The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-23
WAS ENGIAND'S PATRON SAINT A DISHONEST
 ARMY CONTRACTOR?

E. la as
 'sst. George for Merrie England. will today be the cry in Britain and throughout the empire for this is the festival of the militant patron saint of John Bulls tight little island Dur ing the last half century the obser- vance of St Georges Day by English
 men has become less and less general, until in recent years more EngAshmen have worn shamrocks in honor or St. Patrick on March IT than have dis played roses in memory of St George Son the latter's feast day The patr1- gotic enthusiasm aroused by the war is expected to result in a great revival Of interest today, for St. George was soldier by profession.
 There has been long much confu- sion in regard to St George and his career, and some of the accounts or his life are far from flatter1ng. Ac- cordfng to Edward Gsibbon, the great English historian, this saint flourish ed in the fourth century. Gibbon de- scribed him as born in a fullers shop in Cilicia. By his humility he in- gratiated himself with the masters and by servile flattery of the great rose from obscurity. He was given a contract for supplying the soldiers with bacon, and by adopting methods not unlike those Of some American pack CTS in the Spanish war, he acquired tune. His dishonest practices were
 OlSc0QG10Q. country. Becoming g. convert to Ar ianism, he was made archbishop of Alexandrin. His avarfce was still un-i satisfied, and he caused Epe pagan temples to be footed, whiis he op7
 pressed both Christians and pagans
 going into his own strong box The people revolted and drove him out,
 but he was restored to the archbish-
 opric by the army of Constantinus- The accession of Julian resulted in Georges downfa1L He was thrown EAIexandrians dragged him from his
 cell, and killed him The body was
 carried in triumph through the streets and was then cast into the sea- The death of George at the hands of the pagans made George martyr in the sight of the Arians, and he was can fonized. The. Cappadocian adventurer and army contractor became a. sainted hero to the Arians- He was said to have fought with the Crusaders, and
 he became generally recognized as the patron saint of soldiers. of arms l slaughtered a dragon in a. cave on the
 left bank of the Danube where it di-
 v1des Hungary. from Serbia. The car kcass of the dragon has remained to
 this day in the cavern, according to
 the expectations natives, and they de- ! CltgIS lL<4L I1SA 0SS11Va 4l1eS WHICH are
 to be found in that section have their
 breeding place in the putrefying body ] of the. dragon It is certain that these \ flies. which kill horses and oxen, ap- pear to come every summer from this ! cave, often arising from the cavern's
 mouth in such swarms that they re- semble volume of smoke.
 Most religious historians disagree 1 with Gibbons account of St. George. I and declare that the patron saint of 1 England was another St. George, who lived about sixty years before the ba-
 con contractor The real saint, it is declared, was Greek born at Lydda. l not far from Jerusalem. and carried Christianity to England about the l of geo. Later he returned to Syria,
 and slew dragon at Beirut. He was
 a staunch defender of the persecuted l Christians of Thessa1onica. This St. George was a soldier, and his va1or
 won recognition at a later day by two faiths, the Christians honoring him as
 St George and the Moslems as Bl Khudr.