Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-01-26
THE CENTENNIAL NEW YEAR.


The literature of many lands is gar
nished with legends which attest the
undying vitality of religious beliefs,
patriotic traditions and national aspi.
rations THERE'S the myth Of st. John,
sleeping at Ephesus, the seat Of his
ancient pastorate, until the last time
shall come to bring deliverance to the
world grooming under the bondage of
sin the Moorish tale Of King Boabdil,
as he watches and waits in his bloody
shroud for the returning glory OF the
Crescent in its victorious struggle with
the Gross; the medieval vision Of Char
lemagne, sitting on his throne in the
heart of the Untersbery, sword in hand,
and alert for the coming Of Anti Christ
whom he shall finally destroy from
the face Of the earth /; the romance Of
the three Tells, sleeping on the banks
OF Lake Lucerne, but ready at a mo-
ment's call TO deliver their country from
the dominion Of the Austrian the pic
turesque story Of Don Sebastian keep
ing vigil in his unknown grave over
the destinics Of his beloved Portugal !;
the fiction of King Arthur, not dead,
but carried to the fairy land from which
he is destined one day to emerge for the
redemption OF Britain from Saxon OPP
preston; the wild dream of the Mexi-
can Indians that the spirit Of Monte
yuma still turks behind the stonc-faced
image at Gila Bend, and bides his time
for the expulsion of the Spaniard the
old-time fable of Frederick Barbarossa,
the grim Emperor of Germany, slum-
bering with his knights around him
under the Kyffhauser in Thuringia till
the time shall come for the unification
of the Fathcrland and for its cxaltation
TO the highest place among the nations
of the earth. In legends such as these
we read the constancy with which
men clcavc 10 the defense of their al
tars and their frcsides, for il is the
pcrpetuity Of the faith they preserve
in the religion and land Of their fathers
that has given 10 these fables their
currency and their persistence.
Besides these national and religious
traditions there is another class Of fic-
tons which have been invented to H.
lustrate and embody the epochs Of
growth and expansion witnessed in the.
planting Of Christianity and in the de-
yelopment OF empire. There, for in
stance, is the story Of the Seven Sleep.
ers of Ephosus, which Gibbon has not
disdained 70 enshrlnc in the swelling
pages, Of his imperial history, and
which tells us OF the pious youth who
fell asleep under the reign Of the En-
peror Dccious, the most inhuman per-
sccutor Of the Christians, to wdken
again more than hundred and fifty
years afterwards, under the rcign Of
the good Theodosius, when the religion
Of Paganism had sunk into popular
contempt and when Christianity had
come TO rule the civilized world And
what American reader Is not familiar
with the romantic tale Of Rip Van
Winklc, as told by Irving, which rccitcs
the strange adventures that befcll the
long sleeper in the Catskill mountains
only 70 serve as prelude 10 the sur
prise thatfsll upon him when he awokc,
no longer the loyal subject of George
Ill, or the crony Of Nicholas vcdder,
the tapstcr, and the sometime boon
companion Of Van Brumnel, the Dutch
sch6olmsstsr, but the ffse and sover-
dgn oitissn Of this ersss republic, then
6f ! decedv q ysals o. more pilosing
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