The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-10-13
T1e RetuTDof agaDenlOl(.

It was ten years since Agamemnon, the mighty Argive monarch, had left his kingdom (somewhat suddenly, and after stormy interview with the queen, as those said who had the best opportunity of knowing), with the avowed intention of going to assist at the siege of Troy.
 He has never written once since, but so many reports of his personal daring and his terrible wounds had reached the palace that Clytemnestra would often observe, with touch of annoy ance, that, if not actually dead at that time, he must be nearly as full of holes as fishing net
 So she was scarcely surprised when they broke the intelligence to her one day that he really had gone at last, hav- ing fallen fighting desperately against the most fearful odds upon the Trojan plain; and when little later she formally announced to her faithful subjects her betrothal to -Egisthus, her youngest and favorite courier, they were not surprised in their turn.
 They told one another with ribald facetiousness that they had rather ex- pected something of the kind.
 They were celebrating their queens betrothal day with the widest enthus- iasm, for they were a simple, affection ate people, and foresaw an impetus to local trade. It had been a dull time for Argos during those weary ten years, and the city had become we'll nigh deserted, as one by one, all her bravest and her best had left her to seek, as they poetically put it, Ia soldiers tomb"
 Several married men, in whom no such patriotic enthusiasm had ever been previously suspected, found out that their country required their ser- vices, left their wives and little ones and started for the field of battle. There were many pushing Argive tradesmen, too, who had abandoned their business and sought-not osten- tatiously, but with the self-effacement of true heroism-the seat of war upon which their sovereign had been sitting so long; while the real extent of theil devotion was seldom appreciated unti long after their departure, when il was generally discovered that in theil eagerness they had left their affairs il the greatest confusion.
 And very soon almost all the young men left were mild, unwarlike youths who were respectable and wore spec tacles, while the rest of the male pop. ulation was composed of equal part of prattling infants and dodderine octogenarians.
 This was a melancholy state O things-but then the absent ones wrot, such capital letters home, containing such graphic descriptions of camp lift and the fiercer settlements of nigh attacks and forlorn hopes that tn, recipients ought to have been amply consoled.
 They were not; they only remarked that it seemed rather odd that tn, writers should SO consistently forget to give their addresses, and that it wal singular circumstance that while each letter purported to come direct from the Greoian lines, every envelope somehow bore different postmark And often would the older married women (and theil mothers tool wisl with infinite pathos that they coulG only just get the missing ones home and talk to them little-that was all
 But all anxiety was forgotten in ths celebration of the betrothal, for the Ar. gives were determined to do the thing really well. So in the principal streets they had erected triumphal arches, typifyipg the chief local manu- factures, which were Gas it is scarcely necessary to inform the scholar) sods water and cane bottomed chairs; and from these arches chairs and bottle, were constantly dropping, like gen. tie dew, upon the happy crowd tha, passed beneath. All the public foun. tains spouted cheap dinner sherry like water-"very like water," said some disaffected persons; householders were graciously invited to exhibit flags and illuminations at their own expense and in the market place a fowl wal being roasted whole for the populace
 All was gayety, therefore, at sunset when the citizens assembled In groups about the squares in front of the pal. ace, prepared to cheer the royal pair with enthusiasm when they deigned to show themselves upon the balcony.
 The well- meaning old gentlemen who formed the chorus, (for in those Savn nunxv hr,, ca If auv v,raskinn avs ac