Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-17
IRELAND's PATRON SAINT.
Some Of the Popular Legends Ccpcerni
Him-An Old Irish Song.

rs that which gives him credit for driving all
the snakes and similar vermn ont OF Ireland.
The story probably originated in the days whe-
history was written in the cloister. bat il cap
tured the popular fancy. and no; only main
tanned its vitality better than many sober
truth could have done. but has been strength
ened and improved by successive generations
Of story teilers and miracle mongers. The
story current today is told in one Of the
most popular of Irish songs, from which the
following is an extract:
There's not mile in lrelands Isle where the dirty
whererr lie put his dear fOrefoOt he murdered them In
The tosds wen. hop. the fros or. sapdasa into
And the be,ss Committed suicide to themselves
IRON slaughter.
'Nine hundred thousand vipers blue he charmed with
And dined on them at KinaloO in SOUPS and second
When bindworms crawling on the grass dsEus,ed all
He gave them and opened their eyes to sense Of
the situation
The Wicklow Hills very hiTh and SOS the Hi Of
But there's mn much higher ssill-aye higher than
the. both sir
the ssruint VI WIS me u MN W. '"''A f'e"'"e'
That drove the frogs into the boss and bothered all the
1t seems that St. Patrick wherever he went
thus made attracted the people. In this the
example Of the saint appears TO have been
initiated by the modern Salvation Army. As
Patrick Was terribly in earnest SO was his
drummer-if he had q drummer. for the
chronicles are rather vague TO this point
and sometimes we might infer that he whacked
away at the instrument himself. At all events
just before going up to the hill to preach the
sermon that WAS to finish the snakes. the dram
was beaten so vigorously that il burst. The
theme and object of the had L..
announced to the people, so they had assem-
bled in great multitudes to see the miracle
performed. As they had an idea that n good
deal OF Patrick's power lay in his drum, they
were sadly disappointed at the accident.
especially as a big black snake WAS seen sliding
down the hill with his jaws distended. leer in
MS ugly eyes and tremor in his whole body
| as If ii were convulsed with laughter. But as
the story goes an angel came down and patched
| up the drum, the sermon proceeded and all
the reptiles vanished if by magic excepting
| two particularly big fellows who had grown
old and wary and were too wicked ~ be
affected by any one sermon. On these.
TO finish his task thoroughly, Patrick exerted
/ lit at barney
One of these serpents got far away from
the saint that he thought he would never hear
OF him again. But the good man got on his
track and found him the bank of Tough
DIveen, in the Galtee mountains between
| Cork and Tipperary. The serpent was asleep
and Patrick slipped chain around him. and
when the reptile awoke he was in such a state
of CONSERVATION that he slid into the water 10
| hide himself But Patrick after him in a
twinkling. and fastened the chain to the bottom
OF the lake in such way that the serpent could
not come to the surface. When Patrick was
leaving him the serpent asked how long he was
going to keep him in such a cold. dark and
damp place, and the saint replied, Till Mon
day, and went on his way. But every Monday
since then the peasants around Tough Dilveen
hear the big reptile 8 voice from beneath the
water asking: Ills il not Monday Yet. Patrick
DEAR" Patrick. the peasants say, viii, of
course, come for the serpent some Monday, for
/ he was a man of his word. but when he does
come il will be bad Monday for the '.varmint. q"
The other big fellow proved a more trouble
some customer, for he was as experienced in
| the ways of the world a modern politician.
After carefully thinking over plan of cam
paign, the saint proceeded TO put il into exocu-
| ton and it succeeded beautifully. indeed did
everything his saintship attempted. Patrick
| got big strong box made. with nine powerful
bolts arranged around ii as ornaments. and set
| it down in place which khe knew the serpent
passed every day. PATRICK waited and the SER
pent soon came along, missing soon as he
his great enemy.
oh" said ST. Patrick. "what's the use of going
on SO about gentleman like myself coming to
see you? lis a nice house have got here for
you agin the winter for it's goin' to he a hard
one. and want to civilize every one and make
them live in comfortable houses" The serpent,
| hearing such smooth words. thought the saint
meant we'll by him and went up close to the
box to inspect it. but the sight of the bolts was
| enough. and he making off as fast as posi-
| BILE when Patrick said - lis nice warm house.
you see, an tbs a good friend 1 am to you" II
thank you very kindly for your civility," raid
| the serpent, ''but ii Is. TOO small entirely"
Too small ~ exclaimed st. Patrick. 'Yon're
| out in that. Ill bet you a gallon of porter thai
If You try to get in you will lind lashin's Of
room"
The serpent being thirsty after his long jour
ney, wanted a drink badly, and he was much
pleased at the idea Of doing st. Patrick ont of a
gallon Of porter, SO he took up the bet and
swelling himself as much as he cou.i. got into
the chest all except his tail .'-h.re. now"
| says he, 1--we won the bet: the house is too
| small for 1 cannot get my tail in. But the
saint slipped behind the nd and shut il down
with a bang. When the serpent saw the lid
coming he whipped in hi, tail. and the saint
began at once To slip in the nine iron bolts.
| .'Oh, murderr says the serpent; 'let me out.
I've lost the bet entirely" Let you out NV
darlin'," says St. Patrick. ito be sure | will
But haven't the time now, You must wait
till tomorrow" Then he took the big box and
flung it into the lake. The serpent is TO this
day trying to get out. but the bolts are too
strong, and the peasants who tell this wonder
full story say they often hear the serpent ask
rs it tomorrow yet, Patrick" but as tomorrow
never comes the reptile is there yet and will be
until the end of time. such was the way, ac-
-
posed Of the Irish snakes
In 1881 an Irish gentleman thought he would
prove whether the snake traditions were true
| or not beyond the shadow of a doubt. for il had
been affirmed that Patrick's work was SO well
done that Il snake could not live in Ireland for
q week. For the sake of truth it must be noted
that this Irish gentleman was not a real Irish
gentleman of the ''ould stock" at all. but one of
scottish descent, and jealous. like most of his
countrymen, of the great work ST. Patrick did
for Ireland. He went over to Covent Garden.
London, and bought six harmless English
snakes, which he turned loose In his garden at
Rath-G Gael in County Down. One was killed
within a week at Muckross Abbey. three miles
away, and the idea Of a snake being found and
killed 90 the burial place of the saint
created much CONSERVATION among the peas
antry. They thought the end of the world was
at hand. and more than one clergyman inter-
preted the matter n sign of the millennium
| Three Others of the snakes were killed the next
day within a mile Of the importers garden and
the remaining two were never seen from the
day he lie. them loose. When the story was
fully told. the popular faith in st. Patrick 5
work was strongly contirIaed, although the ex-
pertinent was never forgiven by his neighbors
1t is impossible to say when the 18th day of
March in each year began 10 be set apart as ST.
Patrick's day and observed as the popular hol-
iday Of Ireland But whatever may have
started it, there can be no doubt that the day
is national holiday in Ireland and is OBJ
served with much enthusiasm, and that it re-
news and intensifies the patriotism OF the peo-
pie, much as does our Fourth Of July on this
side Of the Atlantic.
L