Ireland's National Emblem – The Shamrock

1905

There are few plants, if any, that are as closely associated in the people's wind with any one nation in particular as is the little Irish shamrock with the joys and sorrows of the Emerald Isle.

In the ancient literature of Erin the word occurs variously as seamsog, seamrog, seamrego, shamrote, shamrocke, shamroke, shamrough or shamroote, shamrug, shamroge, seamar-oge and chambroch. The word "shamrock" is Erse, being derived from seamrog, a compound of seamar, meaning trefoil, and og, little — little clover. Scamar is supposed to be the same as sumar, obtained from the Celtic name of the clover — visnmarus.

As to the plant itself, it is generally considered that the true shamrock is either the black nonesuch or the Dutch clover, with a decided preference for the first named, on no less an authority than the curator of the Dublin Botanic Gardens and other competent persons. There are, however, some who hold that Trifolium repens or Trifolium minus is the true shamrock, and this opinion emanates from experts in the Agricultural Department at Washington.

Other writers have adopted the fancy of Bicheno, who advocated the right of the wood sorrel to this honor. This last belief may have arisen from the appearance of the word seamsoge, meaning wood sorrel, in old Irish writings, referring to the shamrock, but by those competent to judge this is thought to be a misprint, the word seamroge signifying meadow trefoil, having been meant.

The earliest references to the shamrock in Irish literature deal with it as a food plant. Campion, in his "Historic of Ireland," dated 1571, says, in speaking of the food of the common people: "Shamrotes, watercresses and other herbes they feed upon: oatmele and butter they cram together."

The Story of the Swastika

1916

The Most Ancient of All Symbols of Good Luck

It Comes Down to Us with Undiminished Reputation

BY GARRETT P. SERVISS

Have you a "swastika" about you, or in your house, as a fetish or symbol of good luck? If so you possess perhaps the oldest of all talismans. Prof. George MacCurdy, the archaeologist, says that the swastika is supposed to date as far back as the neolithic period, or the later stone age, which came just before the age of bronze, which in turn preceded the age of iron.

Modern discoveries are beginning to make us somewhat familiar with the people who lived in those prehistoric ages, and it is interesting to find this thread of superstition running through them from some dim anterior period, when man first conceived the idea of controlling his luck by the aid of a magic figure, cut or drawn on wood or bone or stone. The thing about the swastika that has excited the most comment is the form, which is essentially that of a cross. This has been treated as a great mystery by those who suppose that the cross, as a symbol, was invented by Christians, and that all similar forms in ante-Christian art are prophetic prefigurements. As a matter of fact, the figure of a cross, in its many variations, is immeasurably ancient.

The swastika has been found in every quarter of the world, and among the relics of nearly all early peoples. Its connection with other religious emblems, and the traditions which have everywhere clung to it, lead to the conclusion that from time immemorial the idea of good fortune has been associated with it. Various explanations have been offered of its peculiar form.

It was sometimes called "the gammadion," because it is made up of the outlines of four capital Greek letters, gamma, united at their bases. Some have suggested that it originally represented a sheaf of flames, or a flash of lightning, or the rays of the sun — but these explanations are all as fanciful as the figure itself. There are many appearances in nature, among trees, plants and rocks which might have served for its original.

The interesting thing is that it has endured so long, handed down from generation to generation, and from age to age, retaining substantially the same form, although used for a great variety of ornaments, all of which seem to have had an identical signification. Its universality is well summed up by the Standard Dictionary, which says, "It has been found depicted on tombs at Hissarlik, near ancient Troy, on Buddhistic inscriptions in India, in Etruscan necropolises, on coins of Gaza and Corinth, on rock carvings in Sweden and on Celtic stones in Britain. In America in pre-Columbian times it was in common use by the aborigines."

These striking sentences do not cover by any means all the places where the swastika symbol has been found. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes a fine sepulchral urn found in Norfolk, and now in the British museum which has three bands of cruciform ornaments round it. "The two uppermost of these are plain circles, each of which contains a plain cross, the lowest band is formed of a series of squares, in each of which is a swastika."

Among the beautifully ornamented swords of the bronze age that have been discovered in Europe this strange figure appears. One writer says of it, "What is remarkable is that the swords not only show the design of the cross in the shape of the handle, but also in tracery what is believed to be an imitation of the swastika, that ancient Aryan symbol, which was probably the first to be made with a definite intention and a consecutive meaning."

The perpetuation of this emblem of good luck through thousands of years is, in itself, a most remarkable thing. It shows the immense value of reputation. It reveals the secret of the indestructibility of superstition. Once let any object, or belief, become established in the imagination as superhuman in power or origin, and a flood of disproof cannot wash it away, and failure upon failure will not shake it. Under the cloak of a legend the falsest prophet may flourish like a green bay tree, and laugh at exposes. His dupes are like the obstinate opponents of Galileo, who, rather than admit that there were spots on the sun, refused to look through the telescope.

So the swastika is founded on the rock of untold ages of tradition, and in the most enlightened days that the world has ever known educated people feel safer if they have the antique symbol of human credulity cut on a finger ring or embroidered on a pocket handkerchief. There is one beside me as I write, sewn on a table cover, and its silky red gleam and bent arms make me thoughtful when I reflect upon the thousands of years during which its unchanging form has thrilled and fascinated mankind. What stories of faith, hope, desire, disappointment, despair it might tell — this emblem from the stone age.

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, Nov. 12, 1916, p. 7.

Comment: Wow, too bad the Nazis ruined this symbol or sign for us. Of course it'd be impossible for us now to simply associate the swastika with good luck or pleasant feelings of security. One place where I lived there was an old house that had swastikas etched in the rock work on each side, up toward the top of the house. Obviously predated Hitler. I used to wonder what kind of comments they got during the war years, not to mention after. And I've had old postcards that were sent as "A wish for good luck" greetings that had the swastika symbol on them. But we can't go back now!

The Oldest Mystery — The Swastika

1922

The Swastika is the oldest symbol in the world. Also, it is the oldest mystery. You find it engraved on primitive tools, dug up in the mounds of the Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi mound-builders, who inhabited America, before the Indians. The Swastika also is found in the most ancient ruins of Alaska, Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, Babylonia, China, Japan, India, Assyria, Phoenicia, Persia, Tibet, Greece — and nearly every other country in the world, including obscure islands. It is the international symbol for good luck and general welfare — like our horseshoe, the negro's rabbit-foot and the "chung-meng-fui-goi" sign that is painted on the door of nearly every Chinese home.

The Swastika's origin is unknown. But archaeologists, the ditch-diggers of science, have traced it back to the beginning of the Bronze Age, 4500 years ago. For all we know, the Swastika may have been old then. How did it spread over the earth and become known in countries that are supposed to have had no knowledge of each other in ancient times?

The only plausible explanation of the universal use of the Swastika comes from China. The Chinese — who claim that their explorer, Fu-sang, visited America 1060 years before Columbus — believe that civilization travels in an endless wave — up 30,000 years, then down 30,000, so on forever. That's why Chinese mythology tells of "flying men" far back in antiquity.

The earth may be 1,700,000,000 years old, says Prof. William Duane, of Harvard Medical School. He bases his calculation on radioactivity. Regardless of the number of years, queer things are buried back there in the past, as shown by the Swastika, the oldest mystery.

—The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisconsin, May 27, 1922, p. 3.

Eagle Always an Emblem

1918

From Mythological Times the Monarch of the Air Has Been Chosen as Representative of Power

In mythology the eagle usually represents the sun. The great mythical eagle of India, the Garuda, is the bearer of the god Vishnu, victorious by his brightness over all demons. In Scandinavian mythology the eagle is a gloomy figure, assumed by demons of darkness or by Odin himself, concealed in the gloomy night or in wind swept clouds. The storm giant Hrasweigr sits in the form of an eagle at the extremity of heaven and blows blasts over all people and on the great tree Yggdrasil sits an eagle observing everything that happens. When Zeus was preparing for his struggle with the Titans the eagle brought him a thunderbolt, whereupon the god took the bird for his emblem.

It naturally became the emblem of nations after its long use in mythology. Ptolemy Soter made it the emblem of the Egyptian kingdom. In the Roman story the eagle was the herald to Tarquinus of his royal power, and it was one of the most important insignia of the republic, and was also assumed by the emperors, and adopted into medieval heraldry after the time of Charlemagne.


Keeping the Faith

A man returning from Philadelphia tells of a ragged newsboy, who, after his papers were all sold, still stood near Independence hall lustily shouting the news of Germany's surrender, "I'm just a-doin' what the Liberty bell would do if it could," explained the little patriot.


There is no graduating from the school of experience.

The Dollar Sign

1909

A Theory as to the Origin of This Monetary Symbol

The origin of the dollar mark is one of the curios of our financial history.

In the early days of the nation, there was utter confusion in the circulating medium. Several of the colonies had authorized coins of different denominations, and, besides these, there were English pence, shillings, crowns and half crowns; French coins brought from Europe and Canada; Spanish coins of half a dozen denominations, especially reals and doubloons; Mexican coins; in Pennsylvania Dutch and German pieces, and along the coast Portuguese and even Italian money was often seen, brought by seamen.

The United States mint was established in 1791, and the United States coinage became, of course, the legal tender. The mixed coinage, however, was not at once displaced, but continued in local use, so that it became necessary for merchants in keeping accounts to designate that a bill was to be paid in United States currency, or, if in miscellaneous coins, these were received at a discount. So before the sum total of the bills the merchant was accustomed to write the letters "U. S.," signifying United States money. In the hurry of writing the "S" was often written over the "U;" then the connecting line at the bottom easily dropped off, and to the present day most people unconsciously commemorate the original practice by making the two down strokes first, then adding the "S."