The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-01-06
STORY OF JOAN OF ARC.
Rev. Thomas B. Gregory, in New
York American.

ANA ~ I'll hAoNOA = 10 hACA - NAoA
romantic. 1t is amazing, myster-
ious, and, from the ordinary hu-
man standpoint, quite miraculous.
A young peasant girl, without
the slightest knowledge of books,
being unable to read or write. her
whole time being passed between
household work in her fathers
humble cottage and the caring for
her fathers sheep; absolutely
ignorant of the great outside
world, silent, shy, retired, abound
ing in physical energy and SEEM
ingly absorbed in the discharge of
her simple duties in home and
field, is suddenly transformed into
great national deliverer and
saviour, the JOY and inspiration of
her countrymen, the dread and
terror of her country's foes.
Joan of Arc, known to immor-
tality as the Maid of Orleans, !"
was born about the year I4II in
the small village of Domremy,
France. Her father was a small
peasant proprietor but few removes
from the condition of a common
serf, and the mother was of CORES
ponding station, mentally and So
cially.
But supplemented and rustic as
the Domremy villagers were, they
were sufficiently awake not to be
insensible to the wretched shape
in which their country found it.
self. That shape was indeed a
forlorn one The English had eX-
tended their conquest all over the
north of France; the English Hen
ry VI had already been proclaimed
king of France.
1t was at this iuncture, when
the national disgrace was at its
low-water mark that Joan began
hearing voices" and seeing
visions" Possibly the voices
and visions were helped along
somewhat by the conviction,
prevalent in the locality, that out
of the forests of Domremy a virgin
was to come who should prove to
be the peoples leader in their
fight for the restoration of the ma
tional prestige.
In the meantime the English
encroachment kept on, and in
1928 Orleans was invested by the
foes from across the channel, In
the Maids opinion the time had
come for her to act. Supernatural
voices were calling to her, and
she made an effort to convey to
the French authorities what the
voices commanded. She had a
hard time in reaching the great
ones, and still harder time after
she had reached them in getting
them to recognize the soundness
of her claims; but finally after a
committee of learned men had ex-
amined her and found nothing
against her faith and purity, she
was permitted to go ahead. At
the head of an army of some 5000
men the Maid, clothed in a coat
of mail and armed with an ancient
sword which she had found near
an altar of one of the saints. the
white standard of her own design
embroidered with lilies floating
over her head, marched to the re-
lief Of Orleans. The result all the
world knows. and at that result
the world has not set ceased to
wonder.
The simple peasant girl proved
to be mightier than all the steel
coated knights and warriors of the
kingdom; and before the young
woman's victory the enemy SEEM
ed to fly as before the push of
omnipotencel Inspired by her
example the hitherto weak
Frenchmen became demigods in
prowess, and triumph after tri-
umph crowned their arms! Jar
gean, Beaugency, capped by the
great victory of Patay, and the
English found themselves driven
beyond the Loire. In the great
cathedral at Rheims, with Joan at