Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-05-08
Mods and Becks, and wreathed Smiles

Mods and Becks, and wreathed Smiles
But he soon relapsed and wrote dow
lot of slanderous stuff about m.
friend Comus; SO sent Puck agail
and made him write
Meanwhile welcome Joy and feast,
Midnight shout and revelry,
Tipsy dance and jollity.
well" said Cynthia, that doesn'
matter. Milton puts those lines int
the mouth of Comus.'
Never mind; people won't always
remember that. and made the old cur
mudgeon write something cheerful fol
once"
| ".Old curmudgeon'!" exclaimed Gym.
| thia, Indignantly. well, there are some
! from whom blame is a greater glory
than praise; BESIDES" she added ma
! liciously "he says you Greek gods are
all devils and l partly believe hin
now I've seen YOU
II don't know what devil u.s. sale
Pan; something bad, suppose. we
| QdOn any uSNllS I1SiAaS. /.
We'll your gods were pretty bad
sometimes retorted Cynthia.
"Ah, you've been with our spitefu
| foe Euripides. Very ungrateful OF any
Greek to speak evil Of me. considering
that frightened the Persians off when
they were on the way to attack Delphi
You should have seen how they scud-
died when sprang out and shouted at
them"
II thought it was Apollo who" be-
gan Cynthia.
"Apollo frighten any one!" interrupt
ed Pan, with his loud laugh. "He-with
his golden locks and girls face! That's
a good joke; but of course the truth
was never known among mortals. No;
I wouldn't give away my uncle when
the Hellenes thought so much of him
but he was in a state about his precious
temple and the oracle that his great
grandmother, Gaia, gave him when he
was nine days old. (You understand all
about that, for even you gloomy people
give your babies presents and do some
thing to them-christen isn't it?- and
eat cake afterward.) Well, I went to
him and said, Never mind, uncle, I'll
scare them away; and did. OF course
it was extra fun to tease those horrid
Barbarians: easy enough. too,-cow-
ards as they were. I threatened that, II
ever they breathed syllable about the
reason Of their turning back, I'd have
them torn in pieces by the satyrs, so
Of course the secret was never revealed,
and Apollo kept his oracle and was
worshipped longer than most Of us,
thanks to me- Bad as you think me,
you must admit have some family at
lection and can stand by my pals"
"You have heard Of my starting Phid-
ippides?" he resumed presently.
"On his way back from SPARTA" ask
ed Cynthia. Yes: think it was mean
of you. If you had really been so good
Helene as you try to make yourself
out, you wouldn't have stopped him
when You knew how important 1t was
he should get back to Athens to say
that the Spartans couldn't send any
troops against the Persians till after the
new moon. And you delayed him to ask
for things for yourself. when you al
ready had far more worship and sacrf-
fees than you deserved
The god laughed again.
well, there was no harm DONE" he
said "The Athenians liked to have my
temple, and they enjoyed the torch
race, and I was good friend to them
ever after. You know how Socrates
prayed to me?"
Cynthia made a sign Of assent. It
seemed to her a proclamation to connect
with this irresponsible a-human
being the noble words: Beloved Pan,
and all We other gods that haunt this
place, give me beauty in the inward
soul, and may the outward and the in
ward may be at once"
*See Platos Phaedrus.
But she did not express her feeling,
and Pan resumed:
1T was fun to spring out on him. He
was scuddling along like my father,
Hermes with his winged sandals. And.
after all, it gave the man rest. Would
that had stopped him as he was
speeding to Athens to carry the news
of the triumph at Marthon. Perchance
he would not then have dropped. ex-
piring. as with labored breath he told
the tidings of victory
The course face softened for a min
ute, and Cynthia even fancied there
were tears in the eyes, but there was
laugh again soon, as the goat-feet ran
off to join the dance which the satyrs
and fauns were resuming.
After watching them awhile Cynthia
found herself rushing breathlessly in
unaccountable fear. but it was only
when she reached home and was asked
why she was "in such panic" that she
realized that the mischievous god had
been at his tricks once more.