The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-06

SUPPOSE every boy and girl has
heard of Hercules. that Greek hero
who was the very strongest man in
the world in ancient times, but !
imagine that few know what became
of him at last. He did SO many wonderful
deeds that all the world rang with MS
praises, but all of a sudden he disappeared
and was never heard of again. he was
known TO have travelled all over Europe,
Asia and Africa. bat il wasn't known that
finally he came to America, by wadlng
across Behring's Strait. and explored an
OF our country and thought 1t the nnest
of all.
one day he went TO sleep IN cave In
Kentucky after drinking strange Dever-
age called ''sourmashrye." a drink made
by the Kentucky Indians that will put the
strongest man asleep in a few hours and
when he awoke he discovered that his
wonderful Belt of Strength was gone
Some Indian had stolen 1t. and poor Her
cules found himself no stronger than an
ordinary man.
he wandered all over seeking for his
belt, but he was so ashamed of himself
that he didn't let anyone know VINO ne
was and finally the world concluded tnat
he had died. Nobody knew where he went.
but as he was immortal and couldn't die,
he simply went roaming all over, making
his living as he could and hoping that
some day he would recover his belt and
again be the strongest man in all the
world. one day a boy named Theodore
Ginks found the belt
Theodore lived in the country and went
TO school in the village of Hominy Hill.
He had 10 walk about seven miles to and
from his school every day, and you might
well imagine that he was glad when Sat
urday came. On Saturday he went after
blackbsrries with Theodosia Pickering, a
little girl who lived next door and OF
whom he was very fond. They hao
climbed a low hin covered with great
boulders where the berries were plentiful,
when Theodore discovered a hole under
the rocks II looked like a fox's, den. and
he dug away the earth until he could
crawl in. Then he saw that there was
Quite large cave beyond. and making a
torch of dry grass he explored it. At the
extreme end he came upon bow, toma-
hawk, some arrows and broad belt. all
covered with metal plates, rusted and
nouldy with age. He put the belt around
his waist, winding it twice around him
as & was the belt of a very large man.
This was Hercules famous Belt OF
Strength, but Theodore did not feel any
stronger at the time, for he was young
and healthy and felt good all the time.
an adventure that developed the fact that
whoever wore the belt became another
Hercules. As they passed through Hor-
ribIe Hollow. a dark and dreaded ravine
where the road was shaded by great trees
and rocks, they met Tin-Can Murphy, one
of the most disreputable tramps in Keno
County and a tramp from whom all other
hoboes fed in great fear, for he was sim
ply fierce.
He never worked. for he was too strong
He could bend an iron bar like straw and
straighten out a horseshoe between his
finger and thumb and he was very proud
of his great strength. He glared at tbs
children and demanded the berries they
had gathered. Theodore was about to Civ,
them up TO him. but the tramp said HI
must have a kiss from sweet little Theo
dosia and that made the boys blood boil
As Tin-Can was about to take the kis:
Theodore raised his fist and struck hin
an awful blow on the side of the head.