The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1897-03-24
ST. PATRICK.


1t IS hardly to be expected that
the vandal hands of the iconoclast,
which in our days are withheld
from nothing, whether sacred OF
profane. would have left the men,
ory of the Irishman's patron saint
untarnished. These ruthless de-
stroyers Of popular tradition have
attacked St. Patrick with a venge-
ance. and what they have left US of
him bears no semblance to his
original presentment. Not only
did he not drive the snakes out of
Ireland, which is very immaterial,
however, but he was not even an
Irishman himself, and if he really
existed at all he was either a
Scotchman or a Frenchman- All
Of which would be very disturbing
if credulity were not SO firmly i'm
planted In the human breast. But
as it is, so long as there lives an
Irishman, he viii have warm
place in his heart for st. Patrick.
much as Swiss has for William
Tel, a Swede for Gustayus Adolph-
us, am Italian for Gar1baldi. or an
American for George Washing ton,
each and all of whom stand as good
a chance to have their accomplish
ments doubted and their very exis-
tence denied in the ages yet to
come, as has been the case with
this mediaeyaI missionary.
At any rate. myth or no myth,
st. Patrick to-day has the distinc-
ton of having his birthday more
widely celebrated and by a larger
number of people than any other
man who ever lived. On the ssouid
aodp, in the bush and on the
gold fields of far Australia; in the
cities and the mining camps, on
the ranches and the farms and
prairies of America; in the wilds
of Canada; amid the wealth of
Ind; on Celtic Highlands, and
throughout the English speaking
world his memory is held in affect
ionate remembrance today; mil
lions do him honor. and the wear
ing of the green z win be as COM
mon as the budding of the trees in.
genial spring
And this fact is all the more re-
markable when it is remembered
that he was a religious heroionly.
No territorial acquisitions made
him great the triumphs of no war
won him renown; no subiiugatedl
people owed him fealty. But his
was the hand to light the torch of
Christianity, in the dark backward
and abysm of time, in a benighted
land, which torch though it may
have fickered since has never
wholly expired and whose radiance
yet illumines half the world.
Christianity was decaying ON the
Continent and its fires burning
low even in Italy itself whom st.
Patrick stepped into theSbreach
and with his forceful eloquence
and indomitable will stayed the
current of its dissolution, raising
it to a pedestal never shaken since,
whatever the schisms and the dis
ruptions centuries have wroughtin.
its ranks.
Christianity. in the abstract,
owes much to the patron Saint of
Ireland, regardless of the tenets of
his peculiar faith, and it's we'll to-
recall that fact in the celebration
of the day else given over much to
a jolliffcation more creditable to
the hearts than the heads and
minds ofits observers.
But If, as there are those who
hold it SO, enjoymentis the highest
praise to Him from whom all
blessings flow, then let merriment
prevail mingled with gratitude to
the sage of the fifth century who
has provided the occasion
A postal card received By Capt.
w. d. Holmes, this city bears the
following information: While
passing Hickman, KY, ON the 18th
of March; in. tow with the steamer
Oakland, the little steamer G. O.
struck the eddy. parted her head
line and sunk in one hundred feet
of water No lives lost, no one
hurt, no insurance.
A. B. FREscH
If you want knowledge you
must toll for it; If food you must
toll for it, and if pleasure you must
toll for it. Toll is the law Pleas