The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-28
THE ALFRED JEWEL

If Alfred the Great had done notll- ing more than found Oxford JJni Verslty, the centuries would crown nm forever. But, much more than hat. His years are studied with =tarry efforts in a dark night; and with sunrise attainment When 9 man is at one and the same time the GeIiverer, ruler, and teacher of his people, he seems to be entitled to a pretty firm crown. Amidst all the detraction of petty quarreling com mentators, Alfred the Great comes perilCusly near to Tennyson's eulogy Of the Duke of Wellington, "A man who cared not to be great, Save as he saved or served the Stater'
 Aefred-or Alfred-was the fifth son of Afthelwulf, king of the West SaXons. He was born at Vantage, in Berkshire, in 849. The Norman nquest-1O66-had not consolfda,t- ed England. The great Saxon inva- sions that had driven the Britons into Wales and Cornwall in the 9th cen- tury, the SaXons had divided Britain into seven or more kingdoms of the West SaHons, East Saxons, South Sax ons, Marcia, etc. It was all a raw and royal set-to among them all during three centuries. When All fred was only five years old the dear boy of the ruddy hair was sent to Rome, where the Pope, Leo ", con- frnaed him, and "haIlowed him as king" instantly perceiving something about this lad that said, "a future master" During the boys youth. his brothers reigned, kings of the West SaXons. When the third brother as- cended the throne, came our AeIfreds opportunity, for the storm broke upon the whole land in S7O,-the Black Raven Banner of the Danes swept from the Solway to the Firth of Forth-and beyond. The invasion threatened what we today know as England. Not yet even king of his people, Alfred pitched himself into the titanic struggle to relieve the sev- eral kingdoms from the pressure of the pttiless invaders.
 The conflict was still going on when he ascended the throne of the West Saxons. There followed stormy years, in which the face of a great man, of Alfred the Great, is ever at the front of the roar. The land must be saved!-his resolution. And he did it. But through what wading! It was raw meat workout he did it. Alfred the Great saved Western EI- rope from the danger of becoming
 
 saved England to Christianity. In 897 the Danes abandoned che strug- gle. Second great work of Alfred the Great: he was the author of the division of England into shires and hundreds. He was now overlord of all England. But there was to be no rest for this eager, this superb spirit, clean-IiVed, too, as wholesome as morning. His literary 1abors were enormous: a writer for the instruc- ton Of his people; a translator, the founder of monasteries, then the only schools of learning; an artisan, in the ability to look after his builders and gold workers, his faIconers and hunt CTS; the father of his people who sought every opportunity to do them good; an administrator of justice; the introducer of the jury system into court prOcedure-out of which has sprung our present judicial system. the translator of Boethius into Anglo Saxon, and the writer of England's history and of her folk, in her own tongue, from the beginnin g-indeed, Alfred the Greatly His censures on corrupt (and corruptible) judges should be read in the high places to- day.
 
 palace with his children around him did this eager, vivid spirit not recount to them the perflous doings in the great wars against the Danes, how he disguised himself as a harper, gaining admott8unce at the peril of his life into the camp of the Black Banner-men, to learn their secrets. And in his wanLerings and dangers, when he sought refuge in the cottage of a herdsman, and let the good wife's cakes burn to bits upon the hearth as he sat plunged in thought how to consolidate England T-hat it must have been to have heard that king talk of the dangerous years when the land was in the balance.
 His last words testify t the purity of his life, to the conservation of his soul to the Highest:
 Therefore it seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched. who | will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and who should wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear
 He died on Oct 28th, 300 A. D Al fred the Great was buried in Win chester.
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