The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-24

thiS touuudy all uIlNdTDlSDeu fe- cital of cold description and wander with me through a land of legends tinctured, of course, with local coloring, and con slider the associations with which the ancients were wont to clothe the scenes of our visit
 A writer of old once published fic- tion in which he pretended to have visited a distant isle where he found engraved in tablets of brass the original stories from which had emenated all of the myths then current. The discovery was admittedly fiction, but the object of the writer was to demonstrate that every legend was based upon a truth, and with him l agree. Unquestionably the story of the centaur originated from the first vision of a man upon horseback, and the arrow which the hero obtained from a god and which directed him in his course through forest and over wild mountains was nothing but our compass of today
 l was once quarantined for nearly a fortnight in Beirut, and time did not hang heavily upon my hands, for I can recall no more delightful period than that which l spent there visiting localities which have been most marveously described by ancient authors, and endeavoring to trace the source of the mystery in which they are enshrouded.
 Beirut is charming place in which to reside, especially if that residence is an official one. When serving in the diplo- matic corps some years ago one of my most intimate associates was the British consul general at my post who had for merly been consul at Beirut, and his de- scriptions of life in that place had whetted my desire to visit the city
 Reverence seems to be an inherent com- ponent of the human disposition. and it is intensified in the east. If an oriental has not a god, or an idol to wodship, his devotion is directed toward his fellow man, and this is why he makes such an ideal attendant. such an humble and willing servant, My British friend had 42 servants in his official entourage, and they were never happier than when serv- ing him, though their wages were ridicu- lously small. In their long gowns, far ing turbans. broad sashes and flashing S"St'S 'hSS SNiutseu pSnNCShS hhd woe to him who dared approach their master unbidden or unannounced.
 l have in former paper described Beirut and 1 shall not repeat a por- trayal of it's present charms. After visit ing the American college there, after in. specting its silkworm cocooneries, after viewing It's Egyptian steies engraved upon tle living rocks and after jaunt to it's celebrated Dog river l was left to idle time away in reading that which travellers of old had to say concerning the place and endeavering to identify ancient looaij= ties described as veil as ta find the origin of the strange myths associated herewith 1 happened to have with ne copy of Sir John MauHdeviiles Travels, a most curious work written in 1929, and in tine cool galleries of my hotel l spent many 8 delightful hour pouring over it's pages of wonder and imagination, Ne- body believes Sir Johns legends today, and in truth many doubt if such char acter ever existed, but it is the trend of higher criticism to doubt every one and everything SC that even Shakespeare has been stripped of all his iaureis and ceR-