Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-03-15

~ izing Ireland. Their priests
were powerful and malignant magi-
clans, and in order to prevail against
their wicked works St. Patrick had need
of all his miracle working power. In
spite of his benevOlence he had to curse
their fertile lands and cause them to be-
come cold and barren boys, their rivers
were made u~ninhabitable to fish. and
their very kettles We're cursed, so that no
matter how hot a fire was kindled under
them water would not boil within them.
At last, all these things~failing to pre-
vail against the Druids, st. Patrick or
dered the earth to open and swallow
them.
According to the legends, st. Patrick's
power over fire was not confined to rem
derlng 1t imperative when placed under
the kettles of his enemies. He was quite
able to use snow and ice for fuel. and
there are several versions of the manner
in which he did this. According to one
story, he and a number of his followers
found themselves one cold morning on
the top of a mountain without a fagot to
cook their breakfast or warm their stiff
ened limbs. There was much complain
ing, to which the saint paid no heed.
Gather a pile of ice and snOwballs," he
commanded, and when this was done he
breathed upon the frigid mass, and it
instantly became a pleasant fire. Long
after this version was put in rhyme by
q lovelorn versifier as follows:
st. Patrick, as in legends told,
The morning being very cold,
In order to assuage the Gather,
Collected bits of ice together,
Then gently breathed upon the pyre,
When every fragment blazed on fire.
Oh! Il the saint had been SO kind
AS to have left the gift behind
To such a lovelorn wretch as me,
Who daily struggles to be free,
I'd be content-content with part.
I'd only ask to thaw the heart,
The frozen heart Of Polly Roe.
Another form of the same story has it
that when a child he busted himself one
day in gathering bits Of ice and snow, to
the d~ispleasure of his nurse, and when
she told him he would be better en-
ployed if he gathered fagots he brea&hed
on the ice. and it took fire.
SASCs ~ i uit dl OlO 1Adu
who refused to believe the teachings of
Christianity, the saint asked him if he
would be convinced by the performance
of a miracle. The answer being in the
affirmative, the saint restored him to his
youth, and of course the man became at
ace a convert. On another occasion,
when in England, st. Patrick met a leper
who desired to take passage on a certain
ship, but the captain would not receive
him. The saint threw a stone altar that
had been blessed by the pope into the
water. The leper was hidden to seat him
self on the altar, which floated alongside
the ship, bearing it's single passenger,
during the entire voyage.
The greatest of the miracles performed
by st. Patrick was, of course, Kidding
Ireland of snakes and blessing the soil
so that it would eve afterward be OBJ
noxious to all reptiles. One legend goes
that the saint called ell the serpents to
the top of a iii ami compelled them to
swallow one another till none was left.
Another account is to the effect that Pat
rick drove them out by beating a drum.
and that he struck it so hard as to knock
a hole in it, whereupon an angel, lest the
accident should Illustrate the saints Oh
ject, appeared and mended the rent in
the instrument, which, patch and all,
was shown as q holy relic as late as 80 or
90 years ago. It is stated that one huge |
was chained in Tough Dilveen, |
it was hidden to remain till Mon |
day. The word Of release has never |
been spoken. and it is said that If your
esrs are properly quickened You may to
this day at Tough Dilveen hear the snake
call ont on Monday mornings in good
Isish. ITS u long Monday. Patrick"