Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-06-01

10 bnO iliO5b . " tGb
with every feature perfectly chis@l0
and smile half parting the lips. Ton
have missed the most beautiful th!Sg
in the moon if you never have seen
her.
And then there are the two Children
OF the Moon-a boy and girl half
way grown up. You can see them best
in the winter time, when the moon is
tipped a little farther around. A good
many years ago a boy and girl who
were bringing pail of water from the
well were heartlessly robbed by
bandit, and since then-so the story
goes-they have always marched in
the moon. You can see Jack and Jill
carrying the pail between them, sup
ported on pole. A very bright, fair
haired pair they are, although at this
time of year only the girl shows
plainly.
If you haven't seen all these moon
dwellers, don't fail to look for them
the next time the moon is full
In olden times people paid great
deal more attention to the moon than
they do nowadays. The old Greeks
used to say the Man in the Moon was
q Greek and the Romans said that he
was Roman, and they might have
gone to war over the matter if there
hadn't been anything else to fight
about. And the wise men quarreled
over the question as to whether the
moon was an island or only hole in
the sky, And one of them soberly
asserted that the moon was simply the
sun shorn of his rays, who came peep
ing around at night for fear something
would go wrong while he was gone.
Ancient authors also had much to
say about lunar wonders. Lucian, a
famous Greek writer, tells in his
Voyage to the Moon" how he visited
the Man in the Moon. 1t reads like
some wonderful fairy story Starting
from the smiling coasts of Italy, his
gay bark was driven beyond the pl-
lars of Hercules into the unknown
ocean. Here it was caught in a fierce
storm and swept about at the mercy
of the wind for SCI enty days. Then
the weary voyagers landed on bliss
full island, where the rivers flowed with
wine and where every vine in the
Leaving few of his bewitched COM
panions, Lucian sailed on with those
who remained faithful to him. One
fine day when the sun shone brightly
and the waters were blue and calm,
sudden whirlwind arose and hftel Yp
the little vessel and for seven days and
seven nights it was hurled through
space, and finally landed on large
island which hung suspended in mid
air and was brilliantly Illuminated by
the sun. This was the moon.
No sooner had they alighted when
great company of hippogrifis men
mounted on winged asses with three
heads came and carried them to the
Man in the Moon. He at once recog-
nized them as Greeks, for he was
countryman of theirs-Endymion by
name. 1t so happened that he was at
that moment engaged in fierce war;
fare with his majesty Phaeton, King of
the Sun, and the very next day great
battle was to be fought. Lucian was
delighted with this opportunity of be-
coming acquainted with the famous
Man in the Moon and agreed to help
him fight his battle.
Early the next morning the moon
army was drawn up in battle array.
IT consisted of no fewer than 81, 000-
900 of men, with so, 900 hippogriffs
and an equal number of other wonder
full creatures, among whom were SO, 900
men riding feas of the size of twelve
elephants. The battle took place on
an enormous cobweb stretched be-
tween the sun and the moon, and after
fierce and bloody struggle, in which
many deeds of valor were done, both
armies withdrew, having covered them
selves with glory, and the next day
peace was declared, and the Man in
the Moon became fast friends with the
King of the Sun.
Lucian tells other marvellous things
about the Man in the Moon. He is
not born, but buds forth like a flower,
and instead of dying he passes forth in
gentle puff of smoke. He never
suffers indigestion, because his stom-
ach is nothing but a pocket in which
he keeps his food. If he thinks there
is danger of hurting his eyes he takes
them out and slips them in his pockets.
All these things Lucian tells about,
and then cuts his story short quite
suddenly and returns to Greece. -
Chicago Inter Ocean.