The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1880-03-05
1Niscrllanruus.
FOR he -AgiS d. MteRigthc0..
M A RCH-
Ky A VI. HANCOCK.

The month of March, the opening month
| of spring, was the first month of the new
| year with the old Romans 1t was especially
appropriate that it should have been, and
should now be, for it is with March that
sleeping nature begins to arouse from her
long winter nap and put on the garniture of
green that robes her summer life. Dedicated
by the Romans to the clustering old God of
War, Mars, the month has kept up its rcpu-
tati0n in all ATTITUDES and through all ages by
its clustering Winds which poets tell us com
bined with April showers enables "May in
her dying struggle to throw her arms full of
flowers into the lap of rosy June" March
winds, however, have other and more sub
stantial purposes in the economy of nature
They lap the winter SHOWS and rains from
the drenched earth preparing it for seed
time "a dry March never begs its bread"
says the old proverb; and "a peck of March
dust is worth kings ransom" In most
seasons he blows himself to death by the 25th
and nature gradually thereafter puts ON her
spring attire. at comes in like lion and
goes out like a lamb" is misquoted and mis-
understood by prefiXing the "if" The pro-
verb is positivc at comes in like lion and
goes out like lamb" and scarce one year in
ten contradicts its truth.
Our Saxon ancestors called the month
Lcnat- Monat, the month of Strengthening days,
from which the lenten season derives its name
Away down the ages, wrapt in the mists and
dust of long buried traditions, March was
portrayed as a man with aspect as fierce as
the winds which characterize it, tawny in
color, wearing a helmet upon his head, lean
ing upon a spade, with a basket of seed on
his right arm, the sign of the Ram in his
almond blossoms Old Edmund Spencer
sung:
sturdy March, with brows full stcnly
And armed strongly, rode upon ram,
The same which over Heespontus swan,
Yet in his hand spade he also bent
And in bag all sorts of seeds, we same
Which on the earth he strewed as he went,
And filled her womb with fruitful hope of nour-
ishment."
Ere the month has gone, most probably,
the modest violet will lift its purple eyes
above the dead leaves, and mingle its fra
GRANGE with gentle winds to an0nt the in
FAINT April The arbutus loveliest of the
wild, uncultivated family of Gods flowers,
clinging close to the soil from whence it
springs, will blend its perfume with that of
the violet, and with the same silent voice pro-
claim the return of spring. The sharp air of
the night may fill their eyes with tears but
God, who loves only that which is pure, love
ly and beautiful, will send the sun to kiss the
frozen tears away. The feathered songsters
of nature that fed to more genial climes when
the leaves We're wildly flying before the No
vember winds, one by one, the advance
guards, will gladden. our hearts with low.
sweet timid bursts of summer songs. But
yesterday shivering pee-wcc called to me
from the tree nearest my window, and this
morning the blue birds were as happy as if
March were dead and buried. Every marsh
will be turned into bedam by frogs, forget
full that many time they have had their car
licr croakings frozen in their throats. A
gaudy-wnged butterfly, perchancc weary
with the long winter slumber, may try its
trembling wings, another harbnger of
awakening nature.
There are several days in this month in
the Church calendar, which are regarded as
among the most noteworthy of the year. The
18th, or st. Patrick's Day, the Patron Saint
of Ireland, is burdened with the observance
of II thousand years by the Irish Catholic
church. Like Homer, the date of his birth,
and the place, are shrouded in mystery. The
better opinion, we believe, fixes the former
at about 317 A. d.. and the latter in Dunn
bartonshire, Scotland. His death is suppos-
ed to have occurred March 18th, 493 A. d.,
the venerable Saint having reached the re-
markable age of one huRdred aHd ttce,.taj- sil
years. When but sixteen years old he was
| captured by pirates and sold to an Irish chief
| from whom he escaped after six years of ser
vice. We next find him in France preparing
| for the ministry and after the death of the
missionary Palladius he was sent by Pope
| Celestine, about 431, to Ireland to complete
the work of converting the Irish people to
Christianity. His greatest miracle was the
Kidding Ireland of snakes, which he did by
beating drum, driving them into the sea-
| He was SO fervent in his undertaking that he
knocked a hole in the drum, which was i'm.
mediately repaired by an angel, which pre-.
vented the miracles failure.
| Tradition says that poteen or Irish wills
key, was so named by st. Patrick, he having
first taught the Irish the art of distilation.-
The wearing of the Shamrock on st. Patrick's
day commentaries the fact that he illustrated
the doctrine of the Trinity in his preaching
| by this plant which bears three leaves on
one stem. In the Island of Tough Derg was
q cave called St. Patrick's Purgatory, which
for several centuries formed an article offaith
in popular belief, not only in Ireland, but
throughout the continent Of Europe. Many
books descriptive of il were published, ant
it formed the basis for one of Calderon's
dramas. 1t had such a hold upon popular be
| lief, that the Pope, at the end of the 15tl
century, having been satisfied that it was sim
ply an ordinary cavern, had it closed Marcel
18th, 1897 A. d. So grave a historian as
Froissart made it the subject of serious in
quiry from Sir William Lisle, who had visited
it, Sir William and his companion remained
in il an entire night and he declared "tha
they had been oppressed with many fancies
and wonderful dreams, different from thost
they were accustomed to in their chambers.
Caesar of Hesterbach, writing in the begin
ming of the 18th century, says; eff any ont
doubt of Purgatory, let him go to Scotland
d. e. Ireland,) and enter the Purgatory of st