The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-02-24
WAsHINGTON-AND HORNS.
why Horns arc footed ON the 22nd of
Fcbruary-HOrns ScripturaI, Classical,
Medieval, Historical and BibuIOus-The
Little End of the Horn.

why w aSnlDStOn DlfGn-Qay SnOulu De Gel
ebrated with the footing of horns is a question
worthy the attention of curious inquirers
Doubtless the practice has significance. Ii
default of an immediate explanation of tn
custom, let us suggest one. The Pater Pdtrit
was wise and modest, after the manner of tru
merit,-indeed, he may be considered the vic
let in the nosegay of nation makers, and wa
never much given to blowing his own horn
1t is then only poetical justice that his gratefu
children should devote at least one day in thu
year to blowing horns for him; SO ON thu
twenty second of February vigorous-lunget
youth from the Great Lakes to the Great Gulf
and from Puget Sound to Passamaquodd.
Bay join in one ear-piercing toot in homer o
the man who never told lie.
THE HORN OF SCRIPTURE.
1t should be borne in mind that the horn i!
no unworthy emblem and that it figures con
spicuously in sacred history and profant
legend. In scripture it is used as symbol o
strength aud honor, for which see Deut
xxxiii-17, Ps. cxxxii-17, Jer. xlvili-25, and
other places. ellis horn shall be exalted" il
the noble oriental metaphor,-a metaphor
which is surely not inappiicable to Washing
ton and his fame. Kingdoms and great pow
ers are often described by horns, as in Dan
iers vision, and the application is net amiss to
the nation which Washington fathered. Ger,
| tain other symbolical meanings as in the mys-
| tical ten horned beast of the Apocalypse carry
us too far into the bewilderipg maze of scrip
tural exegesis to be dwelt upon. The rams
| horns used at the seige of Jericho are how
s,,u o1r 9TH i'm
| who was s'frst in war" We are told that the
priests of the chosen people encompassed the
walls of Jericho for six days. On the seventh
day they made the circuit Of the city, preceded
by the ark of the covenant, and blowing
mighty horns. At the final blast the walls
fell with great crash. This mode of captur-
ing walled towns was attempted by some OF
our generals in the late civil war. They sat
down before certain Southern cities and blew
mighty blasts on their own horns; but their
efforts failed to meet with that success which
crowned the Israelite. expedition.
The horns of Moses, an artistic tradition
which arises from curious mistranslaton OF
the Hebrew word karas, and the horn of Ga
briel, may be mentioned in passing.
MYTHICAL HoRNs.s
In classic myth the horn plays no unimpor-
tant part. The horn of Alecto, that young
woman with the curly hair, did not give out a
pleasant sound to the ears of men. The horn
of the goat Amalthea, our cornucopia OF sim
lie and allusion, was placed among the stars as
the emblem of plenty, peace and concord, and
may be seen there even to this day when the
enyious clouds do not come between. The
Gate of Horn, for which we are indebted to
Greek pun, figures prominently in the Aneid
Anchises says to Plus Eneas, as that gentle
man is about to leave hell:
Stunt gemine somni portae quarum altera ferter
Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris
The horn or conch-shell of the sea god forms
the subject of one of Wordsworth finest SON.
nets:
-Great God I'd rather be
A pagan, sucked in a creed outworn,
So might /, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn,
See Proteus rising from the sea
Or hear old Triton blow his wreafhed horn.
The dire confusion caused by the panic
breeding horn of great Pan is familiar to all
readers.
The northern mythology has its quota of
sacred horns Chief among these is Gallar,
which Heimdall, the great god with the golden
teeth presumably the patron deity of dentistsl
blew as he welcomed the souls OF heroes across
the bridge Bifrost or the rainbow to the happy
ValhalIa. That must have been pleasant
sound to hear, for it was the summons to i'm
mortality.
Medieval romance fairly bristles with horns.
The most famous of these is deservedly Jot-
mund, the horn of Roland, which was of ivory,
and bigger than massy beam, Cervantes tells
u.s. Ariosto says that birds fell dead at its sound.
1t will be remembered by readers OF poetry
as 18th at dread horn whose blast on Fontara-
ban echoes borne came to Charlemagne from
the dolorous route of Roncesvalles. The
veracious chronicler Turpin says, ia telling OF
the battle "Roland now sounded his marvellous
horn with such force that at the third blast it
broke in two. Above all the noise OF the bat
tie it was heard as if it had been voice from
the other world, and the whole Saracen army
drew back in terror"
The horn of fidelity which Inorganic La Faye
sent to King Arthur is notable. 1t had this
merit: 'tNo lady could drink out of it who was
not to her husband true" The scandalous old
chronicler says, "Arthur's queene, with an
hundrede ladyes or more try'd to drinke, but
onlie four managed to drinke cleane"
The horn which the fairy Logistilla gave to
Astolpho in the Orlando Furoso, blast upon
which by that doughty champion put whole ar
mes to fight, was very desirable
piece of furniture for warrior to
possess The King Horne of the old
French metrical romance is interesting as the
original of the little Jack Horner who sat. in a
corner and as an illustration of the fact that
the bugaboos of one generation become the
nursery heroes of the next. .ae
In modern romance and poetry the horn plays
no inconsiderable part. We can but briefly
mention the horn of the wild huntsman in
Burgers CHASTITY ballad; the wonderful trum-
pet of Antony Van Corlear of which the vener-
abe Diedrich Knickerbocker speaks; the prob
lematical horns which Donatello perhaps wore
under his clustering curls; and the pagan horn
in the Dunciad, lent by Pan to Moses.
THE DRINKING HORN.
The drinking horn has a fame as old as the
earth. ITO take q horn is a phrase which the
dictionaries mark as vulgar; but perhaps it
is intended that "vulsar" shall be taken in
it's original sense of common" The
most ancient Oh LDeSc utfHo 10 1iio oho Whioh
Thor, consumed by mighty northern thirst,
attempted to drain on his visit to Utgard, but
which to his astonishment he found commune
Gated with the sea. He succeeded in lowering
it three inches, which justly entities him to the
proud distinction Of being the 'boss" topper Of
all time Drinking certainly has eminent au'
thority. The high Gods waxed merry ove1
their wine on Olympus, and the northern AS
gard appears TO have been a spiritualized beeI
garden. Even the ham was not wanting for
the inexhaustble boar Schrymer was served
I'D day after day with the damnable iteration
of boarding house spare.rib. OF more mod
ern horns, that one bequeathed by King Wit
laff to the merry monks of Croyland, is the
most famous. .
The horn historical is represented in the
Horn of Power blazoned on the standard OF
Tamugin when he assumed the title of Ghengis
Khan.
OTHER HORNS.
For the history of "Auld Hornie" we refer
the reader to those worthy gentlemen, Christo-
pber Marlowe, John Milton, Daniel Defoe
Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Rene LIE Sage.
The horns of the moon have always been
fayorite themes with the poets. Dryden used
them as chronometers, singing "Ere ten moons
,....o,od o;tbar horn - Million sDeaks of