The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-08-19
,NcLosuRe OF sroNEHeNos.
speculation as to the Meaning Of the
Meqaliths.

dc 70 tNc 'WcdtftftS VI Nto
Megaliths.
We may not know exactly what
Stonehengc originally was: but we are
ell convinced that it was either q place
of worship, place where rites thought
to be pleasing to some higher power
were performed, or a place of burial
for the illustriou3 dead. or place OF
tribal meeting, perhaps for the crown
ing of kings, or as Is very probable,
place used for more than cne of
these purposes. It is also quite Ger.
tain that CT its kind Il was n place
Of the highest importance. II may
be regarded as the Westminster Alb,
hey of some tribe or race which in
the neolithic age spread over the
south Of England. Obviously. II must
have been place of resort for
whole nation of people-the one place
Of all others to which public highways
would lead. No one would suggest
that street leading to the doors o,
Westminster Abbey was not a public
highway because 1t stopped there. It
seems to be equally absurd to say that
a road is not public road because It
stops at Stonehenge. No doubt
changes of race. changes Of faith,
changes in the distribution Of popula-
tion, might have relega;ed Stonehenge
TO obscurity, and might have led to
such a disuse of the ways leading to
IL as to have amounted to practical
obstruction. But 1t happens not to
have been so. So remarkable was
Ste ahcnge that when 1t ceased to be
used for worship, meeting or sepul-
ture, It became a wonder in itself, and
continued to be place of resort. from
one motive or another, throughout the
centuries. Indeed. 1t is not quite clear
that there has not been something
in the nature of a continuing rite per-
formed at Stonehenge from age to age.
Popular traditions cling strangely
about these megaliths.
In Brittany, to the present day,
weird customs, obviously unconnected
with Christian worship. though some
times adopted and blessed by the
priests, are observed before many
prehistoric stone. At Stonehenge
there is, and has been beyond living
memory. an assembly Of persons on
the longest day of the year to Sc the
sun rise over the top Of the Friars
Heel and strike the altar stone. The
modern view of Stonehenge Is that 1t
was a temple of the sun; if so, this
gathering on June 81 is obviously 4
remnant Of sun worship. Can there
be any better reason for the existence
of roads than that they lead to q place
so remarkable that year by year 1t
brings people many miles to take part
in a gathering the origin and signitl.
cance Of which have passed into Cb-
livion? Is It not idle. in the face o..
such facts, to suggest that there can,
not he a public right Of way to Stone
henge because it's stones were placed
there by man and may be removed by
man? AS a matter of fact, they are
older than anything else in the nature
of building which the British Isles
can show. Removable they may be,
but centuries have seen them standing
in the same place. and centuries have
seen them an object of interest ana an
object Of resort. The megaliths of
Stonehonge saw old Sarum grow into
great city; they saw it deserted;
they saw its buildings fall to pieces;
they have seen It for centuries a mere
series of concentric earthworlls: they
have seen the new city of Salisbury
(n9w old, as British cities go) rise
mushroomlike in its stead. If any
structure of man can claim perma-
nence. it is Stonehenge. If the public
character of a road depended in any
degree upon the permanence of the OBJ
joct to which it leads Gas matter Of
law, 1t does not), assuredly no place
could lay as god claim to be worthy
terminus Of public road as Stone
henge.-Nineteenth Century.