The herald., 1898-06-05
LEGEND OF
ST. GINGO.

Nearly all of us are Jingoes now-a-
days. No reproach is intended. What
ever may have been it's complexion be-
fore the war actually broke out, Jingo-
ism and patriotism are now indistin-
guishably mingled, and will remain so
until Spain is thoroughly whipped.
Every true American, from the Presi-
dent down. is enough of a lingo to be
passionately, and even fiercely, loyal to
his flag.
At such a moment the story of the
patron saint of the Jingoes ought to be
OF much interest. I presume that many
of them don't know that they have a
patron saint; but that doesn't alter the
fact. What we know about him is de-
rived from a medieval legend which
was put into excessively bad Latin by
some monk about a thousand years
ago; but the saint himself must have
lived several hundred years earlier. He
is known to the English-his most de-
voted admirers-as st. Gingo; whence
comes the colloquial, "By Jingo.' The
French call him Gingue or Gengoul; the
Germans, Golf, though it doesn't ap-
pear that he ever had anything to do
with the Sotch game that is the popu-
lar fad just now. In books his name is
commonly given as Gengulf, the Latin
form being Gengulphus. The legend,
like most tales of that early date, has
some curious features.
Gingo is said to have been a Burgun-
dian nobleman, in high favor with
Pepin the Short Gather of the famous
Charlemagne), whom he attended on all
his warlike expeditions. That st. Gingo
should be a dashing soldier is, of
course. quite the proper thing; we only
| hAt -
have not recorded more about his fight
ing qualities. But being themselves
men of peace, they are silent on this
branch of the subject.
1t is related, however, that the king,
trusting our hero above all Others
made him his personal guard and re
quired him to sleep in the royal tent.
One night the lamp which hung over
the entrance, just above the head Of
Gingo, suddenly kindled itself and
blazed up brightly. The king, disturbed
by the glare, arose and blew it out; but
Immediately it again kindled. This was
repeated many times until at last the
king gave it up. He was not the first
monarch, nor the last, who has sue
cumbed to the flame of ardent Jingo-
ism. This trick of blazing up at unex-
pected moments and refusing to be ex-
tinguished, has been very characteris-
tic of the followers of st. Gingo ever
since.
Another story is that he once pur-
chased a magnificent spring of water
in a remote district, and on returning
to his castle at Varennes struck the
rock at it's base with his staff; where
upon the spring gushed forth, quite re-
gardless of territorial limitations lingo
fashion. The only thing to surprise us
in this tale, is the statement that the
spring was bought. which is not the
usual Jingo method of acquiring pos
session. The gushing, however is quite
natural The enthusiastic Jingo still
gushes most eloquently, even when no
blow has been struck; and the slightest
rap makes him spout like a geyser.
The use to which ST. Gingo subse-
quently put this spring was singular.
His lady, it seems, had been disloyal.
So, one day, he led her aside into the
garden and besought her to tell him
the truth. She denied the charge with
great Indignation.
"Well, my dear" said the saint.
here is this clear, cold fountain; thrust
in thine arm. If thou art innocent it
will not hurt thee. If thou art guilty
God shall judge
She plunged in her arm and was
dreadfully scalded. She ought to have
known better. The fountains of Jingo-
ism are always boiling hot no matter
what their owners may say of their
GOODNESS. The Jingo is always inviting
you to plunge into hot water. There is
nothing in the whole tale more sugges-
tive than this.
AT last, it is said, ST. Gingo perished
by the sword, as have so many of his
Jealous followers since. According to
one account, his body divided into
many pieces and scattered far and
wide, but the fragments were soon
miraculously reunited. That, too seems
highly characteristic, for the resurg-
ence of Jingoism when seemingly dead
and buried is something phenomenal if
not strictly miraculous.
All in all, the legend of ST. Gingo
reads exceedingly like a prophetic al
LAWRENCE BOONE.
Copyright, 1898, by the international
Literary and News Service.