The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-08-09
HISTORIC August.


The New York Evening Post had an
editorial on August, Of which the fol-
lowing is a part:
Not having had the prophecies OF
Zadktel for the current month, we can
not be sure what commissions are in
store for our country and the world
as the result of the first national con-
vention of the bull moose party. Such
portents as we could read In the stars
may perhaps be supplied, however, by
history, legend and folk lore, in all OF
which August is an interesting month.
1t glories In the harvest moon. It's
weather signs determine the character
Of the winter to follow. In ancient
myth pictures il figures as a wild
looking man with d~ishevelled hair,
holding to his mouth with both hands
a drinking horn strongly suggestive Of
our modern megaphone, and carrying
at his side some melons-still uncut
and a bunch Of peacock feathers. 1t
received its name from the Emperor
Augustus, as the month of his eieva-
ton to h Roman c~onsulship, original
ty a constitutional office of elective
terms, but later merged by him into a
dictatorship in perpetuity. II was this
potentate Of whom Dean Merivale
SAID that he made an effort to stay
SHC pAOSCSS VI N15AlASS TdLIOn WHICH Hn
found SO rife throughout the vital
forces Of the empire. The I~awlessness
OF his own usurpation did, indeed,
combine with the gross s~elhshness of
MS personal character to sap tho moral
principles of society and render it's ul-
innate dissolution inevitable: but he
made a vigorous effort to stem the
tide"
August is the month when the Spar
70 10 rrya~n -
John the Baptist lost his head, Cleopa-
ira took her own life, Bozzaris and
Nelson fell In the hour Of victory, and
Casabianca stood alone on the burning
deck. 1t witnessed the start OF Cortez
Tor Mexico, the murder Of the princes
In the tower, h beginning Of the Sew
en- Years war, and the partition OF
Poland. 1t gave birth to book print
ing, the use of illuminating gas. teleg-
raphy by submarine cable, the formal
proclamation OF peace between the
government and the seeding states
and the protocol with Spain. It saw
Julius Caesar land in Britain, and Ma
poleon on st. Helena, New Amsterdam
surrendered by the Dutch, Washing
ton burned by the British, Farragut
dashed to the rigging in Mobile Bay,
and Fort Sumter demolished by union
guns. .
1AaS any HlonCn a more notable rec
ord? Yet this list Of incidents merely
Skins the surface Of it's history. On
Aug. 5, 400, Henry I was crowned
king Of England in place Of his brother
Robert, whom he had driven from the
throne. He had once supported Rob-
ert against the common enemy, but
they had quarreled, and, smarting an
der indignities he felt the king had
put upon him, he resolved to seize the
crown himself. His campaign was
proclaimed as a war upon feudalism.
to wrest from the barons their special
privilege and to restore to the people
their common rights. I'm the admins
tration of Justice says Prothero. "be
relied on new men raised from the
ranks and dependent on himself for
their position"
1t was in August 100 years ago, that
the French revolution reached its acme
with the storming Of the Tuileries and
the ousting of Louis XVI, the amiabIe
p~eace-loving advocate of constitution
al government, but n of he most
laundering and ineffective politicians
who ever filed a seat of state in time
Of stress. T.. ~