culottes or the revolting workmen for the kD knaves aves playing cards came into england early in the fifteenth century during the fighting in nor mundy mandy ma and touraine Tour alne anjou anil and english soldiers brought back french curds cards with them and these served as the models for english card makers in spite of the fact that paper wits was not made in england until the end nt t the century in 1403 upon the petition of the I 1 craftsmen rafts men tile the importation of playing cards carda wits forbidden by 1484 card playing had become an important part pan of the christmas festivities at least adiong the nobility and it spread so rapidly to t file lower classes that henry VII in wi 1495 issued tin an edict forbidding their use to servants and apprentices except during the christmas christinas holidays Altho although the french gave ae to us the familiar suit signs and the figures on tile the picture re cards the queer costumes which we see on no the kings queens ns and jacks when we alek up our hands are english ot or the time lime ot henry VII tile the queer dueer looking tappets over the queens ears art are the same kind ns as were worn hv by the lie indies of it henrys len flen rys bourt alilia ugh tile the wearing of their heir crowns fur far back on their fiends did not heer ine coni common trion until coneen awn iline ilip I 1 lie limaxes with their flat capi caps bronde in n the crowne like the 1 A hindmo playing card 2 chinese money playing card 3 A french card of the napoleonic era 4 back of a korean playing card showing the arrow feather 5 japanese flower game cards card 6 A patriotic playing card of the world war period 7 ono one of the earliest known playing cards of europe printed from wood blocks in prove provence cc about 1440 8 an early french drench playing card 9 A card bearing one of the tonga songs fron the beggars opera 1728 10 one of they the playing laying carets cards made in england in 1678 by L hewson Hew sonson son of general howson hewson the cobbler battlements of a house are ara like the figures which wesee we see in the paintings and tapestries ot of that time incidentally the meaning ot of tile the name for or this card has hag changed greatly grent ly through th the yeara eyears in those days the ilia term of knave was used in tile the same game way as the trench preach varlet or valet and meant merely a son eon or young servant litter later lt it came romean a rogue and from that meaning our present term anch Is suppo supposed aed to have come it was probably jackanapes originally which was derived from jacka dalpes dalpes na lpes being the spanish word for cards card playing grew in great favor in ill england during the reign of henry VII and the king himself was an addict among hla file private expenses are several entries for money at cards his daughter was also a fan nod and of jamesie Jame sIV and his bride it Is written the dynge came to the said castell and entered within tile the achammer with a small company where lie found the queene playing nt at gardes cardes when english royalty was waa overthrown and tile the commonwealth came into power card playing fell fellander fel under lunder the tern displeasure of the puritans but under tinder tile the gay rule of charles 11 II it was again in favor moreover besides the playing cards with the conventional convent lonal suit signs we find many other cany earv english cards card bearing curious pictures political satires bathes of the day which served much the same lu its 03 the cartoons and comic strips of the present time in view of the recent revival of the beggars opera ln in tills this country it Is interesting tv note that thai one pack of english playing cards was adorned adir ned with songs from that famous composition figure no 0 it is also curious to find that despite tile the puritan disapproval of playing curds cards one of the well known card makers of that period was 1 L itelson II ewson who wits was a don of 0 general Hews hewson the cobbler the practice of printing upon the cards many other things besides jhb figures of the various suits had a great vogue in europe during that time for Ins instance wrice cardinal Mayar ln in an effort to interest tile the young voting prince who litter later became louis Louls XIV in his st studies uIles wronged ranged at tor for several sets ut of playing cards each hearing bearing some rome geographical or historical information ono one set was illustrated with the pictures of famous queens and short biographical sketches and another with symbolical figures of the different countries find and a short description of that coun country tri there was also a heraldic series illustrating tile the various alous coats bonts of arms of the nobility another illustrating the famous military operations of the period and another adorned with various mythological figures among the english cards of title this period were some in which the different suits bore the portraits of kings and queens ot of various countries countr iea another was deleted devo fed to illustrated proverbs another to aesoph tables fables another showed allowed scenes front the SIon Alon mouth rebellion and still another seene scene illustrative of the reign of queen anne this 1 I practice continued down to the nineteenth century one set of french cards made mada in 1814 reflected the warlike war like spirit of the napoleonic era figure 3 being illustrated pictures of soldiers upon whose bat banners iners appended appeared the suit signs tid numbers another iother Aj set of ISM 1830 bore the music of famous dances of the lie timo and still another of kibit period showed the work ot of famous caricaturists the same tiling thing was being done lit in englund where tile pinning cords bore such buch designs MB its money tables the tables maps of the various countries the signs of the zodiac klig of all kings of eng EHK land und and vart various ious lher other educational teli tures since hame h ame it card playing notion githler a comparatively barl tittle time after paying cards were anit into inlo co country bunfry it was only her colonies follow tire hie gilad of the mother kotike r country so K america tim ti nufi hm ie w bomea come a cord nall m perli sips hie greatest in the world the renson reason for ciul thal lit in this last yur there were d in this oils countr r of if vials this IM nivan means a week I 1 all down through thron gli the lie ages ninn man hai played tit nt idida so america ls Is the anti and in alws lits ns as in tuat hinry y calio things sit earls eads alie world 1 v |