THE OAK FAMILY
IN FORESTRY
Warren Miller
COPYBfGHr BY FJCLD 4AfO SrfifJM
It'KPT for purely tomB^rrltl
forestry I am sure oar ;<eople
*mW B« waai our forest* to
hr toko ibntf I saw this year
.r.ng an rstensive trip over
'hr German forests. where
only three out of over two
hundred forests were by nat
tiral rrproda< tKsn. a!! (he rect
being platted For the lum
berman these forests, located
right i.rr.dy to good transportation and con
tinently s.rod-<;cg an annual yield, would be
14ml- for the trees (troa so straight that ev
erything frr-at tt« three 1C h thinnings up to
the stxrerutaib full-grown trees are markat
*w*e st portable rates and have their use In
«h* e enemy the national life of Germany.
The fees reach rirmshd diameter in stety
W revolutions are prot rted from fire along
tho railroad right of way hr Are borders and
gf have but little
s s'- S * ftre rise and no
!«•' “«! «pea««,
«« something it
■!w>t« coins on
r In nearly ail the
•w'taci to that
taere are plenty
<4 toodnatn
about to head off
5^ icrt^eat lire*
V.ceti we get a
k. h: • of
* :-t«r fcrwst taxa
tion taxing only
k ibe value of the
j early ihiunir.g*
and the final for
/
mi crop. Bum
forestry will be
Scartct Oak. come an estab
luvt icaaim: en'crprtse with us. whereas
®w pnrwegt system of lasing annually the en
ure wa ne wf the stand ta most unjust and one
<A !t» Irtt’ i- tot-draw*-*# to ibe introduction
at c—mental forwe'ry in place of our present
eperwlativw Icwtenaf
Tha (*• uaalar.• have worked out commercial
fovea*ry so a mathematical science. They
lsm ta a dot ‘Hat boa long a t-ren forest of
. *fev. or iylt<strr pin*, will take to reach os
tortty. Jaat bow wars : hi swing la bos'- and when
to 4a It. )ust the right age and soil for the
p.aatatlo&a. errj known dmeaae of the tree
and Its remedy, and Jam where to market ev
wry ahHMar af H at m.»r1mam profit And
their government encourages them with com
pal am j Are prate-< ion from the railroads and
•wat tas lavs The same system prevails with
» t* •free sad Sr of Saxony and the hard
und* af Hesse and Westphalia so that they
rake frm tvkt at acre per year in the spruce
• Wartemhurg to *:» in the selves’er pine
toreats of Prussia aad the annual yield from
but thirty five million acres of forest Is four
u4 owe -- aP MUoe board feet! But we are
tar from any each exact knowledge of our tree
aperies as this, aad we have over a hundred
a ..teles wheee they use bet seten And It Is
a well known fart that many of our eiperi
mrafi .a cle*• rutting and t’antin? hare so
far failed After tea or twelve successive gen
eration* of foresters have studied out our best
aperies for per* * sad raising and we have, as
.- were grown up with our forests and know
■mam a* do the eider Bi’kms. this system aril!
Sr x-i -at t on a large scale with us. It is
being s- piled now to a certain esfegt with
white ptwe as witness the numerous suecess
• cSctsgh -ottr-r stands of white pine in New
i a t and The p ’a! area of planted fores* with
as is now about !.!<>•*on. anew The tot*! land
tha* would yield best oa planted fo'ests is
tnuce ’haw SC dnd.fiM acres.
The F'ench *yst< m of fatale regulalre. or
'•jid*nl fonewt. s the more like!' one for us
:» war. or rather to grow into for we are in
for at let*! t*if years of selective fores’* be
tter aa> ntensfie use of standard fores: can
nc a'rtdsnd In the French s>«fem three
ci.ia are necessary when the forest reaches
T atari!T The seeding cut is first made, let
t ng In aur oa the forest floor, and varying in
amownt aide.y depending upon the species of
tt* tree Tha neat fat! of s~ed« from the seed
tag trees results In n dense ficor of young
shoots, tor the sun's warmth is present to ger
»:naic and 10 feed the young trees wl’h sun
Ugl • Then folios# the secondare cut. when
he trees have reached the «g» of five* years
sod are tough enough to allow catting opera
- —without too mac< of them being killed
This rwf takes nearly all the oil trees leaving
t—gc -o power! the young thic.et from wind,
tract ewe* d rough* The terminal rut follows
when the young trees m i shoe’ ten years
rt age. and uks> the last of the c- d stand.
First thinning begins five years later and con
aws every teg years until the main stand
fartty
4
«JT tfeo few! crop
*» r ** u Me* or
U« Back kaoarl
hr ta Mat '*•
la dasher
anas a*d apt to ro
antt is tetter* of the
rafrWirtlM. • crjal -
tec n nali' pteat {
WC te Prii f mmr
■aBt* trarnttou
>rr»» Utt --- *
K an to t R*d Oak.
tor the right specie* of trees tlitl are
i tWtr larootry operatKao*. We ertU ac
u tto ntrrleaot for oar own species
M the Ua4 of forestry which we ran begin
to orartM* right now. both m woodlou and in
small private tracts. Is a
combination of the French
system with ordinary se
lective forestry, that is.
taking out ripe trees here
and there as they ma
ture. If you have a fair
sprinkling of good oaks
on your w-oodlot. there is
no reason why you should
not encourage them a lit
tle by giving them a
chance to extend. If you
hare a tract of barren
land hardly worth paatur
I
Whit* Oak.
man has no terrors for you. there Is no
near.an why you should not set it out in
while pine, or Sylvester pine, or what
ever species your state forester specifies as
suitable for the soil and climate. Keep cattle
and running fires out of the woodlot, plant out
your spare acorns every chance you get, use
up the weed trees for cordwood. and take out
woi'.hlcs* trees wherever they are crowding
th* young oaks, and you will soon be in a fair
way to own a valuable oak stand. The same
ie true of small forest tracts of a few hundred
a<r<-s. the ideal sportsman’s retreat. You can
practice an immense amount of culture for
est:)’ during your hunts and camps and wan
derings about your tract. Here and there will
be predominating areas of valuable species
which only need a little encouragement to take
up the whole land. You are always using fire
wood out of the tract. Make that firewood pay
by planting the room each tree leaves with a
half-dozen oak or pine seeds, or. better, keep a
little nursery of white pines and white oaks
and draw from It as you take out worthless
stuff. A white pine twelve years old Is a very
respectable little specimen twenty feet high
and three Inches across the butt. In six years
It is higher than your head, and wants at least
twenty square feet of room. so. before you
know it. what was once a clump of soft maples
and w bite birches is now a thicket of thrifty
young pines. As regards the oaks, a sharp
stick and your heel is all they need to put the
acorn down two Inches into the mulch. There
ought to be one seedling every ten paces, with
a reasonable chance at the sun. all over that
part of your forest where oaks are wont to
grow
As‘the oaks are the most Important family
of the hardwoods, and one in which every sports
man is interested. I will Just run over in re
view the most widely distributed members of
the family In our country. We are blessed
with many species, suitable to all kinds of soils
and climates At the head of the family stands
the white oak quercus alba, the noblest tree
In our forests. You will know him by the
fatriiiar deeply notched leaf with nine regular
loN-s disposed four on a side with one at the
end Along In October it turns a fine copper
color and then brown, hanging on all winter,
so that. «b«n snow Is on the ground, if you
see a patch of brown
tonsge arnia mo
bare tree trunks,
it's either a white
S oak or a beech.
/ Look under the tree
in early October or
late September and
find the long oval
acorn, brown and
light yellow. They
grow usually In
pairs with a rough
knobby cup. not
scaled, bowl shaped.
The bark is light
Black Jack.
gray, somewhat
rough, and young
tree* have many little tufts of twigs up and
down the trunk, which will develop into side
branches if the least sun gets down to them.
The wooJ is strong and fine—no comparison
with such a brashy specimen as the red oak.
Just try the two with a plane and saw. and
report on the difference In working. None but
sharp-edged tools need apply with white oak.
In for^try the white oak. that is. Us equiva
lent quercus robur is grown, pure, in big for-.
ests in Europe. Seeding
cut somber, giving a quite
shady forest floor with
not very many trees re
moved, and be careful to
do it evenly so that no
very open spaces are left.
Scratching up the humus
with the three tined for
> est rake to allow the
acorns to find plenty of
crevices to drop into is
imperative Just beTore
the fall of the acorns
Seeding should be com
pleted in one fall of
seeds. When sure that the reproduction
has been acquired, proceed with the secon
dary cut, taking but one tree in two to
three, more or less, depending upon whether
spring frosts are to be feared. A secondary
cut may be necessary in the judgment of the
forester, two years later, before proceeding
with the final cut. Clearance of the seedlings
is almost always necessary, as the young oak
is slow and apt to be beaten out by young
beeches and maples during the first few years
of its infancy. Thinning: Up to the age of
low thickets the stand can be left very dense,
but from that time on proceed drastically in
favor of the dominant trees, intervening when
you see culture necessary to aid them, and in
general leaving enough of the dominated and
suppressed trees to protect the trunks of your
dominants—the trees of the future. Return in
ten years, or earlier if conditions are favora
ble. and take out all dead and dominated trees,
and all of the dominants that are getting
crooked or being left behind, the rule being to
keep the tops of your best trees always with
a little apace to meet in. which space is filled
with second stage dominated trees. Leave in
the beech sub-growth and any other tolerant
trees which add leaf-fall to the humus. The
trees will reach eight inches diameter in thirty
years and you will thin about one hundred per
acre every trip. From that time on they add
a great deal more to their volume every year,
since they grow a new ring all around the
trunk, which by this time is over two feet in
circumference. Of course, as you will start
with a forest with some grown trees on it.
you will arrange it so as to always have some
mature cutting to do. as well as thinning cuts
on all other sections. The management of a
forest Is always a paying proposition, so long
as you choose to keep at it. and while you will
never see the final crops cut of the sections
that you regenerated, you have had a good
deal of business out of the old forest and the
thinning cuts of the new. and your forest or
woodlot has increased In value, not deterior
ated. under your hands.
Closely allied to the white oak. and sold
with it. is the Swamp White Oak. quercus bi
color. good for your wet soils and creek bot
toms. Know it by the heavy-ended, slightly
lobed leaf, and the ..—
nuier small wuie
shaped acorns. In
pairs on a stem
anywhere from an
inch to three
inches long. The
leaf is something
like that of the
black jack, but the
acorn, the bark
and the size of the
tree will prevent
confusing it. A
Sl\ /7\
tmra tree in the
white oak class is
the Burr Oak, but
Burr Oak.
with harder and
tougher wood. It Is also called the overeup
oak, technical name quercus macrocarpa. Leaf
has a big lobed head with two very deep
notches about half-way down. Bark of twigs
always has corky wings, and the acorn Is very
large with scaly, fringed cup. This tree grows
across the whole United States to Montana, as
far south as the latitude of New York City, par
allel 40 degrees. All these white oaks will
grow sylvlculturally under the same treat
KING GEORGE’S MAIL BAG
QOOOCOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
All letters addressed to the king and queen
of England are sent direct to whichever of the
royal residences they are occupying from the
general postoffice in London in specially
sealed bags, says the Strand. In the case of
Buckingham palace, this hag arrives, as a
rule. Just as his majesty is finishing dinner,
and is taken charge of by the secretary on
duty, who opens It and proceeds to sort out
the contents. Such letters as will ultimately
demand the personal attention of King George
are placed before him the same night, but
It is not often that he deals with them at the
moment, sare In matters that will not brook
delay. He glances through them, makes a
few brief notes upon them, and they are then
placed under lock and key until he Is ready
for them on the following morning.
He has barely bad time to deal with these
before the royal breakfast is served and al
most simultaneously an even larger bag of
correspondence arrives. Only those who have
been called upon to handle them can realize
tbe vaatness of the royal postbags, the con
tents of which often range from a private
communication from some amiable lunatic
who considers that his claim to the British
throne is superior to that of King George. By
the organization of a well nigh perfect sys
tem. however, this heavy correspondence Is
dealt with In remarkably quick time. Lxard
Siamfordham, should he be on duty, opens
every communication, and. glancing at it,
places tbe bulk of It in the large crimson
leather basket labeled with the tenor of the
epistle.
Thus invitations to undertake public func
tions of one description or another go into
one basket, charitable appeals into another,
the official report of the proceedings of the
two houses of parliament into a smaller bas
ket, letters of a personal character into a
fourth, and so on. At the finish there is a
small but highly important little pile left.
This is composed of letters from the rulers of
other states, personal reports from our ambas
sadors abroad or communications from min
isters at home. These never for one instant .
leave the custody of whoever is Intrusted with '
the task of opening them. There is a special (■
box standing on the table with a slit In the
top of it wide enough to take any paper. It is
fastened with a patent lock, of which only the
king. Lord Knollys and Lord Stamfordham
have the keys.
These are the first letters that are pre
sented to the king every morning, together
with a memorandum reminding him of the
duties he has to perform that day. In many
cases the king elects to write letters in reply
with his own hand, but should this not be
convenient he sends for one of his secretaries
and dictates his reply. His majesty is hv no
means a quick thinker and likes to ponder
over every word that he proposes to place on
paper. In this respect be presents a curious
contrast to his late father, who would reply to
the most important letter in a few seconds.
ment. and all seed annually. The flowers are
miserable lillle catkins of green. pin-headed
flowerets, in clusters of four or five catkins cn
a sheaf.
No forest would be complete without a few
specimens of the chestnut-oak family. If you
pick up a leaf with scalloped edges and find a
big acorn with long oval nut. over an inch
long, with fine, scalp cup. that's q. prinus. the
Chestnut oak. It has very strong, hard wood,
durable in soil and water, used for fencing
and railroad ties. Bark is fine for tanning op
erltions and it grows well as simple or stand
ard coppice, as described in my previous series
on European Forestry. Another form of chest
nut oak is known as Yellow oak. with a leaf
startlingly like the chestnut itself, but the
acorn gives it away. The illustration shows
a representative leaf. Both the chestnut oak
are annual seeders and their value In forestry
la beat In the .
shape or tan-bar*
coppice.
A widely dis
tributed and in
teresting oak. but
of no value in
forestry is the
Black Jack. You
will know it at
sight by the
blunt-ended leaf
with three lobes,
rough black
bark (smooth
higher up the
tree) and email
stemless acorn
whd scaiy cup. « y
As a woodsman. ^ _
put It down in SwamP Whlte °*k
▼our memory against the time you want a
rery hard wood. Otherwise leave it severely
alone, except to clean it out as a forest weed.
It belongs to the bristle-tipped and pointed
leaved families of oaks, of which the red oak
is the representative and most valuable spe
cies. Seeding is biennial. Sylvicutural treat- j
ment of red oak about the same as white oak.
except that the seeding cut must be a trifle
more open. The red oak is claimed to be a
faster grower than the white and it cer
tainiy overtops it and crowds it out in direct
competition. I am of the opinion, however,
that if the white oak is given an equal amount
of sunlight It will give a crop of mature trees
within ten years of the corresponding planta
tion of red oak From the carpenter's point of
view there Is no comparison between it and
the white oak, nor is there when It comes to
market value as the white commands nearly
double the figure. Personally I find red oak
much easier to work, rather brashy. and no
where near so strong as the white. It is a
tardy, aggressive grower In the forest, and
you will know it by Its large, dark-green,
shiny, pointed, lobed leaves and Its big blunt
acorn with the flat saucerlike cup. This acorn
is the distinguishing feature, as the black oak
has a very similar leaf but its acorn is half
enclosed in a green, scaly cup The red oak
has the smoothest bark of any of them,
nearly black, greenish tinged on the north
side. leaves turn a deep red. late In October.
Now that white oak is getting so high priced
the red Is used a great deal in interior house
trim. It will grow on dry soils, which fact
often decides its choice as the forest species
when choosing between it and white oak.
Its cousin the black oak. and the scarlet
oak. q. coclnea. are so like It In leaf that all
that can be said is that the leaf is more deep
ly notched and heavier-veined. You must
look to the acorn to be sure. Both scarlet and
black have a deep-cupped, scaly acorn, and the
inner bark of the black oak is orange-yellow,
making a fine dye. used in medicine as querci
tron and in the industries for tanning. Wood
sells as "red oak.” The scarlet oak is a much
smaller tree, growing best In plenty of sun
light: inner bark reddish, kernel of the acorn
is white while that of the black oak is yellow.
Both of them have gorgeous orange and scar
let foliage in October, and are useful for orna
mental trees.
All through our moist ravines and creek bot
toms you will find a tall slender oak. growing
in natural pure stands, with a notched, peaky
leaf like the red and black oaks. But under
the tree you are sure to find abundant small
round acorns with shallow cups, almost
smooth. The little acorns are half an inch
long and very pretty, sometimes with delicate
light stripes running longitudinally. This tree
is the Pink Oak or water oak. q. palustris.
Wood Is coarse and not durable; sells as "sec
ond” red oak. Pin oak. beech and black gum
are. however, the three toughest woods In the
forest. Sylviculturally the tree has no value:
when you take one out replace it with a swamp
JK white oak. The
name pin oak
comes from its val
ue for tree nails for
bouse building.
Two more oaks
that have their own
peculiarities are the
Willow Oak. q.
phellos. with tiny
scale-cupped acorns
and long willow-like
leaves, and the Shin
gle Oak. with per
fectly smooth mag
nolia-like leaves,
smooth bark and
small shallow-cupped
acorns. Both of
Chestnut Oak.
uitroc wuuga spill
easily, sad the wil
low oak Is tough
and pliable enough when none better can be
bad tor the purpose. In conclusion. I would
mention the Post Oak of the Southwest, the
“white” oak of that section, deeply lobed
(seven); strong stood; small, sweet acorn,
scale-cupped.
CAVE CROWDED WITH SNAKES
s?c*4 settler, who ran all the way to
Thrae Porta to report the find and to
get assistance At least one hundred
men and boys went to the scene and
three hundred rattlers of all sixes were
killed.
Smith eras pros pectins 1b the gnlch
when he saw a rattlesnake crawl in
to a hols serosal yards shore his hand
ea the slope ot the farina. Fur yearn.
this region has been Infested by,'
snakes ard the settler, being curious
to know from whence they came, fol
lowed the snake to the place of dis
appearance. lighting a piece of pa
per, Smith threw it into the hole,
wl^ich was about two feet In diameter
at the mouth, but which ran back into
a care of larger proportions, and was
horrified to see hundreds of snakes
crawling about, some colled and many
lying apparently dormant
Within an hour the nows reached
Three Itorks and hunters came araaed
with stones, sticks and suns. A noise
was made at the mouth o' the hole
and the snakes, becoming angry, sal*
lied forth to fight When the noise
failed to bring them, long poles were
used to prod the reptiles. As the
snakes emerged from the care they
were slaughtered, and at the end of
the killing, 140 deed ones were count
ed. None of the attackers had been
bitten, though some had narrow es
capes. Some of the snakes were from
three to four feet la length sad had
many rattles, while many were young
and with oca -attle each. The party
waa about to leave, when one man
fired a shotgun blindly Into the den
and a long pole brought into one
pulled fifty more dead reptiles from
the hole.—Three Fork (Mont.) Letter
to the Butte Miner.
"What a modest man he let"
"Whyr
“He got a relee to pay the ether day
and didn't claim that It wee unsolic
ited.”
“A NATION ONCE AGAIN!”
Ireland's Hope of Home Rule Nearing Realization at Last
< i NATURE, GRACE AND
!; TRAINING FITTED
ST. PATRICK TO
11 HIS TASK
j i So Weil Accomplished,
i | Ireland Was Known
< 1 for Centuries as
the “Land of
Saints”
1
*
#T. PATRICK says of bim
self Id bis confession that
he was bom at Bannaven
Tabemiae," which is ex
tremely hard to identify.
Some, however, claim that
Kirk-Patrick, near Glasgow, in Scot
land, took its name from St. Patrick.
The saint was born about 372; was
a captive and a slave of the king of
Dalaradia, in Ireland, from 388 to 395;
went to Gaul and was there ordained
priest; was consecrated bishop and
sent to Ireland as missionary in 432,
and died at Saul, near Strangford
Gough, County Down, Ulster, where
many years before he had founded bis
church, March 17, 465, the day now
sacred to his memory.
Ireland was then occupied by a
great number of petty tribes, most of
whom were evangelised by Patrick. So
well was the work accomplished that
Ireland was known in subsequent cen
turies as the '‘island of saints and
scholars.”
The method employed was that of
dealing cautiously and gently with the
old paganism of the people. The chief
tains were first won over and then
through them their clans.
Of St. Patrick himself much that has
been related is fabulous, but his au
tobiographical confession and his epis
tle to Coroticus, both of which are un
questionably genuine, reveal a devout,
simple minded man. and a most dis
creet and energetic missionary.
In his epistle he states that he was
of noble birth and that his father,
Caiphurnicus, was a Roman decuiro.
His Mother, Concbessa, or Conceis,
was the sister of St. Martin of Tours.
The family of the saint is affirmed
by the earliest authorities to have
belonged to Britain, but whether the
terra refers to Great Britain or Brit
tany or other parts of France is not
ascertained.
Some of the quaint stories told in
Ireland about St. Patrick would make
the traveler imagine that the saint
visited the island for the benefit of
witty guides, or to promote mirth in
wet weather. It is not remarkable
that the subject of these stories for 16
centuries, at countless hearths, has
been regarded and is today honored as
the greatest man and the greatest ben
efactor that ever trod the Irish soil,
and considering the versatility of the
Irish character, it is not strange that
there remains respecting the saint a
vast cycle of legends—serious, pathet
ic and profound.
It could not be otherwise. Such a
people could not have forgotten the he
roic figure who led them forth in the
exodus from the bondage of pagan '
darkness. In many instances doubt
less has the tale become a tradition,
the foliage of an ever active popular
imagination, gathered around the cen
tral stem of fact; but the fact re
mained.
A large tract of Irish history is
dark; but the time of St. Patrick and
the three centuries which succeeded
It is clearly, as depicted by history, a
time of joy. The chronicle is a song
of gratitude and of hope, as befits the
^torv of a nation's conversion to
Christianity.
The higher legends, which, how
ever. do not profess to keep close to
the original sources, except as re
gards their spirit and the manners of
the time, are found in some ancient
lives of St. Patrick, the most valu
able of which is the “Tripartite Life,"
ascribed by Colgen to the century aft
er the saint's death. The work was
lost for many centuries, but two cop
ies of it were rediscovered, one of
which has been recently translated by
an eminent Irish scholar, Mr. Hen
nessy.
The miracles, however, recorded in
the “Tripartite Life" are neither the
most marvelous nor the most interest
ing portion of that life.
Whether regarded from the religious
or philosophic point of view, few
things can be more instructive than
the picture which it delineates of hu
man nature in the period of critical
transition and the dawning of the re
ligion of peace upon a race barbaric,
but tar, indeed, from savage.
That warlike race regarded It doubt
lees as a notable cruelty when the new
faith discouraged an amusement bo
popular as battle. But In many re
spects they were In sympathy with the
faith- That race was one of which
the affections as well aa the passions
retained an unblunted ardor, and
when nature Is stronger and less cor
rupted it most feel the need of some
thing higher than itself, lta interpreter
and Its supplement It prised the
family ties, like the Germans record
ed by Tacitus, and it could but have
been drawn to Christianity.
Its morals were pure, and it bad
not lost that simplicity to which so
much of spiritual insight belongs. Ad
miration and wonder were among its
chief habits. It desired a religiou no
smaller than the human heart itself—
a religion capable of being not only
appreciated and believed, but compre
hended in its fullness and measured in
all its parts.
Warlike as it was, it was unbounded
also In loyalty, generosity, and self-sac
rifice; it was/not. therefore, untouched
by the records of martyrs, the princi
ples of self-sacrifice, or the doctrine of
a great sacrifice. It loved the chil
dren and the poor, and St. Patrick
made the former the exempliers of the
faith and the latter the eminent inher
itors of the kingdom.
In the main, institutions and tradi
tions of Ireland were favorable to
Christianity, and the people received
the gospel gladly. It appealed to them
and prompted ardent natures to find
their rest in spiritual things. It had
created among them an excellent ap
preciation of the beautiful, the es
thetic and the pure.
The early Irish chroniclers show
how strong that sentiment has ever
been. The Borhrmean Tribute, for
many years the source of relentless
wars, had been imposed in vengeance
for an insult offered to a woman, and
a discourtesy shown to a poet had
overthrown an ancient dynasty; an
unprovoked affront was regarded as a
great moral oflenae. And severe pun
ishments were ordained not only for
detraction, but for a word, though ut
tered in jest, which brought a blush
on the cheek of the listener.
It was not that laws were wanting;
a code minute in its justice had pro
portioned a penalty to every offiense.
It was not that hearts were hard—
there was at least as much pity for
others as for self. It was that anger
was implacable, and that where fear
was unknown the war field was the
happy hunting ground.
The rapid growth of learning, as
well as piety, in the three centuries
succeeding the conversion of Ireland
proved that the country had not been
until then without a preparation for
the gift.
Perhaps nothing human had so
large an influence in the conversion
of the Irish as the personal character
St. Patrick.
of our apostle. By nature, by grace,
and by providential training he had
been especially fitted for his task.
Everywhere we can trace the might
and sweetness that belonged to his
character; the versatile mind, yet
the simple heart; the varying tact,yet
the fixed resolve; the large desire tak
ing counsel from all, yet the minute so
licitude for each; the fiery zeal, yet
the gentle temper; the skill in using
means, yet the reliance in God alone:
the readiness in action, with a willing
cess to wait; the habitual self-pos
session, yet the outburst of an in
spiration, which raised him above him
self—the abiding consciousness of an
authority—an authority in him. but
not of him, and yet the ever present
humility. Above all, there burned in
him that boundless love which seems
the main constituent of apostolic char
acter. It wsb love for God; but it was
love for man also, an impassioned
love, a parental compassion. Wrong
and injustice to the poor he resented
as an Injury to God.
A just man, indeed, was St. Patrick;
with purity of nature like the patri
archs; a true pilgrim like Abraham;
gentle and forgiving of heart like
Moses; a praiseworthy psalmist like
David: an emulator of wisdom like
Solomon; a chosen vessel for pro
claiming truth like the Apostle Paul;
a man of grace and of knowledge or
the Holy Ghost like the beloved John;
a lion in strength and power; a dove
in gentleness and humility; a servant
of labor in the service of Christ; a
king in dignity and might, for bind
ing and loosening, for liberating and
convicting.
