The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-15


81 I'VE that are true lovers run into
+ strange -capers; but as all is mortal III
snature. so is all nature in love, mortal
Sin folly. "-Touchstone.
The last miles fell sandy and Dalton
Rhad wondered, rather YEARLY, now
2k,auch farther was his inn, when sud
q denly he saw the Hercules of SHINE
S cock. and knew that he had reached the
goal of that days spin. The Hercules
hooking down from his repose doubtless
81 fancjed-if that carved wood indeed
holds the gods heart-that this was
but one more of the modern Centaurs
&xshose legs and hoofs evolution mad
y made TO wheels-if in very truth the
81 Hercules of Shinnecock holds some Oh
the personality of the hero, became a
s god in the true days Of fable
q You know how this Hercules stands
facing the inn, over against the mead
5 ow and the shimmering bay. All day
81 and All night he looks down in mighty
u repose-slInmer days of sketchlng art
s. lists who dreams of canVases at the
81 NEXT exhibition which shall tell OF the
q changing colors of the little sketch Oh
81 hill country of Shinnecock; autumn
4 days of golfers, and less athlellc iolh'
winter days and nights when rage pos
sesses the sea and this image dreams
perhaps of the gone time when 1t STOOD
4 lSuffeting the waves, defying them,
4 hearing proudly the Ohio and its nag
: Of the republic. Do inanimate Things
! then sometimes fall a-dreamingE DO
& they indeed sometimes hold the nature
OF the creature the artist mas stIIVeI
TO produce2 So this great block, carved
by a forgotten sculptor into the sem
blance of the hero as he was conceived
IN the Farnesian Hercules-remlnlsce
not only of lis own past, but OF all tnal
Hercules knew and saw and did
A tree overshadows the flgure at
some hours of the fitting day. per
feet rural statue" philosophical Dalton
in his uncritical mood, sitting there on
the inn steps, while the host mildly
Chartered On another day he might
have decried this opinion, but now the
,ow moon had taken up the pale tWi-
light, had turned the dying light OF
day into a suffused yellolwishness.
The dinner was long over; the last
g1est had gone: and still Dalton sat
there and il was as if he were back in
Andover reading Mr.. Bohn's aid to
English students of the Greek poets. 1t
was to him as if there might appear
suddenly out of the half moonlit spaces,
the priests and the maidens; as if
prayer tHlEnL ~ up ~ llit SUI d. ~
many a twilight Hercules was be
sought in the old days on an isle of
I'VE refused $500 for it," said the
hast
Eth said Dalton, taking a med
itative pull of his pipe.
THE roads were sandy, weren't
they?'' said the host. You'd had to
gone to Southampton before you found
another tavern. You like TO know that
this was an inn in l745 on the Kings
highway"
But Dalton was not listening. He
had left the goSsiping host, and had
strolled across the road and on under
the shadow OF the Hercules-where he
paused for a musine moment-and
then, on toward the bay. How still II
all was, after the town, How all the
world seemed to be in retrospect and
all the mythology again true. Would
ii happen in the course of the cycle 0f
time. the fatheT-and the ever aging.
vet eternal possessor of us, and our
moods-that men would come back TO
the mythology. the folk lore, that peo-
pied the seas and the forests and the
stretches of meadow with personalities
that were not SO improbable under
this moon, by the lonely reach of bay,
and the hilltops ranged against a
darkish blue which the moon permitted
For full hour this sentimental fell
low-not long out of his office-paced
up and down the beach with his fan
cies; and then rather regretfully
turned back toward the shadowy Her
cules.
As he neared it. suddenly wakeful,
he let his imagination go tripping
Again he saw that part of the vanished
Greeks. vaguely true in his memory
of those schoolboy's fancies between
the stGdious moments OF digging out
explanations of the aoriSt. The inn
stood quiet. the lights out, the door
ajar for the laggard guest. who hest
tated. looking up a. the Hercules. who
seemed to express the verify the IN
known carver had felt. even were this
q copy. Now the moon omitted flaws:
and this was the god looking down at
his worshippers. Out of the past Dali
tons wandering fancy brought these
old Greeks, prayerful of Hercules, and
then.
..Oh. dear"
He started. Had he fancied this ex-
pressive sigh had come out of
the figure; and then he heard but not
the Sruff and awful voice of the hero
raised to the gods: instead. a low.
feminine tone-possibly that of dryad
who was still in the trunk out of
which the carver had wrought this in
Of another day Yet there was thai
note promisefui of a human cause in
the exclamation, which set all at once
Dalton's fancies at rest Quickly he
stepped at the back of the Hercules.
where, clinging as if for protection to
his superhuman. reposeful strength
was a figure. slight. and yet human
which gave out a little dismayfuI cry.
and drew nearer TO the wooden block
get is it not more?) and cried out:
Don't hurt me. please,"
My dear young lady" said orr
young gentleman. 4 certainly have M
such intention. I beg You thousand
pardons.'
His voice may have treasured her
for she now stepped out into the moon.
shine-a slight, girlish figure. in 2
costume the Greek ladies-not Sappho
nor her Pericees loved-never wouId
have dreamed of. though they indeed
might approve of il, could they re-
visit this old earth. and If they know
out of the gloomy realm of Hades
All, are they there who laughed so