The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1880-04-21
Rep. votes. Delegates
For THE RECORD.
THE OLD SQUARE ALMANAC.

April IS, is St. Marks Day. This Evangelist
was the travelling companion of the Apostle
Peter, and, it 10 thought, his amanuensis and
interpreter. The Gospel which bears his name
was written at the request of the converts at
Rome, who desired to have permanent rec
ord of the account of the Lords life and
teachings which they had received orally from
st. Peter and as the Apostle directed the
writing and ratified it with his authority, the
ancient church connected the name of st. Peter
as well as that of st. Mark with the Gospel thus
produced. Modern critics, too, frequently call
it " the Petrine Gospel 1t is the shortest
of the four Gospels, has less of discourse and
more of narrative detail !; is marked by
rapid, animated style, well suited to the Ro-
mans, for whom it was first written 1t is en-
inently the Gospel of action.
St. Mark, in his later life, labored In Alex
andria, whore he planted the church among
the highly intellectual people of that city,
and originated the school of Christian phil
osophers, there so famous in later ages of the
illogical history. The devotees Of the god
Scraps, upon occasion of his annual festival,
upon Mark, while he was celebrating Divine
worship, dragged him from the church, and
through the streets, until his flesh was torn
off him, and life extinct, April 25th, the year
not certainly known. The day of his martyr
dom is that of his commemoration, as is the
case with the Apostles and Saints generally |;
for Christian piety rightly judges the day of
their death better than the day of their birth
or, rather, that it is their true birth into life
when they depart to be with Christi
st. Marks best remains are in his Gospel.
His mortal relics, ashes aud bones collected
after his body had been burnt by the heather
having been inferred at Alexandria, were af-
forwards removed to Venice where they were
greatly venerated, the State adopting him as
its Patron Saint. This explains the existence
of the famous works of Christian art In Ven-
ice, bearing his name : the Piazzo di San
Marco, st. Marks Church, and the Lion Of
st. Mark.
The Eve of st. Marks day had connected
with it superstitious practices--both grave
and gay--similar to those which belonged to
Halloween and st. Agnes Eve. Watchers in
the churchyard, 1t was believed, might see the
apparition of the next years dead and
watchers at the fire-side could read the faith
fulness or falsity of their lovers, as the burn
ing chestnuts popped, or not:
|" II you love me- pop and hy,
II not. lie there silently.n
Another mode of divination was that of
"the smock.'' A damsel hung her dress be-
side the fire, and waited, half-hidden, after
all others had retired to rest, for the ghost of
her future husband to come and turn 1t. Poor
Robins Almanac, q hundred or more years
ago, had these lines
ION St. Marks Eve at twelve O'Clock,
To find her husband in the dark,
By praying unto good St. Mark"
On this day, 1884, was born Edward III.
called Edward of Caernarvon. the first Prince
of Wales. His royal father practised upon
his Welsh subjects something akin to a
Yankee trick, " by arranging that the birth of
the prince should take place at Caernarvon
Castle, on Welsh soil. 1t was but day or
two before that on which the barons were to
do homage to their sovereign when they
Cdlu6 VIII tu6 pttltlOu tnht tuty ui8nt 10
governed by native prince, who could speak
their language. The King told them it
should be as they wished then, snatching
his newborn son from the cradle, he present.
ed him to them, assured them that he was
"just born native of their country, that his
character was unimpeachable, that he could
not speak word of French or English, and
that if they pleased, the first word he uttered
should be Welsh +" Pity that the baby
prince to whom that day they rendered fealty
go cheerfully, should have proved SO unworthy
to come between those grand monarchs, the
first Edward, and the third. But low COM
pany in youth was his ruin.
lie was made of stouter stuff, who came
into the world three hundred and fifteen
years later.--Oliyer Cromwell, 1899, and
who. though Of mean birth, welded supreme
authority, king with another name, the Pro-
iector but what he protected, we leave it for
others to declare. Old Eoll is not one of our
rayorites and although England NAV have