ri ft h 1 V r Ifc ft I v I H I i L Hj ii s h I o iieif reldtioi ronoi o ti n tiTHi k rCr s lifij VIJI 4V PfiodcQoprm W HE coronation of King George V of Eng land brings to mind a series of peculiar prophecies contained in an old but little known poem prophe cies some of which ould appear on an investigation to have proved oddly correct in regard to certain events transpiring in American and Eng lish history both prior to and after the Revolu tion The name of Merlin is given as the author of the mystic rhymes -which date back to the fif teenth century and run in couplets fraught with double meaning and Beeming to be the work of some sooth sayer or student of the stars who fore saw or fancied he foresaw in the heavenly bodies strange portents of the days to come The lines can be found in the works of Dean Swift edition of 17GG page 214 volume 3 They were also print ed in the United States in September 17SC three years after peace with Eng land had been declared arid published in a few foreign journals but the ear liest appearance of the poem was in an ancient English work edited and produced in London in the year 1530 In complete form it runs as folio ws TVhen the savage is meek and mild The frantic mother shall stab her child When the Cock shall woo the Dove The Mother shall cease the child to love When men like moles work underground The Lion a Virjjln true shall wound When the Dove and the Cock the Lion y shall fight The Lion shall crouch beneath their might When the Cock shall guard the Eagles nest The stars shall rise all in the West When shps above the clouds shall sail The Lions strength shall surely fail When Neptunes back with stripes is red The sickly Lion shall hide his head When fccvoa and six shall make but one The Lions might shall be undone Many diverse opinions are held as to the ability of mere man to peer into the future but without entering into an argument on the subject it is at least interesting to note how curiously certain of the prophecies made by the dead and forgotten rhym ster coincide with the march of act ual events when submitted to the proc ess of deduction We can take the first couplet as re ferring to the history of America and more particularly to the colonial period The white settlers had plant ed civilization by means of De Sotos sword Champlains guns and the mis sionaries prayers deeply in the for est and the Indians may be said to have become temporarily subdued through awe of these combined ele ments The red man was subjected to meek and mild influences by the tact and religious examples of such men as Roger Williams and William Penn whose kindness is a part of Indian tradition to this very day Hence when the savage evidently the North American Indian is meek and mild the frantic mother meaning England shall stab her child the American colonies When and how England enacted this needs scant comment other than that the courts of the colonies just prior to the Revolution used the sword of justice to destroy the rights of the American subjects of the crown At this point England actually and not figuratively stabbed her children When the Cock shall woo the Dove The mother shall cease the child to love Now the cock for ages has been emblematic of France as the Lion has of England and the cartoonists of early days invariably designated the French as proud as the cock In France victory at arms or civic tri umphs were always as at the present time proclaimed by the display of the booster The dove referred to was undoubtedly intended for Columbia or the United States or colonies The word Columbia means Dove like or Columbo the original meaning of Columbus the noun base of the prop er adjective Columbia but accepted by Americans as a proper noun Our colonial history abounds with Illustrations as to how eagerly Franco courted the good will of the American colonies and an equally emphatic tale 4n the drama Is the jealousy of Eng land at the display of any colonial regard for the French government Thin second couplet is especially well Illustrated In the continental congress appointing a commission of which Iitnja min Franklin was one to visit the French at Quo bee and ad mit of French courtship in the aid of the American Rev olution and how the con tinentals in 177G dis patched him to France to further admit of the courtly attentions to bring about a wedding of in terests how he procured from the French kin 260000 0 0 francs the very money which made further rebel lion possible And at this point England realized and for the first time that the uprising in the colonies was indeed a veiy serious mat ter and it provoked Britishers learn of affection France to point where The mother J A m f IHwl w a x re rev m m i i e forecasts of a Deer v f A i tne ID- Century bearm o a Engl r ifidj Am encan nis X QB vHk Snf Hi 1 17 HP f KtH wtA r U rl an d nflL S 4 f m ta o JL W J i I J - y -1 torn W MM PA on oXkWiiiB or- r MmAmmmiw Fk fc m o o mmmmwmimmw i v rmfi - ww w m wj mfiwyrmMjmmmK i l s ojl ms y - o - yvWwwMmmMwJmSwSs lv r TWsi fm- 5v 7MWrw nJr r - WwiUf yfmWww m hmdmsMBoFf the K s JSWV 7 tor s y ezf r4S the child did cease to love The writer possesses an heraldic sketch designed by Franklin while in Europe actu ally indicating Englands cruel though motherly treatment of her children the thirteen colonies indicat ing the French concern in the wel fare of these struggling dependencies a remarkable similarity to the lines under consideration In these her aldic pictures Franklin represents the colonies as of the calm and peaceful animal kingdom the crane and also tho dove In fact a committee dele gated to devise a signature for the United States reported in 17S2 that the goddess of America Columbia have upon her dexter hand perched a dove argent white While the elab orate design was not accepted by the continental congress it indicates that in these days the colonies were often symbolized by a dove in fact that peace loving and minding your own business was finally accepted in -the symbolism of the olive branch in the right talon of the adopted eagle also indicated in the peace tincture of 1 the American shield which according to lav is an argent white or silvery peace emblem upon it blazoned six red stripes When men like moles work underground The Lion a Vix gin true shall wound During the last years of tho Revolu tion tho continentals frequently at tempted to make approaches to the camp and redoubts of the British by underground passages This tunnel method was evidently a French sug gestion as it was a part of early French military tactics The digging in the earth is also well illustrated in the winter headquarters at Valley Forge where the felling of trees to establish their log cabins was slow work and when the cold winter set in many were tho holes in the ground that served as lodgings for the freez ing troops The line The Lion a Virgin true shall wound might be taken as a reference to the terrible massacres expeditions of plunder and destruction in Virginia named the Vir gin colony in honor of Queen Eliza beth This country of the virgin was indeed wounded for no other section of the country suffered such bloody military attacks It was estimated by Jefferson that the raids of Benedict Arnold through Virginia cost tho enormous sum of 15000000 in prop erty besides tho thousands of lives sacrificed under conditions of the most frightful torture When the Dove and the Cock the Lion shall fight - The Lion shall crouch beneath their might This could be accepted as referring to the united forces of the colonists the Dove and tho French the Cock at the final engagement before Yorktown This siege and battle re sulted in the American victory and therefore the union of Americans and French resulted in the Lion being compelled to crouch beneath their might When the Cock shall guard the Eagles nest The stars shall rise all in the West Here we find an allusion to the sub sequent history of the three nations American French and English When Independence was recognized the sym bol of tho United States appeared in the form of a bald eagle The bird of freedom and imperial power The second test of martial power be tween American and England came in 1812 and on both sea and land we suffered severe losses the capitol at Washington being destroyed by the en emy and the city itself falling into pos session of the British But the shield ing attitude of France toward tho eagles nest the young republic rep resented by the American eagle made it possible for the states to attain vie- tory from what the world had almost pronounced defeat Tho New Eng land states were never in sympathy with tho war and indeed an interest ing non national page bordering on secesslonal attitude falls into the his tory of the puritanic section of our country The invasion of Canada was a decided failure Hulls surrender has always been considered unsatisfac tory and totally unnecessary ho was court martialed and sentenced to be shot but his Revolutionary military record saved his life and he was par doned The brave Captain Lawrence on the Chesapeake gave as his dying words the order Dont give up the ihip but fate compelled his crew to strike their colors The Essex the first American frigate to sail around Cape Horn into the Pacific found a British vessel waiting for her and in the battle which ensued the enemy came off victorious In the midst of these disasters the Nerr Englandera were disregarding by a majority of votes what the national government at Washington decreed They quietly and secretly published a most unsatisfac tory report that was supposed by many to have had it origin in an at tempt to break up the federal power Tho south and middle west were loy al to tho federal edicts Jacksons mar velous victory at New Orleans while possibly one of the most pronounced military successes in the history of civilized warfare was achieved after peace had been declared and hence cannot be said to have had any bear ing on the ending of hostilities The terms of peace were largely brought about through French influence as be cause of the military conditions ex isting between England and France the British found it impolitic to fol low up the American campaign al though the war was in their favor Here then is an apt illustration of how the French the Cock protected the Eagles nest America So much for tho first line the next is espe cially prophetic The stars bhall rise all in the West Immediately after the war of 1S12 the stars began to gather in our flag and they all came from the west for it should be remembered that in those days any country lying on tho sun down side of the Alleghany mountains was considered west Hence the open ing up of the great western terri tory with tho immediate admission of the new states brought forth the rise of the stars all in the west un til this day when the flag has since 1812 seen 30 stars rise in the west When ships above the clouds shall sail The Lions strength shall surely fall It requires no great stretch of Im agination to apply the above lines to the present era when aviators are the heroes of the hour and long continued flights in airships have ceased to be a novelty And one might take the failing of the lions strength to re fer to the lessening of the British navys far famed power when confront ed with the possibility of attack by enemies floating in the air When a certain Frenchman not long ago cross ed the channel in an airship and land ed safely on British soil great was the alarm manifested throughout the realm of King George The event al most caused a panic among those to M cum saw M MM6 smmmsmL dimyfm whom the bugbear of probable inva sion by Germany Is ever a matter of anxiety The last four lines of the Seers rhymed intimation of coming disaster deserves consideration together When Neptunos back with stripes is red The sickly Lion shall hide his head When seven and six shall make but one Tl8 Lions might shall bo undone Possibly these foyr lines foretell ter rible battles on the sea Neptune be ing the mythological god of the ocean and prophesy a naval war in which the waters will be literally ablaze with the red stripes shooting from the cannons mouths Or reference may be had to the planet Neptune Instead of the sea god that heavenly body which of our planetary system is the furthest away from the sun being 2745998000 miles distant Within the last few years astronomers have expressed the opinion that Neptune like Saturn has red or bright belts about it and if the telescopes can be made more powerful these red stripes will be in view Is it then that we may expect The sickly lion shall hide his head Or it may be that the last two lines refer to the United States or elso indicate the death and numerical des ignation of King Edward VII In tho first instance seven and six make 1C tho generally accepted symbol of tho United States represented in the stripes of the flag When seven and six shall make but one might stand for the time when all tho territories now under our flag shall all be admit ted to statehood and all these new governments be represented on our national standard Or the lines might have direct refer ence to King Edwaris death The seven and six may well indicate Eng lands Seventh Edward or spelling out the two words we have S 1 E 2 V 3 E 4 N 5 T C H 7 and E 1 D 2 W 3 A 4 R 5 D G showing clearly the seven and six numerals forming one king Upon his death The Eng lish Lions might shall bo undone In connection with the final predic tion It is not too much to say that England has not for years been in such an unsettled state politically or called upon to face so many perplexing prob lems Edward seventh ef the name tho Peacemaker sleeps with his fathers and George V mounts the throne of his ancestors while from all parts of the great empire people gather to do him homage What of the future Has tho might of England passed away with the life of her peacemaker or is one prophecy to prove false where so many other predictions made by the mystic student of the stars In the long ago have been fulfilled to the uttermost CepsTisht Iflll by W O ChapmanJ I A MARVELOUS RECOVERY How a Chronic Invalid Perfect Health Regained Mra Ray Trusner 30 We3t Third St New Albany Ind says Kidney disease had rendered me a chronic In valid I lay in bed unable to move hand or foot Mj right limb was swol len to twice normal size I looked tha picture of death and my case puzzled the doctors The kidney secretions were high ly colored and scald ed terribly Marked improvement fol lowed the use of Doans Kidney Pills In six weeks I was a well woman My friends and relatives marvel at my recovery Remember the name Doans For sale by druggists and general Jtorekeepers everywhere Price 50c Foster MHburn Co Buffalo N Y SOLVING NEGRO PROBLEM Under Conditions the Matter Seemed Comparatively Easy of Arrangement The central police station was over crowded one day last week Officers were wondering what they would do should another arrest be made when the door opened and a sleepy looking blue eyed foreigner drifted in with a most dejected Goot efning mens The officers nodded their greetings to the stranger who then asked Can I did some sleepings here I yust come from Chicago and am start to work tomorrow Well the only space we have left Is a bunk which is already occupied by a colored man You can share that if you want to replied the offi cer The man thought for a few minutes scratched his head and said Well I guess I no can see him in dark and besides I am tired and want Bleep Milwaukee Wisconsin Showed Tact of King It was the order of the day at a late shoot at Sandringham that when pheasants should not be shot and one of the guests brought down a hen which fell near King Edwards place in tho line Anxious not to hurt the offenders feelings by an over rebuke the king pointed to the corpus delicti and said Ah Gurney what a man you are for the ladies Life of Ed ward VII Tea Time In Chile Either tea or yerba mate is served in Chile at 400 p m not only in the homes but at clubs restaurants and hotels and many business houses A cut of tea and a roll or small cake in tho club or hotel cost from eight to twelve cents United States gold while tho business houses serve it frep rather than have the clerks leave their work or go out for It Outdone Willis Im raising 500 chickens on a five foot lot Gillls Thats nothing You ought i to see the relatives my wife is taking care of In our flat Puck Perhaps Why did Humpty Dumpty sit on the wall He probably thought he could hold it owa j Vienna I ji Style i ill If CWA m Agooddislifor a Luncheon or Sapper Brown the con tents of a tin of Libbys Vienna Sausages in tho frying pan and serve with baked potatoes Easy to serve fine to eat Look for the Libby label which means quality Libby McNeill ca Libby YSTZr m iS7777yyyyiA M