Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-01-02
A THOUSAND YEARS q

n deaths were 20 frightfully numer-
qua that the living could hardly bury
the dead3 By that Of 1348, which came
from the East along the lines Of COM
merctal travel, and spread all over
EUROPE Tuusope one third OF the population Of
France was destroyed.
Such was the condition Of thu Mas.
antry. n OF. b common Inhabitants
OF cities. Not much better was that OF
the mobiles. William Of Malmesbury.
speaking Of the degraded manners Of
the Anglo Saxons. says: Their mobiles
Were devoted to gluttony n volup-
tuousnes2 The common people were =
prey to the more powerful; their prop-
erty was seized. their bodies dragged
away to distant countries; their maid
ems were either thrown into the brothel.
or sold FOR slaves. Drinking. day and
night, was the genera pursuit; vices,
the companions of inebriety. followed.
The baronial castles were dens OF rob.
bers. The Saxon c%hroniclers record
now men and women were caught and
dragged into those s~trongholds, hung
up by their thumbs OF feet, fire applied
TO them. knotted strings twisted round
their heads. and many other torrents
inflicted to extort ransom.
An illiterate condition everywhere
prevailing gave opportunity for the de-
velopment OF superstition. Europe was
full OF d~isgraceful miracles. On all the
roads pilgrims were vending their way
to the shrines Of saints, renowned for
the cures they had wrought. It had
always been the policy Of the church to
he interferred too much with the
profits Of the shrines. Time has
brought this once lucrative imposturO
to its proper value.
Fol- patients too sick to move or b
moved, there were no remedies except
those OF q ghostly kind-the Pater-
noster or the Ave. For h prevention
churches. but no sanitary measures
were resorted to. From cities reekin9
with putrefying filth it was thought
that the plague might be stayed by the
prayers OF the priests. by them rain
and dry weather might be secured. and
influences OF eclipses and comets. But
when Halley's comet came, In 1855. -
tremendous was its apparition that Il
was necessary for tn pope himself to
interfere. He exercised and expelled IL
from the skies. It skunk away into the
abysses Of space. terror-stricken by the
maledictions Of Calixtus III. and DID
not venture back for 75 years!
The step that European intellect HAD
made between 1856 and 1853 was illus
trated by Halley's comet. When 1t ap-
peared in the former year, 1t was con-
stdered as the harbtnger or tho vel.
geance Of God, the dispenser of the
most dreadful Of his retributions, q
pestilence, famine. BY order Of the
pope, all the church bells in Europe
were rung to scare 1t away, the faith
full were commanded to add each day
another prayer; and, as their prayers
had often in SO marked a manner been
answered in eclipses and droughts and
rains, SO on this occasion 1t was de-
clo rad that a victory over the comet
had been vouchsafed. But, in the
meantime. HALEY, guided by h revel-
ations Of Kepler and Newton. had dis
covered that it's motions. 30 ar from
being controlled by the supplications
Of Christendom. were guided in an
elliptic orbit OF destiny. Knowing that
nature had denied to him an opportun-
fly OF witnessing the fulfllment OF his
daring prophecy, he besought the
tronomer Of the succeeding generation
to watch for It's return In 176e-and N
that year 1T came