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more honourable signification than they have at the present 
day, though it is not improbable that even these are derived 
from some of the impure ceremonies of Phallic worship. 
Whether this be the original meaning of the pillar stones 
or no, they at least take us back to a very distant period, 
and form a very interesting portion of the few objects of 
antiquity that have survived to our day ; and, as such, they 
should be carefully protected : at the very least, they were 
connected with the religion of Ancient Britain, and of nearly 
the whole world. But if the above account be true, what a 
tale do they tell ! a woful tale of sorrow and little hope, of 
savage cruelty, or gross immorality. They tell of a time, 
when the first-born was given for the sin of the soul ; or 
when the degradation of the body was thought to be a 
sacrifice well-pleasing to the Deity. They tell of a time, 
when all was unhallowed and gloomy, when natural affection 
was overpowered by superstition, and chastity was abomi- 
nation in the eyes of their god. We may regard them as 
among the last survivors of a superstition, now almost 
vanished ; and, while looking upon them, we should be filled 
with humility and thankfulness, that not for anything that 
we have done, but through God's infinite mercy, the Christian 
cross has taken the place of the Ashera. 
FOOTPRINTS OF ROMAN OCCUPATION IN THE SOUTHERN 
PARTS OF NORTH HUMBER LAND. BY REV. SCOTT F. 
SURTEES. 
Not far from the line of the Great Northern Railway, 
about one mile south of the Askern station, about two miles 
east of the Koman " Rig " from Robin Hood's Well, in 
Barnsdale, screened by a rein or belt of trees from the 
observation of railway passengers, lies, yet untouched by 
drainage or the plough, a morass called Sutton Common. 
