Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-08
Famous Castles.

Many ancient castles. having been
adapted to suit the changes and to an
swer the requirements of improved
states of society, are to be found in great
completeness and admirable preserva-
tion- Some, standing in the melancholy
conditions of decay, are moldering in
solitude, the green ivy manteling the
chasms and weakness of their ruin, and
the owl alone breaking the spell Of their
stern silence. Others became the nucleus
of towns and cities; what was designed
for defense, became . habitation; and
as habitations were multiplied by those
who, Protected by the strength Of the
castle, administered to the claims and
re luirements of necessity or interest,
the tout ensemble became walled town
or citadel, of which the original castle
constituted the key and fortress. OF
some of these cities, the castles continue
to be. at the present day, the stronghold.
The Importance of such places of
strength and resource has been signally
illustrated in the struggles which held in
equal balance the destinies of the British
Empire, during the civil embroilments
that have vexed that mighty kingdom
even in modern times. The famous
castle of Edinburgh still commands that
magnificent city. 1t crowns the vast
PERCEPTIONS rock that rises out of the
midst of the Scottish metropolis, on the
confines Of the new and the old city,
and its elevated bastions and battlements
that overhang the cliffs on every side,
seem to be fearfully suspended in mid
air, whileits turrets, diminished by their
exceeding altitude into mere outlines.
appear to touch the skies.
The donjon or keep of this fortress
was deemed of strength sufficient to
guarantee The security and preservation
of the ancient regalia of Scotland. of
which it became the depository about
the time of the union of the crowns of
England and Scotland, in the person Of
James 1. of the United Kingdom. BY
whom these precious insignia of royalty
were there deposited is not known; but
there. concealed in an iron-bound oak
chest, throughout all the contests and
yicissitudes that have marked that realm
since the beginning of the seventeenth
century. they lay in undisturbed obscur-
ity, until discovered and restored to
light and admiration by the reverent
hands of Sir Walter Scott.
The broad and general features Of
human society are everywhere marked
by strange resemblances. The de-
scendants of Japhet exhibit, under va
rious phases, the passional and moral
hneaments which bespeak them of kith
and kin to the descendants of Shem.
Similar circumstances elicit the tokens
of sympathies of generic brotherhood.
This is illustrated by the exponents
of the martial and military spirit which
the contentious of the RI
valry or ambition that at some time
engaged the irascible races of Europe
and Asia In the early states of both
those quarters of the world the spirit of
war actuated the policies of despotism,
and the ruins and relics. that remain to
the present age, the wild and stern
of the battlements that
crest the proud banks of the Rhine.
and the stupendous citadels that guard
the inclement fortresses of Afghanistan,
bespeak q common race and common
however they may differ in
their chronological histories.
But the conditions of people are
changing and progressive, and the time
of castle building has long gone by.
The development and prevalence of the
social elements have fused sections into
society, and consolidated clans into
The law-defying towers
of petty potentates or contentious bar
onies have been converted to the pa
cific uses of harmonious and national
governments. - Golden Days.