Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-06-16
The Druids and their Temples.

The Druids and their Temples.
Near the town of Carnac, in Brittany.
France, there is an extensive plain several
miles wide, with Il flat and barren surface.
1t is the last place in the world n tourist
would care about visiting, if he were SIM
ply travelling in search of beautiful objects.
In winter the coolest winds blow over it
with wild force, and in summer it is I'M
protected by trees or shrubberv from the
scorching shafts of the sun. But it is not
wholly uninteresting, and | propose that
we shall make u short visit TO it.
We will suppose, then, that You and |
are stopping at one of the quiet t,vcrns in
Carnac. and have wandele ed toward the
plain for a walk Just outside of the town
Il bit of a hill rises high enough to show
Us the surrounding country.
There are few houses OF trees on the
plain; but it is divided into several avenues
bv long rows of unhewn upright stones,
which, as far as the eve can see, are ranged
in almost perfect order. like an army pre-
pared for battle. There are over Il
thousand of them, and they stretch across
the country from east to west for nearly
seven miles. The largest are twenty-five
feet high, and the smallest ten feet. A
few have fallen. and others have been
carried away; but originally they We're
placed apart at regular distances.
When YOU come nearer to them You
will see many signs of age upon them.
They are scanned, NOISY and battered.
How old do You guess they are? Nohodv
is quite sure, not even the wi>est of the
his, orans, but we may safely say that they
have held their present positions for over
U,,. j,rl, ~,
hundred years they have chung to the
mcagcr ground and withstood the com
bincd assaults Of time and storm, while
generation after generation of the living
has passed away.
How did they come there The simple
cre,lulou> people of old. to whom all fairy
stories were the trucst histories, believed
tat giants brought them and placed them
but we know better than that.
They were erected by ordinary men. and
Won may imagine how much labor the
work cost at IL time wh.n there We're no
carts or wheel bnrrowS, much less Railroads
OF massive cranes. Years, perhaps cen
turtles. were occupied, and to the builders
the undertaking must have seemed a.
StupendOus as the erection OF the l. Isl
River bridge seems to us.
in Brittany; but the most famous collection
is on 4 plain near the Town of Salisbury. in
England This is called Stonehcngr. and
consists Of one hundred and forty stones.
the smallest of which weigh ten tons and
the largest seventy tons. The rem ,in> OF
men and animals have been also found in
the vicinity, and these have given the
ANTICIPATES Il clue as To the objects lOl
which the stones were raised.
Nothing positive is known about Them
Init it is supposed that they mark the tenn
pies of the Druid>. religions order which
possessed great power in France and En-
gland lurinr the century before AMI the
century after the coming of Christ. They
obtained 4 complete mastery over tho
ignorant and supcr-titiou> p'opic then uc-
rupving those countries. hv the practice o
mysterious, arts. which often were eN-
trcmrlv cruel They prof to know
the hidden nature of thing, and the forms
and movements Of the sun and stars: but
in reality they Were not II wise ~ III,
children in oar primary schools. AMI tho
simplest tricks of a Tool modern conf Ircr
would surprise the most wonderful unc>
They were astrolowcr> and herb doctors It.
we'll rs priests and hi>toriai;,ns. and they
a>rribcd Il sacred character To many plants
Human sacrifices formed one o. the mos
terrible features of their religion I'll,
vi tins usually We're criminals OF prisoners
of wIr; but when there We're none of these
innocent and unotfeniin" p r>oii> wcr,
sacrificed.
Tho tavoriic res ut of the pruid> was III
island OBJ 0-itr the mouth of the river
Loire. in France. where once every v.".r
between sunrise and sunset they pun e
down and rebuilt the roof of their temples
and any priest who allowed the smallest
pIrt of the sacred materials to fall careless
~. WIS torn to pieces by h fellows.
The only traces of the order left To IL
are the rude stone buildings of >tonrhcnr,
and Carnlc. Retrcatinr before the Ro-
mans. the Druids went to the lie OF
An~Ie>cv. in Wales: and when they saw
their con4uerors following. they mad,
preparations for 4 battle Among their
preparations -not exactly for the battle.
but what they expected t. follow it-Werc
immen-e affairs. on which they intended f.
sacrifice the unfortunate Romans who
-hould be left after the battle. They WI.
luite sure that they would need til It
affairs, for thrir orlclrs gave them every
reason to believe in glorious triumph OF
jhrir aims Bat the Romans were again
victorious, and thu Druid~ themselves were
he ones Sacrtircd.- Alexander Vain
wright, in s.. Nicholas Tor June