Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 170, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1914 — WORLD’S OLDEST BOOK [ARTICLE]

WORLD’S OLDEST BOOK

SOME FACTS CONCERNING PACK OF PLAYING CARDS. - v: ' ~-:V - Have Been Known as Far Back a* H istory Reaches, and Their Significance Has Seldom Been Thor- '' : '• oughly Appreciated. * 37 “The oldest book in the woefd,” said the wise woman of the party of card players, indicating the pack of* cards held in v her hands. “Its leaves have been called playing cards since the fourteenth century, but they were known as far back as history reaches, by the Chinese, Persians and Egyptians, not to name the ancient® of prehistoric times. A pack of cards s&M to be a thousand years old is preserved in the numeuin of the Royal Asiatic society, “The women who play bridge ail the morning and then all the afternoon, and after that go to bridge parities to the evening,” said another of* the pasty, “little think what ancient thing® they are ploying with. Bilk wfiat was the purpose of this booth in the time Before it Became a game?”' “Ther myatte hook,” answered-th® wise woman, “held the hidden wisdom of. the ancient world. It wan used by the priests fit their temples when time was young. GUI its origin Egyptian or what you will, it lafull of astronomical symbolism, and' the wisdom, of number®;: each learning as mem had; of old was carefully concealed from; thee uninitiated. But to those who« could; read it the my® tic test book: was a veritable' book of fate. “The cards,, for. one- thins, are all symbols of the- astrological* a*rt. Each one is an emblem, It would tire you If I would attempt fix go> into the subject deeply. 1 ! can' only glhncß along the top wave® of the- dfeep l ocean. But notice a; few particular® which lie upon the surface; “The 52 emblems, or pages of this' book represent the 52: week® in the year. The 12 count emhlhms are the--12 months, the 13 cards lh: each suitr represent the sun; and! the 12 sign® of the zodiac; the four- suit- figures thefour seasons. “Further —but this you-, care easily see —the heart' is the emhlfem of spring and ldve, the trefoil or clbver leaf- — we call it club—of summer and! knowledge, the diamond? of autumn and wealth, and the acorn l or spade, of winter, labor and’ deathi The pages of this book: are in red! and black. White was once used in place of red. These colbrs in the cards symbolise night and day, astronomically, and 1 the lights and shades, of life as applied to man., "Look clhselyat the-onurt cards and notice the emblems carried These: all survive from the- ancient forms. The queens hold' the lotus flowery supplemented, in the case of the queen of spades by the distaff, emblem off industry, kept through all the long: centuries. The king, and queen, of clubß Bear symbols, of wisdom, the* king still plainly showing the winged! globe. . v “Each suit has its mystic symbolism, corresponding to the planets, id both- suit and spots- Yenus and; Mercury- rule hearts, Mars and the earth rule- dtaibs, Jupiter and Neptune; cHito* monds; Saturn ami Uranus, spade®. But I am becoming too astronomicaL I must close tMe fasclnating hook.” "W® no,” the others protested “And what about the Joker?’ the joker Xs a modem invention. He does not count in any sextans game of fife or of cards. Yet there was in the days of old always a emit Jester, so this new cardi Is not really out of place among quasCos and kings.”