ever
been my privilege to meet), affected a Jade thumb ring. And indeed Jade
thumb rings were generally worn by the Chinese nobility.
It
is possible that some day Jade may become really and universally
fashionable in the Western world. But it is very unlikely that it will
there be put to one use at least; for even our ladies of the scarlet
claws would draw the line at Jade nail protectors. At least, I suppose
they would. In China, however, where the gentry allowed their
finger-nails to grow several inches beyond the fingerÂtips in order to
demonstrate to all and sundry that they were not compelled to labour
with their hands, there was bound to arise the need for finger-nail
protectors, since nails are brittle. The late Dowager Empress of China
wore such finger-nail protectors. They were three inches in length, and
presumably she wore them during the night also, to keep company with
several Jade rings which she held in such esteem that they never for a
moment left her hands.
Like
many of the old-school Manchu nobility, the Empress took great delight
in the mere fingering of Jade. The very feel of it, as it were,
gratified some special sense. Shall we call it a Jade sense? Do you
smile at that and say "Bunk"? You are wrong. I have not the Jade sense
myself, for it needs great development of the sense of touch in a
special direction. But the Jade sense exists. It is said that the
Dowager Empress had trained herself to distinguish by touch Jade from
any other gem stone, and further, that she had developed a faculty for
discriminât-
