The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-03-13
Bill Does Not Like the Month Of
BluSter.
THEN aE WRITES OF MYTHOLOGY
Tells How the Month Got Its Name
Then He Tells Some of the. Stories
of Mythology.

month. 1t was named for Mars, the
God of War. who was the son OF Jupi-
ter and was always hunting around
for fight. He was believed to be the
father of Romulus. the founder of the
Roman Empire. and hence was held
in great reverence by the Romans.
March was named for him. Those old
Greeks and Romans had no weeks
nor days of the week-no Sundays or
Mondays or any other day. but they
divided time by Calends and Ides. The
Calends were the first days Of the
month and the Ideas were the If
teenth. All the intermediate days
were designated hy these, as. for in
stance, the third day after the Cal
ends of May OF the fifth day before
the Ides of March. The Roman Seq
ate always began its sessions ON the
Ides Of the month, except that after
julius Caesar was murdered the an
niversary of that day the 1des OF
March were observed as a sacred
day. want the young people to know
and remember that we got our months
from Roman mythology and the days
Of our weeks from the Scandinavian
mythology. Now listen to part of
this wonderful story. for it is classic
and more fascinating than the Ara
bian Nights. Two thousand years ago
1t was the faith and religion OF mil
lions of people. Jupiter was the god
of the Greeks and the Romans and
Wooden was the god Of the Norsemen
and each had a son who was the god
of war. There was the son Of Wooden.
Wednesday was named for Wooden
and it was originally Woden's day.
Thursday was named for Thor and
Friday for his mother. Each Of these
mythologies had a hades or Internal
region for bad people and evil spirits.
Pluto presided over the one and
woman named Hela over the other.
That is where the word He'll came
from. 1t seems an awful thing to put
hell in charge of woman, but they
said that no man was as bad as bad
woman. Her father was named Loki
and she had two brothers. One was a
serpent so big and so long that it
wrapped around the world and then
swallowed its own tail. The other was
wolf, so strong that he broke the
strongest chains just like they were
cobwebs. Then Wooden got the noun
tain spirits to make another chain
and they made it of six things. The
noise made by cat walking, the
beard of a woman, the roots OF
stones, the breath of fishes, the smiles
of bears and the spittle of birds. When
the chain was finished it was as small
and smooth and soft as a silken
string, but no power on earth could
break it. And so they chained him and
killed him. But listen what kind or
a home Miss Hela had. Hunger was
her dining table. Starvation was her
knife. Delay was her man servant
Sloth her maid servant. A precipice
was her door step. Care her bed, anc
Anguish the curtains to her bed
chamber. No wonder she was cruel
and always wore stern, unhappy
and forbidding countenance.
This is just sample OF their my
thology. 1t fills up several books.
Now, where in the world did that peo-
pie get all these wonderful stories.
Away back in the ages they must
have had poets more imaginative
than Homer. Some of our most learned
men say they got the foundation OF
many of them from the Bible. For
the story goes that away back in the
ages the people got so bad that Jup!-
ter got dreadful mad with them and
resolved to destroy them. So he sum-
moned all the gods to come to him,
and they came from al parts OF the
heavens. travelling on the milky way,
which Ia the street of the gods, and
after taking counsel together they de-
termined to destroy all mankind and
start with a new pair. So Jupiter Was
about to launch a red hot thunderbolt
at the earth and burn it up but one
of the GODS told him that he had bet
ter not. for he might hurn up heaV-
en-, toe. So he concluded to use
water instead OF fire, and then came
the food which drowned every human
being except Deucalion and his wife,
who were good people. They escaped
t othe top of a mountain called Bar
nassus and we're saved. That is very
much like the Bible story Of the food
ana OF Noah and Mount Ararat And
just 50 they got Hercules from Sam
so1 and Vulcan and Apollo from Ju-
bal aad Jubal Cain. and the Dragon
fro mfhe serpent that tempted Eve.
ans tie giants who tried to scale the
walls of heaven from Nimrod and his
tower. Every great heather god had
a favorite son just as our Christian
God has Son. There is something
sublime and comforting in even be-
lieving or imagining that a great and
good being is somewhere in the heav-
ems oyerruling the earth and its peo-
pie, prospering the good and punish.
ing the evil. The fact that this all
powerful being is invisible makes His
av;etonoa tho moro imDresSiye Jupiter