Apollo carried a bow. The cypress and the laurel were their favorite trees.

Ceres, the goddess of sowing and reaping, carried poppies and sheaves of corn.

Pan, a merry creature, half man and half goat, was the god of mountains, forests, and rivers. He lived in Arcadia instead of on Olympus. He gave each hill, tree, and stream its own guardian.

The Muses, the nine beautiful daughters of Memory, watched over literature and art, and especially over poetry. The three Graces watched over feasting and dancing and pleasure.

The people of the earth lived on the plains below Mount Olympus, and worshipped the gods by sacrifices of animals. Prometheus, their friend, had long ago stolen fire from heaven and given it to men, to keep them warm and enable them to make homes and weapons and tools.

Pronunciations. - Pros'er pine; Di ăn'a; Çe'rēş; Pro mē'theūs. Definitions.-Mount Olympus, a mountain in Greece. Nectar, name given to the drink of the gods of Greece. Ambrosia, the food of the gods; it gave eternal youth.

Use the words defined in sentences of your own.

Select, for spelling, the hardest five words of this lesson.

If accessible, read to the class "Gods and Heroes," pages 1-143.— Francillon. "Classic Myths," Chap. 5. — Gayley.

DRILL IN RHETORICAL PAUSES.

the poor Indian, whose untutored mind

Lo
Sees God

His soul

in clouds, or hears Him in the wind; proud science never taught to stray

Far as the solar walk or milky way;

Yet simple nature to his hope has given,
Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven;
Some safer world in depth of wood embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,

Where slaves
No fiends

once more their native land torment, no Christians thirst for gold.

behold,

- Pope.

HERO STORIES.

34. A HERO OF MYTH-HERCULES.

PART I.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a schoolmate of the poet Longfellow in the early part of this century, is one of the greatest of American storywriters. His stories are mostly of American people and scenes, and show a wonderful power of reading the human heart. Hawthorne's son and daughter have become fine writers, also. When they were little children their father took delight in writing for them stories of myth and history. You will find these in the "Wonder Book," "Twice-Told Tales," "Tanglewood Tales," and "Grandfather's Chair." Articulation.—at | his | might; apples | of | Hes per'i dēs; mightiest | giant.

Hercules was the son of Jupiter. He grew so full of beauty and strength that people wondered at his might. When a baby he strangled two serpents that came to destroy him as he lay in his cradle.

By the ill-will of Juno, Hercules was made a servant of a cruel king, and compelled to obey all his commands. This king found many toilsome and terrible tasks for him. These tasks are known as the "Twelve Labors of Hercules."

The first of these undertakings was to bring the skin of a fierce wild lion that was roaming through a valley near by.

The next was to kill a monster with nine heads, each of which when cut off was replaced by two new ones.

Another was to clean the stables of a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules turned two rivers through the

stables and washed them out in a day.

Another of these tasks was to overcome the giant Antæus, who grew stronger every time he touched the earth. Hercules had to lift him up in the air and conquer him there.

The most difficult labor of all was bringing the golden apples of the Hesperides, which grew on a far western island guarded by a watchful dragon, and Hercules did not know where that island was.

The following story tells of the search. It is taken from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book." You must imagine that Hercules had now traveled westward to Atlas, who was said to hold up the sky. Atlas had not then been turned to a mountain.

Just then a breeze wafted away the clouds from before the visage of Atlas, and Hercules beheld it, with all its enormous features; eyes, each of them as big as yonder lake, a nose a mile long, and a mouth of the same width.

Poor fellow! He had evidently stood there a long while. An ancient forest had been growing and decaying around his feet; and oak trees, six or seven centuries old, had sprung from the acorn, and forced themselves between his toes.

The giant now looked down from the far height of his great eyes, and, perceiving Hercules, roared out, in a voice that resembled thunder proceeding out of the cloud that had just flitted away from his face:

"Who are you, down at my feet there? And whence do you come, in that little cup?"

"I am Hercules," thundered back the hero, in a voice pretty nearly or quite as loud as the giant's own. "And I am seeking for the garden of the Hesperides."

"Ho! ho! ho!" roared the giant, in a fit of immense laughter. "That is a wise adventure, truly!"

"And why not?" cried Hercules, getting a little angry at the giant's mirth. "Do you think I am afraid of the dragon with a hundred heads?"

"I am Atlas, the mightiest giant in all the world, and I hold the sky upon my head," roared the giant.

"So I see," answered Hercules. "But can you show me the way to the garden of the Hesperides?" "What do you want there?" asked the giant.

"I want three of the golden apples," shouted Hercules, "for the king."

"There is nobody but myself," quoth the giant, "that can go to the garden of the Hesperides and gather the golden apples. If it were not for this little business of holding up the sky, I would make half a dozen steps across the sea, and get them for you."

"You are very kind," replied Hercules. "And cannot you rest the sky upon a mountain?"

"None of them are quite high enough," said Atlas, shaking his head. "But if you were to take your stand on the summit of that nearest one, your head would be pretty nearly on a level with mine. You seem to be a

fellow of some strength. What if you should take my burden on your shoulders, while I do your errand for you?"

Hercules, as you must be careful to remember, was a remarkably strong man; and though it certainly requires a great deal of muscular power to uphold the sky, yet, if any mortal could be supposed capable of such an exploit, he was the one. Nevertheless, it seemed so difficult an undertaking, that, for the first time in his life, he hesitated.

"Is the sky very heavy?" he inquired.

"Why, not particularly so, at first," answered the giant, shrugging his shoulders. "But it gets to be a little burdensome after a thousand years."

"And how long a time," asked the hero, "will it take you to get the golden apples?"

"O, that will be done in a few moments," cried Atlas. "I shall take ten or fifteen miles at a stride and be at the garden and back again before your shoulders begin to ache."

"Well, then," answered Hercules, "I will climb the mountain behind you there, and relieve you of your burden." Accordingly, without more words, the sky was shifted from the shoulders of Atlas, and placed upon those of Hercules.

Pronunciations.- An taē'us.

Definitions. — Visage, the face. Summit, the highest point. Enormous, very large. Quoth, said. Adventure, a bold undertaking. Hesperides, the daughters of Atlas, who, with their mother, Hesperis, guarded the golden apples of a tree that had sprung up to grace the wedding of Jove and Juno.

Use the words defined in sentences of your own.

Spell: fierce; Hesperides; perceive; laughter; muscular; shrugging.

DRILL IN EMPHASIS.

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not be deceived, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation-the last arguments to which kings resort. - Patrick Henry.