was
advertised by various dealers as a remedy for many ills, and each
disease had as many stones which would surely cure. This was pleasant
for the sick, as they could have a choice of beautiful remedies for
their money and it is convenient for the writer of to-day for he can
attach almost any fancy to a precious stone, and be sure of warrant for
it somewhere in ancient lore.
Now
romance and poetry have faded from the advertisement. With swarms of
young men and women, barely out of their teens, parading our streets
with dress-suit cases plastered over with marks of Cairo and Calcutta
; with newspaper columns carrying the prosaic facts of output, prices,
and values of diamonds and diamond-mine shares; with fast steamships
linking the cities of the west with the ports of the tawny east, and
railroads taking a traveling world through the jungles of India and
Africa, the haze is lifted, and the things we see are shorn of the dear
imaginings old-time eyes thought they saw in its sunny vaporings.
India, Africa, and Cathay, are pounds, shillings and pence to the
Englishman; dollars and cents to the American now, and they who deal
in the things which came therefrom have taken the cue. There is little
variety in the song they sing; the refrain is always the same, " The
diamond I offer you for one hundred dollars is worth one hundred and
ten, and when the syndicate raises the price of rough five per cent.,
it will be worth so much more." The description one dealer gives of
the stone he is offering to sell for one hundred dollars, if true,
would make it cheap to an importer at twice the amount; another,
oblivious of several profits added to the first cost, writes his
diamond up as a good investment; all alike ignore the
