Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1919 — Scotland's Emblem. [ARTICLE]

Scotland's Emblem.

Though historical records relating to the thistle iare vague, tradition is glib. According to one story f the Danes wese stealing barefooted through the darkness toward the Scottish camp when one of the soldiers suddenly trod upon a thistle. Involuntarily, he uttered a cry of pain, and the Scotsmen, being aroused, leaped to their feet, hurled themselves upon the Danes, and inflicted fearful slaughter upon foes. Another legend—says a writer in Toronto Globe—relates how Queen Scotia, after a hardfought battle in which she had proved victorious, threw herself down upon the ground to rest, only to be received by the prickly spines of a thistle. Up she jumped in a'fury, and plucking ug the nettle by the roots, was about to hurl it away,'when for some explained, her heart suddenly softened, and she decided that from that time forward thistles should always, be for her the emblems of victory. . So she stuck the nettle in her helmet, and Scotland has taken the thistle as its emblem ever since.