Show us H ca as 5 M JV a an bayed ave d at C ards ea l 5 h 0 rrue W t the aes es 09 4 61 gk I 1 let 5 4 X MAI at liwa a tn 3 V 1 n lando p 41 23 J by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 10 0 YOU remember way back when your parents would have been horrified it if they had found playing cards in your possession because the devil lurked in a pack of cards how surprised they would have been it if you had told them that to 10 play pay cards was not a thing filing of evil but a perpetuation of an ancient rite as old as the file history of mankind man kird for that would have been J perfectly true primitive man was accustomed to resort to the making of magic to determine what hat course he should pursue in a world tilled filled with bewilderment and superstitious fears arrow divination was a favorite kind and to make this magic a circle was drawn on the ground with the proper rites and incantations and divided into the four directions then with more mystic cere Til les arrows were cast into the ring and upon the manner of their falling depended the future A sur survival vial of this rite and these instruments is shown in the card game of the koreans in which an arrow feather teat lier appears upon the back of the playing card figure no 4 in fact it was among the asiatic peoples that vie the beginnings of card games and playing cards as we know them now fook place alarco 11 arco flolo the famous traveler returning to venice late in the thirteenth century told antong among other wonders tow kow the great chau in far off cathay had paper money made front from the bark of the mulberry tree free the chinese had been making this paper money since the sixth century at first a game was played with the paper money itself but later cards in the form of paper money were made using the old money symbols a coln coin a string of coins a myriad string of coins and tens of myriads of strings of coins are the names of the chinese suits today the form of file chinese playing curds cards is shown in figure no 0 2 the japanese is early as the el eighth gath century were making prints from wood blocks and pilgrims to the shrines in the monasteries were nere given these prints as souvenirs of their these prints bere rere used then as now to lo 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 pointed painted disks of wood of 01 ivory or cotton fiber paper in their game there are 12 cards to a suit and the number of suits salts to a pack vary sometimes es eight and sometimes ten the court cards ung king queen 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 atler wards became known in every european country the gydies gy pies after long wanderings through arabia and egypt from their homes in india also brought ant anti inti europe cards which carried in their strange designs parts of the myths and legends of these countries grad bally there evolved from all of the sources a game called It arots ta rots late 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 afric them but eventually another card game sprang up in which common cards made with stencils were used johannes a monk at hoefeld Hue Igue feld writing in 13 1377 describes this new game which men call a game of cards the pack consisted of 52 cards with three court coun cards to each suit just like those of today it Is believed by some authorities that the earliest wood ivond block prints made in europe were playing cards made about the middle of the fifteenth century by this time playing cards were common in all parts of europe germany especially was making great quantities of them not only tor for use in n tl th I 1 country but in italy sicily and other oilier countries in fact in hll 1411 the card makers of venice protested to the doge against the importation of three diese german products by which our art Is brought to total decay the earliest cur liest germ ti ir curds cards were very large and were painted by hand the d signs on them reflected the early german fondness fur for bunting since the suit stilt signs were deer dogs digs falcons anil and ducks in to she lie cards were the beautifully decorated italian cards with raised borders which were sometimes dotted or checkered then too the suit signs on the italian cards were very different from those of any other country they were long curvet curved swords or scimitars standing bior tor the nobility cups for or the clergy cla danard narl or money tor for the citizens and bast bastoni or clubs tor for the peasants in fact it seems that thera was no uniformity in the matter of suit signs in uny any one country since most of the cards were made for the nobles on special order the file makers often placed on them sich designs for suit signs as would best please their patron sometimes he chose them himself an in other cases figures from his coat of arms were taken reference has already been made to the prevailing suit signs in the cards made by the germans but these hunting symbols were not uniformly used in that country one set of round cards made in cologne had suit signs of flowers parrots and rabbits another used lions monkeys parrots p arots and peacocks the suit signs of today spades hearts diamonds and clubs originated in france and made their first appearance early in the fifteenth cen lury they were nere called concurs coeurs hearts piques spades irenes clubs and carreaux carr caus di diamonds amunds the 1 lie suit of coeurs conurs stood tor for the church or clergy the carreaux was symbolical of the lie arrowheads arrow heads of the vassals the elie class from which the archers and bowmen were drawn the tre relies trebles fles or clo cloer er signified the husbandman and the piques or the points of lances represented the knights it was about this time lime too that the court cards were first named and these too loo we owe to the french Fren cli the earliest known cards printed front from wood blocks which are preserved presented pres ened to tills this day are six cards front from a set made in in 1110 1440 11 10 four of these aliese are in the british museum and two are in the museum of the united states playing card company in cincinnati figure 7 they are the klaes or valets as they are known in france and bear the names of famous knights lancelot hogler and valery it Is interesting to note that during the french revolution when the house of bourbon was dethroned dethroner the kings and queens disappeared from placing cards also instead there were substituted philosophers for the kings emblematic personages for the queens and sans culottes or the revolting workmen for the knaves claying cards came into england early in the fifteenth century during the righting lighting in normandy find and touraine anjou and english soldiers brought back french cards with them and these served as the models for card makers in spite of the fact that paper was not made in england until the end of n the century in upon the petition of the english craftsmen the importation of playing cards cardi was forbidden cy by 1481 card playing find and become an important part pan of the christmas at least among the nobility find and it spread so to the lower classes that henry VII in 1495 1403 issued an edict forbidding their use to servants and apprentices except the christmas holidays holli holl lays days although the french gae to us the familiar suit signs and the figures on the picture cards the queer costumes we see sec on the kings queens and jacks when ahrn A we alk ilk up our hands are arc english ol of the lime ol of henry VIL VII the queer looking cappels lappets oer 01 er the queens cars are the same kind as were worn by lie ladles indies ol of henrys court although the file wearing earing A of their far back on their heads did not nol become common until queen Ellza elizabeths behs little lime the lumives with their flat caps broade on the file owne rowne i like the aal 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 6 A patriotic playing card of the word war period 7 one of the ea licht known playing cards of europe printed from wood blocks in provence about 1440 8 an early french playing card 9 A card bearing one of the songs from brorn the beggars opera 1723 1728 10 one of the playing cards made in england in 1678 by L hewson son of general OH hewson ewson the cobbler bler battlements of a house are like the figures which we see in the paintings and t tapestries of that time incidentally the meaning of the name for this card lias has changed greatly through th the years eyears in those days clays the term of knave was used in the same way as the french varlet or valet and meant merely a son or young servant later it came to mean a rogue and from that meaning our present term jack is supposed to have come it was probably jackanapes originally which was derived from jacka naides naides na lpes ipes being the spanish word for cards card placing grew in great favor in england during the reign of 0 henry VII and the king himself was an addict among his private expenses are several entries for money at cards his daughter was also a fan and of james IV and his bride it Is written the dynge came prilly to the said castell and entered within the chambier ch el amnier lammer with a small company where lie he found the queene nt at cordes cardes when english royalty was overthrown and the commonie commonwealth alth came into anio power card playing fell under the stern displeasure of the Purl puritans tans hut but under file gay rule of charles 11 II it was vias again in favor moreover besides the playing cards with the conventional suit signs we ne find many other early english cards bearing curious pictures political satires of the day which served sered much mid the same purpose as the cart cartoons and comic strips of the present time in view of file recent revival of the beggars opera in this country it Is interesting te tc note that thai one pack of english playing cards was adorned with ith songs from that famous composition figure no 0 9 it Is also curious to find that despite the puritan disapproval of playing placing cards one of the well known card makers of that period was L ilenson II ewson who was a son of general I hewson ilenson the cobbler the practice of printing upon the cards many other things besides the figures agures of file various suits had a great ogue inigue in europe during that time for instance cardinal mazarin in an effort to interest the young prince who later became louis XIV in his studies ai ranged arranged tor for several sots sets of playing cards each bearing some geographical or historical information one set was illustrated with the alie pictures of famous queens and short biographical sketches and another with symbolical figures of the different countries and a short description of that country there was also als a heraldic series illustrating the various coats ot of arms armi of the file Dobil nobility lity another illustrating the famous military operations ol of the period and soother another adorned with various mythological figures among the english cards of this period were some in which the different suits bore the portraits of kings and queens of various countries another was devoted to illustrated proN proverbs erbs another to aesoph fables another showed phoned scenes from the monmouth rebellion and still another scene illustrative of the reign of queen anne this practice continued d down to the nineteenth century one set of french cards made in 1811 1814 reflected the warlike war like ilke spirit of the napoleonic era figure 3 being illustrated pictures of soldiers upon whose banners appeared the suit signs ud dd numbers another set of bore the music of famous dances of the time and still another of that period showed the work of 0 famous caricaturists the same thing was being done in england where the playing cards bore bora such designs its as money tables the multiplication tables maps of the hie various countries the signs of the zodiac portraits por tralis of all the lie kings of rn england and various arlous other educational features since england gland became if card placing nation within a comparatively short time after playing cards were introduced into that country it wah wa only natural her colonies should follow the lead of the mother country so america too has bus become a efird card playing nation perli perhaps aps the greatest in the world the reason for that dial statement 11 1 this last year there were print d in this coventry packs of cards this means a ateek w eek I 1 all down through the ages mao inan ling hal played at cards so america Is simply the and in n this as in many staff things lings ti ale leads the world |