The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-10-28

MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, !
With one wave Of his hand Charon
waited them across in his ferry, q nd
then he turned to the Old Genii, an d
said:
"What fools these mOrtals be! That
pompous man with the purple robee
and diadem insisted upon taking his
royal trappings with him; that m an
with the mitre and surpiice was very
anxious to wear his. ecclesiastical gar
ments. Another wanted to take h is
degrt es and diplomas and still another
his medals and badges, and so on, but
one and all wanted to take their char
acters with them. Evidently it was
goodly crowd as judged by mans stand
ard"
Then the Old Genii bethought him
self Of the massive structures he had
=. en- in the great cities, and of the peo-
pie who went there laden with worldly
goods, to obtain good character, and
he asked Charon what became of all
the characters that were left behind on
the banks of the Styx.
Then Charon spoke again and said: .
"You observe that great pile of gar
ments yonderp Some are nearly whole;
some have been patched and darned;
some are in rags and tags, and some are
nothing but ravelings and shreds. Those
are the characters of men who have
passed Beyond.
"In time they all fade and become
old, most of them soon fall into decay
and become eunrecognizablew while very
few may last for ages, but they, too, in
time become buried in the mass, and are
lost forever. Sometimes there comes q
biographer. or historian, or q poet,
who borrows one of the characters for
a brief period--for VII ose,
know not, bnt invariably when it is re-
turned it is threadt a. e and fall Of holes
and frayed about the edges, as though
it had been put to hard usage"
And then the Old GeniI bethought
himself of a worldly venture, and he
asked CharOn if he could have all the
characters that were left behind on the
banks of tie Styx and he would take
them into the cave in the Mountain OF
Mortality. and would open great EN-.
porium and he would barter and traffic
with men.
Charon told the Old Genii that h {
could have them all under one condi
tion aud that was that the Old Geni
must never dispose of a character In
any way un'ess he got another in ex
change. He could get as much to boot
as he liked but he must always get an
other character of some kind to take
the place of the one he lot go.
And then tae Old Genii opened his
emporium in the Mountain of Mortalit!
and he sent heralds throughout all th'
earth, and men came from far and nea
to exchange their poor characters TO
better ones. And the Old Genii did ,
thriving business, but soon his stock O
good characters was sadly depleted, ant
he was sore put to meet the demand.
Had the Old Genii been q mortal h'
would no doubt have wished for a grea
pestilence, or famine, or war, SO tina
his stock might be reple nished, but h
was not a mortal, he was a good Oh
Genii instead, aud itgrieved him soreI
to think that he could not help then
all.
| One day there came tothe emporium
a man who said he was notori
criminal. He had been in prison; b
had been branded; he had been exile
from his own land and deported frOr
others, and there was no place wherek
he could lay his head.
i The man said for long he had trie
to lead an honest life but because Q
his grievous sins no one would let hir
tarry, and he came to the Old Genii t
beg of him some kind of a character, g
that he could 60 forth into the worl
: and become an honest man.
The Old Geni; was moved to dee
compassion and he would fain hav
helped the man, but because Of his agre'
ment with Charon he could not Civ
him a character, for the man Rad y
character, at all to leave instead.
II But the Old aenii being other than
mortal knew that the man was SINGER
and needed help. So he gave piece
D gold and told him to go forth into tt
world again-go somewhere and lea