Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-06-19
In the Spirit Of Prophecy.

! ilictions of heat and cold and flood
and pestilence and famine which are
sweeping over all lands and all ma
/ tions? 1t does seem that our Mother
Earth is passing through Saturnine
influence which recalls such predic-
tons as Mother Shipton is said to have
annoyed the people with as far back
as 1913. Literary critics attribute her
work to Charles Hindley, an English
bookseller, who wrote much for the
books. 1t is thought that the "pre-
diction" attributed to Mother Ship
ton was his own invention, and that
she was probably even more OF myth
than was "Dennis, the Shoemaker"
for he really existed, although the
volume of poems which found general
circulation throughout the Territory
of Washington over third of a cen.
tury ago, was from the pen Of that
versatile wit and humorist, Judge
Francis Henry.
Mother Symptoms prophecy, as orig
inally printed ran:
The time shall come when seas of blood
Shall mingle with greater flood;
Great noise shall then be heard, great shouts
and cries,
And seas shall thunder louder than the skies
Then shall three lions fight with three, and
bring
Joy to people, honor to a king
That fiery year, AZ soon As DER.
Peace shall then be as before;
Plenty shall everywhere be found,
And men with swords shall plow the ground"
Every once and awhile some alarm.
ist appends couplet or two to keep
alive the apprehensions originally
created by its appearance, a feeling
that seems always ready to see in pass
ing events verification OF the origi-
nal prophecy" Thus we had, half a
century ago, when the Atlantic cable
was first laid and the Great Eastern
was launched, which by some process
of inverse reasoning was made to fit
the Mother Shiptcn nonsense, a coup
lot running like this:
The world unto an end shall come
In eighteen hundred and eighty-one."
That date having passed without
the worldwide disaster, so unequivo.
cally predicted, what next7 It will be
observed the prognosticating poet has
oblingly arranged the rhythm so that
the date can be showed along like pins
on a clothes.line, to fit any date of
futurity. "Come" is an admissible
rhyme of d" One," and any year ending
as the frat of decade may therefore
be readily substituted.
But then it does seem that the
" seas OF blood" have been verified by
the loss from volcanic commissions,
failure of crops and the slaughter of
warfare. in the past two years, and it
would be hard to convince anybody
who lives ON the Missouri or Missis.
sippi rivers, that the "greater food"
had not come within the past fort.
night, or the unaccustomed ears of
those "to the manor born" that a
"great noise" had not been heard in
the peals of thunder that reverber-
ated hereabouts Sunday and Monday
nights. The three lions may probably
be typifed by the Russian Bear and
his cubs. with England. Japan and
our government protesting against the
appropriation OF Manchurian territory,
but we rather object to the honor all
going to q "Kings" while we must re.
joice in anticipation Of the good time
foretold in the last four lines OF the
prophecy:
" That fiery year, as soon o. DER,
Peace will then be 40 before;
Plenty shall everywhere be found
And men with swords shall pillow the ground"