Papist Symbol

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Ride a cock-horse¹ to Banbury Cross,

To see a fine lady upon a white horse;

Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

She shall have music wherever she goes.

For centuries the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire has been famed for its Cross, its Puritan,² its tinkers,³ its cheese paring⁴, and its cakes⁵. Last week the Associated Press brought news:

¹Banbury Cross, to which many an American youngster has ridden a cockhorse, will be sacrificed to progress.

It stands, a heavily ornamental obstacle to traffic even to such privileged characters as fine ladies who ride white horses and who have rings on their fingers and bells on their toes. Therefore it will be removed.

The cross was erected in honor of the marriage of Victoria, the Princess Royal of England, the Kaiser's mother, to Frederick, the Crown Prince of Prussia.

U. S. and British mothers were widely vexed at the thought that they had taught their children a rhyme about a cross put up to honor the onetime Kaiser's mother. Well posted fathers might have explained: "The original Banbury Cross was torn down by the Banbury Puritans in 1610 as a detested Papist symbol."