Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-19

While Kitty, poor Kitty, caught nothing bu
L. A. Pu,A, IN Democrats Monthly.
ROMANCE IN vows.
and OatIrs Taken by Men and We.
men-Startling Stories That Have
Originated i'm Vows Made In Anger
a. Hasto.-The Queen Whose Vow
Rot to Change Her Linen Gave Us the
Color Ecru.
1t is . noticeable fact that the obliga-
ton of a simple promise, unfortitied by
an oath, is nowhere recognized in scrip
ture. The vow was then the II form
of pledge, and included always the in
vocation of q curse, or conditional favor
of the Almighty. $50 God do unto me
and more also" or 1.-The Lord be wit
ness between me and thee," such forms
were necessary with primitive man,
ever as they are now with barbarous
nations, to give even the semblance of
truth to any promise. So it would seem
to be an increased rather than a lessened
regard for truthfulness and good faith
which has rendered the VOW nearly OBJ
solete in later times. Not wholly 80,
for there is nothing s tenacious of life
Is a mild superstition, and many of the
absurd instances showing the strong in
duence which the vow has held over the
minds of men are of surprisingly recent
date. In ancient times the vow was in
terpreted so literally that the mere rep
etition of its words was sufficient to
bind the speaker irrevocably, even
S~oi,st hSc mill nv hio Ir0ur1ol-n
When Cydippe unwittingly read the
words of a vow written upon an apple
handed her by Acontius at the foot of
Diana's altar, the priests of the goddess
declared the pledge ~irrevocable, the
maiden's will to the contrary notwith-
standing.
The annals of chivalry abound in rec
ords of VOWS, more or less romantic or
absurd. For instance, Queen Joan of
Naples, at a grand feast at her castle of
Garta, honored the Knight Galeazzo of
Mantua by opening the ball with him.
When the dance was finished the CRATE
full knight kneeled down before his
royal partner, and to fifty express his
acknowledgment of the honor he had
received, he took a solemn VOW to wan
der through the world, visiting every
country where feats of arms are per-
formed, and not rest until he had sub
duedtwo valiant knights, and presented
them as prisoners at his Queens foot
stool, to be disposed of at her royal
pleasure. Sure enough, this doughty
warrior, sitter a year spent in wander
ing all over Europe, returned like a cat
with a mouse in her mouth, and laid his
two prisoners at the feet of Queen Joan.
The Queen took the gift very gracefully,
and, the admiring historian tells US,
declined her right to impose rigorous
conditions ON her captives, and gave
them liberty without ransom" Wheth-
er they properly punished Sir Gaieazzo
for his interference with their personal
rights we are not told.
Catherine de Medicis was quite given
to taking vows of altogether needless
stringency--on others. For instance,
after succeeding in some enterprise in
which she was greatly interested, she
would send a pilgrim on foot to the
Holy Land, who should, for every three
steps forward on his journey, take one
step backward. One would think that
the Queen ought to have waited long
before she could find any one willing to
fulfill the difficult conditions of this VOW;
but a candidate quickly appeared-with
visions of many ducats to be thereby
earned, no doubt, and set out upon the
journey. The Queen sent emissaries
behind him to see that he minded his
backward and forward steps properly,
and when these returned with the indie
fatigable gentleman, and rendered a
majority report in his favor, the Queen
gave him as q reward the rank of a no.
Ole and a princely sum on which to sup
port his new honors.
More personal and less agreeable to
the chief person concerned was the vow
taken by Queen Isabella, daughter of
Phillip Ii, in the twelfth century, not to
change her linen until the city of o.
tend had been taken by her soldiers.
The difficulties that sometimes interfere
with military enterprises evidently did
not occur to the lady at the time she
made her VOW, but unfortunately the
siege lasted three years, and SO singu-
larIy truthful was her Majesty's charac-
ter that she kept her oath to the last.
To testify their regard for her persisten-
cy the ladies of the court adopted a din
gy yellow color for their rufus and
stockings. which they christened l. Ise-
peau. This vas the origin of the tint
known as ecru, which comes up to the
top wave in fashions occasionally, and
perhaps would be less in favor were it
remembered that it was originally made
to resemble, as far as possible, very
dirty linen.
In medieval times religious vows of q
character similar to the above were SO
very common that the sapctity of the
.friars was gagged by their dirtiness, the
very dirtiest being supposed to have On
hand the very largest contract in the
shape of a VOW, and to be revered as
holy accordingly. In like manner,
vows never to cut the hair. beard or