The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-24

fought beneath Richards banner so
many hundred years ago. and England
and St George has been the battle cry
OF Englishmen upon hard fought bat
tie fields ever since those fierce old
days. King Henry ". at the battle OF
Agincourt, led the charge upon Eng
lands foes crying out: God for Eng
land, Harry and st. George" our
patron st. George was born in Cappa-
docia. a country of Asia Minor, in the
reign OF the Emperor Diocletian. What
his childhood and youth must have
been, we are left to judge mainly from
the fruits of his manhood. He was an
officer of the army, and once on his
way to Join his legion he came upon a
city whose people we're living in great
terror because of adragon who mare
his home in a marsh outside the city
| walls The monster had DESTROYED
their fiocks and herds and the people
were forced at length for safety to
shut themselves up in their city, send
| Ing out each day q sheep to satisfy the
hunger Of their dreadful foe. But a
day came when there was no sheep
to send and what to do no one could
tell. They dared not wait until hunger
should draw the dragon to their walls
since his pestilential breath would poi
| son all the air about them. Then the
king declared that the safety of the
multitude must be bought at a griev-
Gus price, and that every day two chill
dren should be given to the monster,
and that they should be taken by lot
that the chance of all might be equal.
The people obeyed the order of their
king for what else could they do and
all day and all night the air was rent
| with lamentations of the parents upon
| whose children the lot had fallen. One
morning the streets were strangely
still and the people in hushed tones
4 ~ II.
| had fallen in the palace and that the
kings fair and only daughter must be
led forth to the terrible dragon. Now
the king loved his daughter most ten
derby and begged hard and long for
her life, but the people had been made
very stern by grief, and would not lis
ten to the pleadings of the king, but
told him that he must abide by the
proclamation that he himself had
made. Then the king in a frenzy of
grief passionately pleaded for a res
pite of eight days, and to this the peo-
pie consented, and the days sped swift
ly and sadly by, while the poor little
princess came and went, and won the
hearts of all by her meekness and hui
mility, so that the people deeply
mourned her sad, sad fate. When the
last day came Cleodolinda was dressed
in her royal robes and was taken to
the gate of the city by sorrowing
friends. They could go only to the
gate with her, and there at the gate,
although her feet did tremble and her
cheeks grew white with fear, she spoke
words of comfort to her sorrowing
friends and told them to dry their tears
since she was glad to die for her peo-
pie. Then she bade them goodbye and !
the great gate closed upon her and out
on the CHASTITY fearful plain the little
princess stood all alone. Before her |
lay the way that she must walk to |
meet the hungry beast and around her |
were strewn the white bones of the |
children who had gone that way be- |
fore her. The sight of the bones turned |
her sick, and covering her face with |
her hands, she CROPPED her way along. |
What next? Why the sound of ring |
ing hoofs on the ground close beside |
her. Surely no vile monster with poi |
sonous breath ever trod the earth in |
that free and joyous fashion and Cleo |
dolinda felt a new hope in her heart |
even before she dared to uncover her |
eyes. And whom should Ii be before /
her but the brave st. George upon his |
milk-white horse with glittering spear |
at rest ready to do battle with an evil |
thing that might cross his path. Gent |
ly he spoke to her and promised to |
defend her from all peril. and as with |
streaming eyes the maiden told him |
that she had been dedicated by her |
people to die for them and that even |
now the dragon must be near at hand |
to do his dreadful work.
St George comforted her, and dis
daining her fearful supplications to fly |
lest he too perish, answered boldly, |
God forbid that / should fly. l will
lift my hand against this loathsome |
thing and will deliver thee Even as
he spoke the dragon came in sight; on
he came half flying, half walking and
clashing his braZen scales with hor-
rible noise. st. George rushed upon
the dragon, and after a long and fierce
struggle, pinned the monster to the
ground with his lance and then looked
around for Cleodolinda and babe her
bind her girdle about the great dragon
and so lead him to the city. Weekly
and sweetly she had gone out to him,
and meekly and sweetly she led the
huge, but powerful creature over the
white plain he had made waste and
over the whitening bones of the chill
dren he had 50 cruelty slain. The
Waterman who waited in the highest
tower of the city beheld them and It'd
ings flew fast thro' the city. At first
the people We're frightened at the sight
of the dragon. but were treasured by
ST. George. who slew the dragon, be-
fore their eyes. ST George was pre-
scented with many costly gifts and in
vited to stay and be a son of the king
and rule over the people he had de-
livered. but this he would not do. and
after distributing his presents he bade
them adieu and rode forth from their
midst. That, my friends, is the story
of st. George and the dragon. and 1t Is
a story that carries with IL a moral for
every Engltshman among us.
No wonder that you and / are proud
of st. George, and his proudness is
overcoming evil. Moreover, we have
in St George an example of chivalry.
Not only did our hero fight against evil,
but we are sure that what nerved his
arm TO do these doughty deeds of valor
was that he was protecting the weak
and helpless maiden against the power
of the evil one. l like to think of the
English as being a chivalrous nation.
marks the course of civiliza-
ton 50 much as the protection given to
women. and here we in the West ex-