The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1897-08-04

The Tradition of the Samothrsciana
Eari's Treasure.
There was once an energetic and
strong minded missionary in the south
seas, who took a great deal of interest
in the folklore of the island where he
dwelt. After years of study he made up
his mind for good and all that there
was not a particle of fact in the legends
protesting to be historic which he had
laboriously gathered. In distrust at his
own credulity. unwilling to let people
know what a fool he had been, he toss
ed his whole collection into the fire.
Some days afterward there was a terrif-
ic hurricane. The islanders had told
him that once upon u time long ago,a
certain famous chieftain used to sit on
a stone bench beneath a tree which
grew close to the mission house. That
bench had disappeared, nc one knew
When or how, but in the days Of hea-
thendom they used to place offerings to
the spirit of the old chief near the spot
where it had stood. When the mission
airy sailed out ON the morning after the
storm, the first object he noticed was
this tree overthrown-and in the midst
of its upturnea roots hung a stone
bench.
The reverend gentleman-Whiting
was his name, il we remember right
stood in u maze. The legend was true.
then. Examination proved beyond a.
doubt that the bench had rested against
the bole of the tree in some distant age,
for there was no trace of an incision.
The wood had grown smoothly round
and over it. So far as he could roughly
compute, four centuries must have
passed since it stood outside the trunk.
For that time the islanders had pre-
served the memory Of a circumstance so
trifing, for to question that this was
tho bench they assigned to their mythic
hero would have been silly. And then
the good man incurred his haste. he
had destroyed the patient labor Of years
because he would not credit the &C.
counts of grave events given In all Sc.
robustness by members Of his flock, aud
1t proved that they were trustworthy
even ON such q detail as the personal
habits of a man who died 400 years ago.
The story is one to be borne in mind
by all students of folklore and Of that
early stage in human annals which Is
based upon tradition. But it does not
follow TINT Mr.. Whiting had good cause
to lament his burned manuscripts if he
valued them only for the records Of
events they might contain. That there
are PARTICLES Of fact in the most gro
tesque Of these legends, which profess to
be historic, we find more and more rea-
son to believe as our knowledge widens.
but it Is rarely possible to sift them
from the mass Of poetic nonsense. Saw.
ages everywhere keep the memory Of
startling incidents which occurred, as
we learn by internal evidence, an in
definite number Of ages ago.
Biologists recognize that tho Black
sea was once a lake, with no outlet to-
ward the Mediterranean. They incline
to think or believe that it escaped
through the Bosporus and the Darda-
nelles shortly after the glacial period.
But Diodorus Siculus mentions tradi.
ton of the Samothracians exactly agree
ing with this account, which learned
men Of the day have framed upon the
teaching of science. Did the Snmothra-
clans exist in the glacial period? They
say that when the Black sea broke its
barriers nc last all their country was
drowned-that was the Samothracian
food. And it is evident enough that
such must have been the result Of the
cataclysm, There is a passage in Pin
dar also which some commentaries in
terpret as an allusion to the same pro.
aieious event.
Traditions CT the mammoth are &c
general and 20 vigorous Ill the extrtnt
north Of America that sayants Of rel u
tation are not unwilling 10 admit tie
pas ,hilty that it survived 80 yc:s'
ago. Vup ot-crF v-o iaAc 40 ia1AiFf
H.t4on5o Lr .U 50 VIZ i5cCi Ia.
II Vefy an .,t.lls aye PRESERVED