The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-03-03
70 al Eteno q,

Wednesday, the hsooumene5ment If Lent,
which. in the Romsa Cstholic ahdEPro.
.testAnt Episcopal dhurchSs Is fast of
forty days Immediately preceding Easter.
The origin of this fast has been dis
puted, but it is generally regarded as
Preparation for Easter, and time espe-
oially set apart for repentance over the
sins of the past year, while the number
of forty days devoted to it is thought to
have reference to the Sayioar's forty
days fast in the wilderness. to the forty
days OF the deluge, the forty years,
wanderings of the Jews. the forty days
granted to the Ninevites for repentance,
or the timespent in fasting by Moses and
Elias. Saint Jerome speaks of the fast
as memorial Of the Saviour's passion.
According to the same writer, as we'll as
st. Leo, st. Augustine, and most OF the
fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries,
it was instituted by the apostles, although
Protestants commonly hold that it was
not established until the second or third
century. 1t seems to have been made
obligatory at least as early as the middle
of the second century. At first there
was great diversity in the time and man
ner of its observance. It's duration was
soon fixed by the church at thirty-six
days, to which four were subsequently
added. Ash Wednesday derivesits name
from custom which still prevails in the
Roman Catholic Church. of sprinkling
the head or forehead with as he's To roll
oneself in the dust, to cover the head
with ashes, was, in primitive times, q
mark of profound grief. A man who ap-
peared with his body, hair, and dress
covered withsdust, announced by such
exterior his mourning and afiiotion.
Examples of this are frequent in Scrip
ture. being mentioned in Job, the Kings,
the Prophets, and also the Gospels. Da-
vid, to express the bitterness of1his grief,
says he ate ashes like bread. In the first
centuries Of Christianity, when public
penance was imposed, ashes were cast
upon the heads of those who were con-
demned, and they were obliged to stand
without the gate of the church amid the
lamentations Of the people within. The
ceremonies of Ash Wednesday in Roman
Catholic countries are continuation of
this primitive usage.
CRUMBS. Columbia is bare of amuse-
ments-the Legislature has adjourned.
A friend, speaking Of this body, said
''their actions would be very amusing,
if the subject was not 80 serious"
Subscribers on the lower route are re-
quested to be lenient with us for few
days. A change of carriers was iadis-
pensably necessary.
We have been requested to announce
that, by special request, the Tremain
Brothers will give a concert, on Monday
evening next, at the Nickerson House
Hall, for the benefit of the Presbyterian
Church.
kilograms from Bombay, ria London,
sound like fairy tale, yet few minutes
only were required, yesterday, for COM
munications between the merchants of
New York and their correspondents in
the East Indies. Ten years hence, and
what is it that modern science and energy
will not have accomplished?
A Baltimore blacksmith has invented
q horseshoe that may be taken off at
night aud put on again in the morning rs
readily as a pair of boots. It is no un-
common thing in some places for horse
shoes to be taken off at night, though
they always take the horse off at the same
time.
Young lovers and would-be Romeos
will be glad to learn that diamond en-
gagement rings are rapidly going out of
fashion, having been substituted by
opals, emeralds and pearls. The en-
craving of all kinds of silly expressions
on the inside is also thing of the past,
and now only the date of alliance is in
serted on the outside.
Governor Scott has made the follow
ing appointments: Conrad Ehardt, Trea-