The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-12-14
LOOKED FOR end OF
WORLD IN YEAR 1000
STRANGE EXPERIENCES BEFELI
ETrROPE WHEN PEOPLE EN-
PFCTED JUDGMENT.
FAMINE AND MISERY RULED

A Stream of WaiIing Penitents, Sob
bling and Beating Their BOsoms
With Clenched Hands, Crowded
Their Way to Churches.
1t was the eve of the last day of
the year 999. A stream of wailing
penftents, screaming and sObbing,
beating their bosoms with clenched
hands, crawling upon their hands and
knees, crowded their way to the
churches all over Europe. The sick,
the lame and the halt, helped by the
friendly hands, clamped their lips
and held back the cries of pain move
ment shot through their bodies.
A few, exhausted, fell by the way
side, where they lay, face downward,
crying out in anguish. At the church
doors the lines halted to glance back
at the setting sun, which they would
see no more. for midnight and the
year 1000 was to usher in the end of
the world.
All through the night they with
ed upon the temple floors, praying,
their ears straining for the sound of
the seven trumpets which would an
nounce the coming of the Antichrist
who would gather the wicked to-
gether to take them to their punish
ment.
The night wore on. No stars fell
from their sockets. The walls of all
Europe were growing more feeble.
The eastern horizon became flushed
and from the churches rose a hush
ed murmuring. The sun rose to still
the groans of the exhausted, and all
Europe YEARLY went home.
A short respite had been granted
in order that sinners might be con-
verted, it was said. Days, weeks and
months were counted anxiously.
EcIipses, comets, overlooking rivers
and thousand other signs urged the
sinner to hasten.
Famine and Misery.
The famine came. Houses were
choked with the dead. For every
man who hoped for salvation on
midnight of the year 999 had given
all his earthly possessions to the
church. Ships had rOtted at quays.
Commerce had ceased. The reaper's
hands had not flung the grains upon
the Soils All hands had been raised
night and day in prayer. What mat
ter? The end of the world was near.
Misery everywhere. Day by day
the end was expected. Day by day
starvation added to its toll. What
earthly goods remained were expend-
ed in further remodeling churches.
Tales of wonderful miracles were
told and believed.
Little by little industry was taken
up again. Slowly the belief that the
end of the world was near became
dimmed.
A World of HideOus Creatures.
At this time the mind of all Eu-
rope was filled with a belief in the
strange creatures. Man shared his
world with fantastical giants, pig
mics, one-eyed monsters, creatures
half human and half animal, egg
arms in inverted position, horses
heads attached to long, spindling hui
man legs, and snakes of hideous
shapes. His world, night and day,
was peopled with monstrOsities which
the mind of. man today, even If
stimulated with a mixture of lobster
and rarebit, could not conceive. He
lived in constant delirium tremens.
The early teachers of Christianity
made use of these monsters in which
paganism had founded a belief. The
transition from religion to religion
had to be made gradually. But the
teachers clothed these pagan brutes
with evil The end Of the world
would be a riot Of these beasts who
would carry off the wicked, they said.
Thus it was that the end of all took