The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-06-22

Of judges.)
The age of chivalry with it's brave
knights and bloody tournaments, it's
many good and evil customs, has pass
ed away. So remote and distant is
the time, that it has almost faded into
the land of myth and legend; but the
spirit of chvalry has survived it's age,
and growing ever better has attained
the true Christianlikc ideal in our
twentieth century knighthood.
Let us go back tonight into those
far off days of chivalry and view the
knight Of old and the motives which
actuated him before we draw a COM
parison between the two forms Of
knighthood. A true kni hit was cour-
ageous, courteous, respectful to wo-
men, and strict in the performance
of religious duties If he possessed
these virtues, he might be cruel in
war and tyrannical at home, yet no
one thought the less of him. The
candidate for knighthood was usually
sent at the age of seven to serve in
the nome Of some nobleman or
churchman, where a regular course
OF training, which took years to COM
pete, was required of him before he
attained the degree of knighthOod
This training ended, the youthful as
pirant for honors received with great
ceremony the sword stroke on the
shoulder, and heard his lord pro-
nounce the words: I'm the
name Of God, st. Michael,
and st. John dub thee
knight; be brave, bold and loyal"
Then the new made knight, clothed
in his armor, went forth into the
world in quest of battle; for fighting
was the occupation and sole purpose
of knight; fighting, in war, in tour
naments, in personal combat, and,
when none offered, in friendly jousts
In this lay the evil of chivalry. AL
though it combined with this spirit
of war that Of religion and a good
cause, and did much to raise society
from the barbarism into which it had
fallen, yet no order which so glori-
fed war as to make it a profession
can be called truly noble. AS a ma
tion grows greater and broader it's
natural tendency is toward peace rath-
er than war. The desire for war; and
the taste for bloodshed Is a primitive
savage instinct which is certain to be
eradicated by the advance of the
highest civilization. 1t is true that
the knight always welded his sword
on the side he thought right, but
his motive was personal; glory was
his battle cry, glory for himself, that
his fame might be sung by minstrels
and his name linked forever with
those Of the conquerors in war. In
the fourteenth century, therefore, man
was far from that perfect type Of
knighthOOd which seeks neither glory
nor self-exaltation, but finds it's truest
pleasure in service to fellow men. At
the close of his life the knight of the
middle ages could exclaim with Lam
celot
What profits me my name
OF greatest knight? / fought for il
and have it,
Pleasure to have it, none; to lose it,
pain,
Now grown a part of me; but
what use in it?"
The knights of the twentieth CEN
tury are fighting great battles, battles
that demand far greater courage than
those fought in the days of olden
times. Would knight of chivalry go
out among the poor and there fight
ignorance and disease. in an effort
to uplift humanity, as many of our
men and women of today are doing?
This is courage that has no sound Of
trumpets, no haunting banners, no
applause of the multitude to sustain
it. This kind of courage would nave
been thought degrading in a knight
of the days Of DID, whose dealings
were entirely with people of his own
rank. Look at our "Viking of the
North" DR.. Wilfred T. Grenfel who
is daily rislling his life in minister
ing to the people of the frozen shores
Of Labrador, to whom he is physician,
minister, and savior from many hard
conditions. Such is the true nobility
Of this man that he scOrns praise, or
even recognition of his bravery; pre-
fcrring to do his work of mercy un-
known. Consider Father Damian,
who went as a missionary to the
island of MOlOEai. where the 1ppprS