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The hunger for gems, like the lust for gold, has always been
a potent factor in the discovery, conquest and settlement of distant
lands. Columbus, Cortes, Balboa, when they sighted the Orinoco,
Peru, Panama, each had an eye out for emeralds and pearls. So
did Vasco di Gama, and farther back still, no less a personage
than Julius Caesar. The pearl, that elusive gem called Margarita,
so coveted by every Roman dame, quite as much as mere personal
ambition, is said to have lured Caesar to Britain. It was he, not
some humble fisherman, who valued at its worth the first freshwater
pearl, which centuries later responded all too well to Society's
thirst for ornament. For already is there danger of the
total destruction of the mussel, so carelessly has it been handled by
those intent on its hidden treasures. Like many another before them,
they forget that they are daily killing the goose that lays the
golden egg. Even an inoffensive bivalve, if its enemies are too active
and many, is capable of extinction.
While the ideal pearl is white, it is not an intense white, but
one with a warm, almost yellowish tone, like certain beautiful
teeth, with which they are often compared. Or silvery, moonlight
white, "la gran Margherita," as Dante calls it. The chalky white,
without lustre, which by reason of the present extreme demand has
a market, is not to be compared to the other, though it may be
perfect in shape. While the public is not yet so familiar with their
defects, there is just as much difference between pearls as diamonds,
and their value goes up and down accordingly. But a wellmatched
string of large, round, lustrous pearls is far more difficult
of attainment than a similar quality of diamonds, and nowhere in
the world are purchasers so keen on perfection as in the United
States.
Women affect pearls, for one thing, because, if brunette, there
is no jewel more becoming, the contrast between the dark hair and
eyes, if the teeth are good, and the creamy spheres, whether on
neck, hair, or ears, being peculiarly engaging. With a blonde they
are less in harmony, but what type will be deterred by a little thing
like that, if fashion leads her on? Americans, for a long time,
were indifferent to the pearl which some think the finest jewel
flower of a high civilization ; but a few years ago, the madness seized
them. They paused in the rush for diamonds long enough to annex
loads of these frail gems of the ocean, and now every one in Society,
whether her beauty is enhanced thereby or not, must have her
"string." Held almost exclusively by the aristocracy, the common
people have passed them by. Their reserved charm is not for the
business suit or cotton gown, but for the adornment of those who do
not toil.
Yet the Queen of England fails to wear them well, as a recent
picture, crowded with ornament, but too plainly shows. Nor does
many a possessor of wealth untold, who uses them, string upon
string, like potentates dethroned, for vain display. Pearls accord
only with elegant simplicity; they cry out for the severity of a
classic neck, crowned with dark abundant hair, above unadorned
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