Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-05-14
ron. VA. WEDNESDAY, MAY II, 1851.

side, and gazing out upon the stream, ant
the white sails which are struggling against
the breeze, with that serious and medita
tive air which has characterized him from
child. What is he cogitating about now
Some scheme to earn patrician's wealth
and patrician's title j? Oh, no Sir JON
athan, Lord Jonathan, Duke Jonathan would
not chime as harmoniously even as Saint
Jonathan. See A smile lights his grave
face. brief as the lightning, but as bright.
He waves his hand, and surely he must be
either Saint or Devil, for forth upon the
wave there springs creature, graceful as
the swan, yet stronger than the elephant,
with great ribs of iron, and postrils that
breathe smoke and flame. 1t has no sail or
oar, yet on it rushes against wind and tide,
gathering speed as it moves until it shoots
by like an arrow tipped with fire, leaving
you only time to see Saint Jonathan stand
ing upon the bow, his arm extended, his eye
burning with blaze more intense than the
furnace beneath him, and upon his brow the
same look of solemn and fixed resolve with
which he first left his native land and went
to seek his fortunes in new world. Saint
George may have killed a "dragon," but did
he ever catch such dragon" as STEAM,
and put it in harness, and spur it on by day
and hight, by sea and land, and make it O.
bedient to his will as a steed that "knows
his rider?"
Really, we could fill this newspaper with
the deeds of st. Jonathan. At one moment
we find him with the greatest ease making
Constitutions for free States, embodying the
principles of civil and religious liberty and
challenging the admiration Of the world for
the wisdom and genius by which they are
framed. At another, he amuses himself by
tunneling huge mountains, digging enor-
nous canals, and covering the earth for
thousands of miles with net work of rail
roads. He has no throne; no insignia of
power; no standing army much larger than
the body guard of an European king; yet
twenty millions of sovereigns yield cheer
fully and proudly to his DEGREES. He has
no courtiers in livery to hurry hither and
thither with his commands; but surely ne
must be right royal saint, for the angels
have brought him down the ightnings to
bear his thoughts and messages in their
"chariots of fire.
The representative of ST. George has CIV
en- happy testimony that St. Jonathan is a
hospitabie saint. And if he has one trait
which we admire more than another, it is
this. The privations and sufferings of his
youth have taught him to pity the unfortu-
nate. He remembers that he was himself
a stranger in the land of Egypt. His hon.
est heart yearns over the sorrows of his af-
ficted brethren. He throws open his doors,
and his vast hall is crowded with guests
from every cline. Truly, no monarch's
court ever displayed grander spectacle
than that ample board, groaning with good
cheer, and surrounded by the joyful sons of
France, of Ireland, of Germany, of Hunga-
ry, of England, and of Scotland, while at
the head sits Saint Jonathan Yes, Saint
Jonathan, for, he must be saint indeed who
delivers SO many captives, who feeds so
many hungry, who clothes so many naked.
And to every man of that multitude we may
say as did Sir Henry Bulwer to the Britons,
of st. George,-''the banner Of Saint JON
athan sis on your walls" in the sunshine of
prosperity which irradiates them; "his badge
is on your breasts" in the proud and manly
port with which you walk free earth and
breathe free air; "his image is in all your
hearts" in thousand brilliant and enduring
hues of gratitude and love. Hurrah for the
Patron Saint of Liberty!
All honor to "Saint George of merry Eng
land" But the brightest day of all his life
was when he begat st. Jonathan ofAmerica.
--Richaond Republican.