Major Edwards High School - Mesa Yearbook (West Boylston, MA)

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THE FASCINATION OF PRECIOUS STONES 2 For centuries, jade has been the favorite adornment of the Chinese, because they believe it will transmit to the body something of its secret virtue when worn or carried. There is a Chinese legend of a youth who, in pursuit of a multihued butterfly made his way into the garden of a wealthy inannarin. Instead of being punished for his accidental visit, the youth became acquainted with and married the mandarin ' s daughter. Hence, the form of a butterfly curved from jade is a symbol o successful love, and Chinese bridegrooms present jsdo butter- flies to their brides. As is the case with many of the precious stones, the ruby is thought to be a safeguard against any dangers. However, the owner must not wear a ruby simply as an ornament, he must insert it in his flesh. It was believed that a ruby worn in. thi 3 way would protect the owner from weapons of battle. This superstition may have its foundation in the iact that many . daring soldiers have passed unscathed through great perils in war. Diamond dust was once thought to be very poisonous. Various records tell of cases in which diamond dust was admini... t-?re as a poison. While Benvenuto Cellini, the celebrated artist, % was imprisoned, he suspected his enemies of planning to poison him. Since he held the belief of his time that diamond dust was poisonous, he was terrified one d-y to behold white, shiny particles in his noonday meal. He at once prepared himself to die, but suddenly it occurred to him that he should test the hardness of these particles, and he was overjoyed to fine, that he could crush them between his knife end the etone winnow 3ili. After his release, Cellini learned that his enemy had given a diamond to a gem-cutter to grind to dust so that it might oe placed in Cellini ' s food. Being very poor, the gem- cutter nept the diamond and substituted a variety oi quartz. There are a fee? exceptionally fine jewels of v,or.ld-v:ide fame about which remarkable stories have been tola. On uiory concerns a necklace of find diamonds tiiai» w as or ere a u. XV as a present to Madame Dubarry. Before it was comp.: vv. ■, Louis XV died, and the jeweler faced ruin unless he coula Find another purchaser. He solicited the young Queen aarxa Antoinette, but she refused it, saying that tho country needed iriy es more than diamonds. The luckless jeweler travel ea chrou.;hout Europe trying to sell the necklace to royalty, but wi thou o success. After ten years of annoyance cy the jeweler s a u tempts to sell his necklace to her, Marie Antoinette became lurious and commanded him never to bring it to h r agaii , A cardinal who had been in disgrace with Marie Antoinette and wished to be restored to favor, accepted the aid of Madame de la Motte, a woman of the vampire type. She told the cardi- nal that the Queen coveted this diamond necklace greatly and that his disgrace at court would end if he would lend the Queen enough money to buy it. This assurance was confirmed by letters bearing the forged name of the Queen, Maaame do la mo e

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THE FASCINATION OF PRECIOUS STONES 3 sained, possession of the necklace and sold the stones one by one. All was well until the jewelers tried to get their money from the Queen. The plot was then exposed, and the cardinal and Madame de la Motte were executed. On her way to the scaffold, even the Queen herself was charged with the theft of the necklace, The story of this necklace illustrates the association of men’s passions with precious stones. Their rare brilliancy and fascination have made them tokens of ambition, power, ana love, Ellen Lovell