Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-08-03
MIDAS.

-. ,,,e Rand. has been kindly furnished US
for publication.
''' MIDAS.
There once was assembled a singular
crowd,
In years that long since have gone by,
To Judge of the skill of two gods, who had
vowed
A musical contest to try.
The shepherd god, Pan, in the form of a
goat,
With human admixture indeed,
First mounted the bema, and swelled the
sweet note,
That rang from the tremulous reed.
And the people all shouted, ''Hurrah for
the pipe
Hurah for the mountain god, Pan!
Such music, with fullnesS of harmony ripe,
Let any god beat it, that can!
Then Apollo, the god of oracular fire.
Stood fol, h from the musical thrOng,
And tunefully touched the taut strings OF
his Tyre,
And opened his mouth in song.
Then shouted the hosts till the forests did
ring,
And the clamor arose to the skies,
so softly to play and so sweetly to sing,
Should give to Apollo the prizeF
But Midas was mulish. and stoutly denied
That the Tyre of Apollo had won,
He liked the reed pipe, but they strangely
decried
The best instrument under the sun.
Then TmOlus. in wrath, reached forth
with his hand,
"a magician. was Tmolus, you know,)
And touched Midas ears with a smile that
was bland,
And straightway they started to grow.
What! what! thought King Midas, what
mischief is that!
As his ears rose aloft in the air,
And he strOve 10 conceal the long tips in
his hat,
Or cover them up with his hair.
Then he hurried away to escape out of
sight,
Lest, perchance. his mishap be disclosed,
For he thought that no one had discovered
3 his plight
And to tell it he was not disposed.
But alas for poor Midas! 1t CHANGED that
sneak
Of servant was prowling about.
And he saw underneath Midas hat, just
Just the end of an ear, cropping out.
And the servant was human, so human,
that deep
d Curiosity strove in his breast,
And it worried him, whether awake or
asleep,
Until he discovered the rest.
Oh, secret profound! Oh, secret accursed!
In a servants lone bosom to dwell,
Should he strive to contain it, he surely
would burst,
And 'twere equal destruction to tell.
And so, while he agonized deep in his soul,
He hit on this thought most profound
''Pll find soft spot and I'll dig deep
And bury it under the ground"
In soft spot he dug, and then kneeling
Where no one was near, it appears,
He whispered so softly these words, 81 de-
clare,
King Midas has asinine ears" ~
Then he jumped quickly up and threw in
the earth,
Before cen sound should get free,
And feeling relieved, he chuckled with
mirth,
While thinking how shrewd he could be.
But strange to relate! his words became
seed,
And the seed soon ventured to sprout,
And each sprout soon became long, hOl
low reed,
Though slender, deep rooted and stout.
And when the long reeds had attained
their full hight,
A breeze sweeping under the sky.
Woke sounds midst the stalks, and words
of alright
We're. borne to the lone passer-by.
And these were the words that ruffled the
air,
OccasiOning manifold fears,
The words Of the servant-just these, 81
declare
King Midas has asinine earsr'
It was long, long ago that the battle was
fought,
But this truth has kept pace with the
years,
That a Judge 6etaOeen singers IS only sort
Of an animal having long ears!
It was long. long ago that the contest took
place,
But this truth demonstration has found,
That the mouth lchich belongs to a gossip
er'S face,
Is gerry deep hole an soft ground!
Ashtabula, July %, 1877. G.w.w.
nm a NJ -r1 ~