The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1870-07-14
The Story of Hercules.
BY THE CAT CONTRIBUTOR"

HERCULES was the son of Jupiter and
Alemeua, and the strongest man of his
time. The Germans cali hiA Herr Cules.
and claim him for Dutchman. Alemena,
his mother, being daughter of Earth,
JunO (Mrs. Jupiter) was naturally hostile
to her offspring. She declared war against
Hercules from his birth. She sent two
scrpents to destroy him as he lay in his
cradle, but d6lerium tremens not being
known in those days. Hercules stood in
no fear Of snakes so instead of dosing
himself with whisky and velirian to drive
them away he just stTangled them. That
was his style. Their stuffed hides may
be found iii any well-regulated museum
to this day. He was, however, by the
arts of Juno, rendered subject to Eurys-
theus, proprietor Of a combined circus
and manageric, and compelled to perform
all his commsnds. Eurystheus enjoined
upon him succession of desperate adj
ventures, which were called the twelve
LabOrs of Hercules" The first was a
fght with the Nemean lion. In handling
Wild animals Herr Cues could beat Herr
DTesbach. He strangled the lion with
his own hands, none of the other hands"
about the show being able to Go it. He
returned carrying the dead lion On his
shoulders, but Eurystheus was so fright
ened at the sight of it. and at this proof
OF the pTodiglOuS strength of Hercules,
that he ordered him to send accounts of
his exploits by telegraph in future.
dis next labor was carving the hydra,
/ a monster that raPaged the country of
Argos. and dgelt in a swamp near the
well of Anymore. The hydra used to go
to the well for the water to put with his
gin Che lived on by1rG-giR Mostly, and 1t
was here that Hercules met him clandes-
timely. The hydra had nine heads, of
which the middle one was immortal Her
cules struck of its head with his club, but
IN the place Of the one knocked off two
new ones appeared, heads winning every
toss At length he burned away the heads
with caustlc, and buried the ninth or i'm
mortal one under huge rock, with Ma
sonic honors.
His next step in the labor movement
was the cleaning of the Augean stables.
Augeas. King of Elias, had herd of 5000
oxen whose stalls had not been cleansed
for 80 years. The smell was so bad that
Deli, Miami and Storrs townships held
Indignation meetings and threatened to
tear the stables down. Hercules brought
Dccrcreck through them and cleansed
taetn thoroughly in one day, though the
hydrant water tasted a little queerish for
q week or more.
His next labor was of more delicate
nature. Admeta, the daughter of Eurys.
theus who rode a very good One-horse
acD, lOnged to obtain the girdle of Hip
polyta, queen of the Amazons, to wear in
The circus. She thought it would Law
over any champion belt in the country.
EUrystheus ordered Hercules to go and
Z III Tho a q
women, very -"lrlike, and addicted to
breeches and l.llot. 1t was their custom
10 bring up only the female children, the
boys either be ~ put to ceath or forced
to work on ne'gspapers which killed them
oil IN little lille anyhow. After var-
Gus adventures he reached the country
of the AmazOns, on the Amazon river.
I HlppOlyta received him and his comrades
kindly, and they gave three cheers and a
hip. hip! for llippOlyta. Hercules made
known his errand, and the queen consent
ed 10 give up the champion belt (subject
10 the rules of the English prize rlng),
but Juno, assuming the attire Of Mrs DIR.
/ Walker, went and persuaded the other
advocates Of wOmens rights that the
( strangers were carrying off their queen.
/ They instantly armed, and came down to
( the O'Clock mail boat, on which the men
had embarked, In great numbers. Her
cules and ilIppolyta were taking a part
Ing drink In the captains room. Seeing
the crowd of Amazons on the landing.
and hearing the tumult, Hercules thought
Hippolyta had acted treacherously. SO he
slew her, amt taking her girdle. sailed
homeward, the boat leaving precisely on
time.
/ Then Eurysthcus sent him to bring the
oxen OF GeryOn, a monster with three
bodies and very little soul He lived in
the far west, and when Hercules. in
searching him, arrived at the frontiers OF
/ Lydia and Europe, he rent mountain in
twain, and left half on eacn side, forming
/ the Straits OF Gibraltar If | should rcni
"A mountain, am afraid should find my
sell IN as great straits as Hercules did,
unless rents were very low. These two
mountains are called The "Pillars of Her.
cules." What became of the mattress and
The rest "f his bedding, | am unable 10
state. The oxen were guarded by the
! giant Eurytlon and his twO-h headed dog
but Hercules killed the giant, knocked
the dog on his respective heads and
brought the oxen in safety To Eurystheus.
lie took the first premium on them at the
next county iair. They were good thing
/" nave, Tor II Eurystheus got broke i'm
going against the "bank," he could raise
u ste1h ON one OF them any time
The moss difficult labor of all was get.
ting the golden apples of Hesperides. for
Hercules did not know where To- find
them. They were n choice variety of an.
les" golden sweets" perhaps-which
Juno had received at her wedding from
The goddess of the earth, and which she
had iDtTusted To the keeping of the
daughters OF Hesperis, ably assisted by a
+ "atchiui dragon. After various adven-
lures, llercules arrived at Mount Atlas in
Alrica-(geography and atlas had both
been introduced into Africa even at that
early day. Atlas was one Of the Titons
who got tigt on one day and endeavored
~ clean out the gods. But these
E9ht-uHs got the worst of the fight, and
Atlas was condemned to bear on his
shoulders the weight of the heavens
Jupiter facetiOusly called il the "healtb
mn, and said il would do him good
htlas was the father of Hesperides, and
Just the one To find the apples and bring
them to him.
Atlas consented to 90, if Hercules
would bear up the heavens while he was
gone, which he did, having borne IN
under almost everything under the beav
ems. Atlas found Hesperides on an isle of
brightness and glory, floating in a west
ern sky. Their home was on the settip'
sun! lie got the apples, pretending that
he wanted To exhibit them at the Pomo-
logical fair, and brought them to Her
cuies. Then he resumed his exercise with
the healtE-lft, and Hercules returned
with the apples to Eurystheus, who ex-
hlblted them IN one OF his side shows
Another exploit Of his was to yanquish