The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1902-03-20
BILL ARP'S LETTER
Barlow Philosopher Again Re-
verts to Ancient Mythology
MARCH IS A MUCH DESPISED MONTH
With It's Buster and DisagreeabIenco9
II Has no Friends-HoW the
Month Got Its Name

March has no friends. 1t is disa
greeable. uncertain, clustering month
1t was named for Mars. the god OF
War. who was the son of Jupiter. and
was always hunting around for a
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 ldes. The
Calends We're the first days of the
month and the Ides were the fifteenth.
All the intermediate days were des-
ignated by these, for instance, the
third day after the Calends of May,
of the fifth day before the ldes Of
March The Roman senate always
began it's sessions on the Ides of the
month. except that after julius Gaze
sar was murdered the university OF
that day. the Ides Of March was OBJ
served 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 a part of this wonderful
story for it is classic and more fas-
cinating than the Arabian Nights.
Two thousand years ago it was the
faith and religion Of millions OF peo-
Pile Jupiter was the god of the Greeks
and the Romans, and Wooden was the
god of the Norsemen and each had
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 mytholo-
gies had a hades or internal region
for bad people and evil spirits. Pluto
presided over the one. and a woman
named Hela over the other. That is
where the word He'll comes from 1t
seems an awful thing to put hell in
charge Of a woman, but they said that
no man was as bad as a bad woman.
Her father was named Lokl, and she
had two brothers. One was serpent
so big and long that it wrapped around
the world and swallowed its own tail.
The other was a wolf so strong that
he broke the strongest chains just like
4 he rhA, cot
the mountain spirits to make another
chain, and they made it Of six things:
The noise of a 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 so 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 of home Miss
Hela had Hunger was her dining ia
BILE. Starvation was her knife. De-
lay was her man seryant-Sloth her
maid servant. A precipice was her
doorstep. Care her bed, and Anguish
the curtains to her bed chamber. No
wonder she was cruel and always
wore a stern, unhappy and forbidding
countenance.
This is just a sample of their myth
ology 1t fills up several books. Now,
where in the world did that people get
all those wonderful stories. Away
back in the ages they must have had
poets more imaginative than Homer.
Some of our 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 resolved TO destroy
them. So he summoned 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 counsel together
the determined to destroy all mankind
and start with a new pair. So Jupiter
was about to launch a red hot thunder
bolt at the earth and burn it up, but
one of the gods told him that he had
better not, for he might bura up
heaven, too. So he concluded to use
water instead of fire. and then came
the flood which drowned every human
being except Deucalion and his wife,
who were good people. They escaped
to the top of a mountain called Parnas-
sus and were saved. This is very
much like the Bible story of the flood
and of Noah and Mount Ararat. And
just so they got Hercules from Samp-
son, and Vulcan and Apollo from Jul
bal and Jubal Cain, and the Dragon
from the serpent that tempted Eve,
and the giants who tried to scale :he
walls of heaven from Nimrod and his
tower. Every great heather god had
a favorite son just as our Christian
God has a Son. There is something
sublime and comforting in even be-
lieving or imagining that a great and