The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-08-15

st Swithin's Day. If thou dost rain
| For f0gty days n viii remain,
| 81 Swlthln D1T, II thou be fair,
/ For forty days twill rainnae mair
Thus saith the rhyme hundreds Of
years Old, and if there is any truth
IN tho ancient adsge the succession
of showers that has afflicted Phlla-
dclphi4 since ST. Swithu's Day. Jnly
10, is bat p sign that the curse Of the
old saint, uttered nesrly one thousand
years ago, Is securing some Of its lost
prestige and slowly reyiviug again
The rainfall today was not local n
rs character, for as far West rs the
VI sissippi, north 10 tho Lakes, ri d
south nearly to the Gulf, the skies
sra lowering and dark, and where
there IL no rain, the expectation OF
1t is imminent enough to make the
loug-suffering natives wish that dur
irg the dry days Of the early summer
they had not prayed so feryently for
a wet 81. Swilhln's day.
The legend OF ST. Swlihin has been
implicitly believed for centuries, aud
If the weather seems inclined to fol-
low it in future as faithfully as now,
there is every reason TO believe that
the memory Of the saint who was
never canonized, the patron deity of
reyellIngs and drunkenness, will oc-
clpy the same popular Influence over
the Imagination as in the past.
St. Swthln, or 81. Swithun, ac
cording as one interprets the almost
III sgible peumsuship on the old
charters. lived in the ninth century
in merrie England. 1t was IN the
days OF the Saxous, aud as they have
from time immemOrlal been noted
for thelr conviyial habits, this worthy
saint has acquired the reputation Of
having been no better and possibly a
little worse than his secular cOntem
pOraues IN f0udness for his cups.
TIN reputation IS one wlich his ad
mlrers constantly seek to retute, but
despite all their learned arguments
10 the contrary. St. Swlthln IS sui
known as the drunken saint and
VIII probably continue to be 50 known
Until thunder storms in summer are
Only memory.
According to tradition the origin
of ST. Swithin's Day, July 10, is
based on the attempted translation
of the pious priests bones from their
humble burial place in the church
yard 10 p more pretenu0us resting
place within the Winchester Cathe-
drsl. During his life time he was
noted for his uprightness and his
humility. The latter quality, always
MS predominant one, was strong IN
death as ~ life. and when he died he
requested that he be buried not with
IN the church, but outside, on the
north, within the churchyard, where
the drippings from the caves of the
roof would fall on his grave and
where the feet of the passersby would
press the sod.
Here he lay unuoticed for a cen
tury, but, according to the legend,
the clergy in a fit of righteous indig
nation that their devout brother
should rest in such an unworthy spot,
determined to remove his bones to
the Winchester Cathedral. When the
transfer was about to be accomplish
ed the saints humility was discovered
to have been nowise diminished by
the lapse of an hundred years and he
punished their audscity by calling
down such rain on their heads as
had never been known before, and
the clergy we're obliged to desist from
their plOus undertaking. For forty
days the downpour coptInued and the
curse which is said to have been is
sued Sy the indignant st. Swlthin on
that occasion continues even 10 the
present day.
The lapse of the centuries has
dimmed somewhat the fervor OF the
old Saxon and at times he forgets to
order a forty days rain after a wet
St. Swithin's Day. This lapse possi-
bly, is due to the Observation-Disclosures
of old age, or possibly to feeling OF
shame and loneliness since humility
has ceased to be fashionable. a fear
that the ln-de-siecle prelates of the
present day might consider his real
humility as {, f,igned has possibly pre-
vented him from wishing to obtrude
his long continued Indignation as a
salutray lesson on the inhabitants OF
the earth.
Whatever the cause this year he
seems to have determined on revolt,
Just to keep his memory and the
memory of his old companions green,
and wet st. Swithin's Day has been
| fcll)wed by a succession of showers
that show that the curse is still
potent.
He may have recently found con-
genial company who have persuaded
him to modify the effect of his curse
so that it is merely nominal, and does
not cause the inhabitants of the earth
to consider seriously the necessity OF
building arks, after the fashion oil
Noah, to preserve the lives of them
selves, their wives and their cattle
Still, it has been unsafe to wan
der far abroad in a straw hat or sum
mer shirt, without the protecting
presence of an umbrella and a fair
morning is now no more OF an lndi-
cation of a rainless day than is the
proverbial "evening red and morn
ing gray"
A careful examination of the rec
ords of the weather since st. Swithln's
Day, about four weeks ago, has dis.
closed the fact that the conviyial
company with which the saint is sup
posed to be surrounded, must have
been so very entertaining, indeed, as
to make him almost forget that, nc
matter how anxious be might be
about maintaining his reputation fol
humility, it could not be done with
out bringing himself yearly to the
attention of fckle populace.
st. Swithin's Day, 1899, opened
bright and clear, and good 81