Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — Avenged by His Pets. [ARTICLE]

Avenged by His Pets.

Meinrad, a famous Swiss saint, who flourished in the ninth century, led a hermit’s life in a cell at Einsiedein,where he was often visited for advice and help. The companions of his solitude were two tame ravens, to which he was much attached. In the year 861 the saint was murdered in his cell by some men inspired by greed of gold, which they supposed the poor man to possess. After the foul deed they fled toward Zurich, whither they were followed by the two ravens. There certain pilgrims identified the birds, and inquries having been made at once, the murderers were arrested and punished. The saint’s cell remained untenanted for nearly fifty years, but was rebuilt of stone about a century afterward, and some two hundred years later the great convent of Einsiedein, still the richest and most frequented in Switzerland, arose on the spot where the lonely preacher was slain.—[New York Journal. The debt of the United Kingdom is in round numbers $3,355,000,000. Comparisons are made with the debt as it was in 1689, just before the reign of William 111., when it was only $3,221, 000, and with the beginning of Victoria’s reign, when it had reached the enormous total of $4,251,000,000. Under Victoria this great total has been reduced some 21 per cent. Something over $33,000,000 was paid off in the year ending March 31 last.—[Free Press.