St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-11

There are some things that are of
more value than dollars and cents,
though they are very important things.
The pleasures that arise from trained
Intellect and Imagination are of a far
higher order than any that can be
bought with the coin of the realm. A
writer in Philadelphia Times talks this
way about intellectual pleasure:
Very practical people, people that
ook at life through glasses all trimmed
around with dollars and cents, think it
IS sheer nonsense and a dead waste of
lime to bother with the musty litera-
ture of bygone ages. "What good is it
going to do u.s." they say, ITO know
what Hercules did and how he did it?
And suppose PerseuS did Stay Medusa
and rescue Andromeda from the sea
monster, who cares? How can you
make money out of lt?-that's the QueS-
ton"
We should be very sorry to have any
member of the Eight O'Clock club take
so commercial a view of the matter.
There are some things in this world
that are better to have than money, and
one of them is intellectual enjoyment.
Without that we should be merely ami
mails.
There are comparatively few of you
that will have any practical use for the
NEUROLOGICAL stories that we have
begun to tell you, that is to say,
any practical use so far as money
getting is concerned, but there
is not boy or girl in the club that will
not find them the source of intellectual
pleasure. This pleasure is dOuble-act-
ing, so to speak; it exists in the mere
feeling that we know these things. and
the knowing them enables lis to under
stand and appreciate illusions that we
are all the time finding in what we
read.
Shakespeare, for example, speaks of
"Niobe, all tears" and Byron, in
"Childe Harold" has these lines:
The Niobe of nations! there she stands
ChtIdIess and crownIess in her yoiceless woe.
Now. YOU could not read either of
those illusions to Niobe without want
ing to know who she was, and if you
should be unable to crafty that desire
you would miss the full meaning of the
author. Besides, you would feel dis
satisfied with yourself for your lack Of
knowledge on the subject.
1t Is to give you this knowledge and
this pleasure that we are telling you
the stories Of mythology. 1t may be.
even, that some of you may one day
nd nf T
You should ever try to make money by
your pen, you should have the best pos
sible literary equipment.
AS you may imagine, the story of
NiObe is sad one. She was the wife of
AmphiOn, king of Thebes, whose mag
ical Tyre playing you have no doubt
heard of. 1t is SAID that Mercury gave
him a Tyre, the music of which per-
formed the duty that we now expect Of
derricks and other mechanical appli-
ances. When he wanted to build a wall
around ThebeS, he sat down and played
on his Tyre, and the stones, unable to
restrain their enthusiasm, jumped up
and placed themselves, of their own ac-
cord, exactly where he wanted them to
be. So, you see, he had no trouble
about it at all. There is no end to the
those jolly old days.
NiObe had a great many children.
The accounts do not agree as to the
exact number, but most writer's make it
fourteen, seven boys and seven girls.
AS fond as we are Of young people, we
should say that fourteen is about as
many as ought to be in one family. But
Niobe evidently did not find them trou-
besome, for she loved them and was
proud of them; particularly was she
proud of their number.
Unfortunately she permitted herself
TO become boastful about it, one day, i'll
talking to her friend, Leto, the mother
of Apollo and Diana. She even allowed
herself to say that the mother of four
teen children was an ever so much
greater woman than the mother of two
Now, Leto may have been a very good
natured woman, for all we know, but
that was a taunt tina. she could not
stand. 1t was reflection upon her,
and upon her children, too; SO she sum-
mOned Apollo and Diana and told them
that the insult must be resented.
They never did things by halves in
those days, and the resenting of an in
suit was always pretty serious bust
ness. In this case it was nothing more
nor less than the Staying of all Niobe'S
children. Apollo shot the boys and
Diana the girls, using their arrows as
the instruments Of death.
Poor Niobe too late regretted her in
cOnSiderate boasting She was over
whelmed with grief, and the gods took
pity OH her and turned her into stone.
But even thus her grief was not stayed,
for the stone constantly shed the tears
Of mothers woe.
Now we know why Shakespeare says,
Hike Niobe, all tears"