The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-03-16


1t was named for Mars, the God of War,
who was the son Of Jupiter and vas al
ways hunting around for a fight. He
was believed to be the father of Romu-
lus, 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 Sun
days or Mondays or any other day, but
they divided time by Calends and 1des.
The Calends were the first days of the
month and the Ides were the fifteenth.
All the intermediate days were desig-
mated by these, as for instance, the third
day after the Calends of May or the fifth
day before the Ides of March, The Ro-
man senate always began it's session on
the Ides of the month, except that after
julius Caesar was murdered the ami
versary of that day, the Ides of March,
was 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 scandinavian mythology. Now
listen to a part of this wonderful story,
| for it is classic and more fascinat-
ing than the Arabian Nights. Two thous-
and years ago it was the faith and re-
ligion of millions of people. Jupiter was
| the god of the Greeks and the Romans
and Wooden was the god of the Morse
nren and each had son who was :he
god of war. There was the son OF
Wooden. Wednesday was named for
Wooden and 1t was originally Wooden
day Thursday was named for Thor and
| Friday for his mother. Each of these
mythologies had hades or Internal reg
ion for bad people and evil spirits.
Pluto presided over the one and wo-
man 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 a 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 serpent so big
and so long that it wrapped around the
world. and then swallowed it's own tail.
The other was a wolf so strong that he
broke the strongest chains just like they
were cobwebs Then Wooden got the
mountain spirits to make another chain
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. chain
ed him and killed him. But listen what
kind of a home Miss Hela had. Hunger
was her dining table. Starvation was
her knife. Delay was her man sarvant-
Sloth her maid servant. A preclplce
was her door step. Care her bed, and
Anguish the curtains to her bed chamber
No wonder she was cruel and always
wore stern, unhappy and forbidding
countenance. a..
This is Just a sample of their mythol-
ogy. It fills up several books. Now
where in the world did that people 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
Jupiter got dreadful mad with them and
moned all the gods to come to him, and
they came from all parts of the heavens,
travelling on the milky way which is the
street of the gods, and after taking coun-
sci together they determined to destroy
all mankind and start with 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
l. 1srrtaN hrtR.T
heaven. too So he concluded to use
water instead of fire, and then came the
flood which drowned every human being
except Deucalon and his wife, who were
good people. They escaped to the top of
mountain called Parnassus and were
saved. That is very much like the Bible
story of the flood and of Noah and Mount
Ararat. And just so they got Hercules
from Sampson and Vulcan and Apollo
from Jubal and Tubal Cain, and the
Dragon from the serpent that tempted
Eve and the 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 believing or
imagining that a great and good being is
somewhere in the heavens overruling the
earth and its people, prospecting the good
and furnishing the evil. The fact that
this all powerful being is invisible makes
His existence the more impressive.
Jupiter sat enthroned on Mount Olympus,
Wooden had a beautiful palace of gold
and silver at Valhalla and it could only
be reached by walking on a rainbow.
And we pray to our God, saying: "Oh,
Thou who dwelleSt in the heavens" and
not in the temples made with hands.
History gives no account of any people
who did not put their trust in some God,
and this proves our confession of weak
ness and our need of strength from some
supernatural divinity. The more cultured
and enlightened we become the more
conscious we are of our weakness Chill
dren depend absolutely on their parents
until afar up in their teens. They do not
need any other God, but by and by the
parents pass away or fail to supply their
increasing wants and then comes that
feeling of helplessness and the want of
a protector. Reflection comes with age
and the more reflective a man becomes
and the more intelligent from study and
culture, the more he must realize his
ignorance and dependence Therefore,