The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-25
THEPATRON OF
 SHOEMAKERS

It is probable that the average workman employed in the great boot and shoe factories of Brockton, Lynn, Haverhill St. Louis and other cen- ters of the footwear industry has never heard of St. Crispin, yet it is this saint and his brother, Crispinian, who are the patrons of shoemakers and cobblers. In many places, but especially in Soissons-a French town which has gained much celebrity since the outbreak of the war-the name and fame of the sainted shoe-
 maker is still perpetuated. This is St. Crispin's Day, when the shoe makers and cobblers in many parts of Europe will attend religious ser vices and ask for the intervention and aid of their patrons.
 St. Crispin and Crispinian lived in the third century. They were natives of Rome, but, after their conversion to Christianity. they travelled north
 wards into France. and established their residence in Soissons, a town in
 northern France just south of the
 present battle line. During the day | they preached to the people, and far
 into the night they toiled at a shoe | makers bench. Being satisfied with ] the merest subsistence, they furnish ed the poor with shoes at a price | much lower than charged by other
 shoemakers. They did not incur the
 displeasure of their fellow workmen.
 however. as they sold only to the very poor. who were unable to pay the prices charged by other shoemakers. Considering the mounting price of | footwear, a St. Crispin is sadly needed
 in every community to-day. There is | a legend, fervently, believed by many of the pious citizens of Soissons, that
 angels supplied the brothers with leather for he making of shoes. A few such angels would be welcomed | today!
 In the persecution under the Elm peror Maximian the pious shoemakers
 suffered martyrdom, and their bodies
 were cast into the sea. A Kentish tradition is that the sacred relics were
 washed ashore on the English coast, the fame of St. Crispin among Eng glish shoemakers, and since time inn
 memorial the brothers have been re- garded as the patrons of English as | we'll as of French shoemakers. | St. Crispin's Day was for centuries
 the occasion of great celebration oi [, shoemakers in France, England. Italy and other European countries. The chief feature of the observance was procession of all the toilers of the craft, with banners and music, and
 with characters representing Crispin and Crispinian. It is alleged by some
 authorities that the game of football
 had its origin in the practice of one of the observances of St. Crispin's Day. An effigy, of the saint was car ried in procession. after which the clothing on the eff1gy was cut in pieces and distributed among the members of the craft. These pieces of cloth were supposed to be lucky charms which would ward off evil for the coming year. When the dis padding which formed the body of the eff1gy was kicked about by the crowd, who used it as a football.
 In the art of medieval times the two brothers are represented as at work in a shoemaker's shop. and in the old almanacs the twenty-ffth of October has as it's emblem a pair of shoes. .
 Like the Apostle Paul. who toiled at his trade of tent-making and suf- fered himself to be q burden to no man, St. Crispin and Crispinian were industrious laborers in the Lords vineyard. .and they deserve to be re- membered by present day shoemak- CTS And-considering the prevailing prices of footwear@a lot of us would like to inspire the shoemakers with the desire to honor their patrons by emulation!