The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-20
WHO 81. NICHOLAS WAS.
A Bishop of the Fourth Century Who Was
Dear to the Children.

A Bishop of the Fourth Century Who Was
Dear to the Children.
st. Nicholas was no abstraction. He
was bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, in
the fourth century, and during his long
and careful life devoted himself in SO emf
nent a degree to the service of the young
that even before he WAS gathered to his ia
theirs his services were invoked by moth
ers in behalf of their offspring. The
olives of the Saints are full of queer
tales. but few are stranger than those told
of the bishop of Myra. When he was born,
his nurses put him in a basin to wash
him, but instead of being washed he put
them aside, stood up in the basin, raised
his eyes and hands to heaven and for the
space of two hours remained in an ecstasy,
gazing upward.
Some say that during the whole of this
time he sang psalms, but others doubt the
psalm singing and content themselves with
stating that he pronounced a gloria and
half dozen paters and then relapsed into
his former silence. However this may be,
there is practical agreement among the
tradition makers as to his reverence for
fasts of the church, for from his birth they
all say that on Wednesdays and Fridays
he refused to take nourishment until after
shutdown, when he would suck enough to
last him till next morning, and then after
saying his prayers aloud would go to Sleep
AS soon as he could walk about he be-
gan to interest himself in behalf of the
young people of his acquaintance. In Pa
tara, his native town, there was noble
man who, by the force of circumstances,
had been reduced to poverty SO great that,
unable to provide his daughters with mar
riage portions, he was about to turn them
out of the house to make their living as
best they could. Nicholas heard of this
case, and going to the house after dark
on Christmas eve, bearing with him a
purse of gold, he was puzzled as to the
best method of conveying the gift to Its
recipients without being known. Looking
through the window, he saw that the old
man had taken off his cloth stockings and
hung them up before the fire to dry them.
After all was quiet Nicholas assembled the
chimney, an old fashioned wide affair,
and he threw the purse Of gold down with
such precision of aim that it fell in the
old mans stocking On Christmas morn
ing the old gentleman rose, found the
money and with it provided marriage
portion for his eldest daughter. Similar
presents followed for the two younger, the
oAN AiAeeh a1uSlAS up LIS SuOCkluS fcSuldE-
ly after that, and thus originated the prac-
tice of hanging up the stocking to receive
the presents of ST. Nicholas on Christmas
eve.
Before St. Nicholas had attained middle
age, however, there occurred an incident
in his native town which gave him his
distinguished accessory in art. Three boys
came from distance to attend the schools
In the town, and as soon as they arrived
went to an inn and after supper went to
bed. The innkeeper, however, discovered
the fact that they had little money with
them, and as soon as they were asleep he
quietly killed them all. Puzzled as to the
best disposition to make of the bodies, he
finally remembered that there were several
barrels OF pork in the cellar to be sent
away on the morrow, SO he removed the
meat from one, and cutting the bodies to
pieces packed them into the barrel. Be-
fore day Nicholas had vision in which
he was made aware of what had been done,
and rising he went to the inn, taxed the
innkeeper with the crime and went down
into the cellar, where he called on the muir
dered boys to come forth. At once the dis.
united pieces of the mangled youths reas-
sembled themselves in the proper connec-
ton, the three boys stood up in the barrel
and united in hymn of praise to THAR
deliverer.-st Louis Globe Democrat