The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-04
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

and pastures, has been the favorite tute- lary divinity here in Birmingham for the past few weeks.
 The old Italian goddess of herdsmen and shepherds each spring had q festi- val held in her honor called Parilia. In this festival Pales was invoked to grant protection and increase to herds and flocks; the caretakers entreating for giveness for any unintentional profana- ton of holy places by their sheep or cat tie. and leaped three times across bon fires of hay and straw.
 Now. I am aware that a male Pales was sometimes spoken of, corresponding in some respects to Pan; while the fe- male PaIss was associated with Vesta; but any student of the legends of the Greeks and Romans knows how hard it is to harmonize all of the beautiful myths in mythology It may have been that way back in legendary days there was "a mans party" just as today we have a ''woman's party" and mere man got jealous of the sacred rites paid in honor of the female protectress and got up a Dull party"
 Now, it is true that in yesterdays great cattle pageant which passed through our streets it was the male which was fea- tured-it was mans day; yet the maid ems who led the magnificent bulls brought to mind the story from Homer of Eu- ropa, whose beauty attracted Jupiter, willy wooer, He, in order to possess her, assumed the shape of handsome bull and mingled with the herds of her father while Europa was gathering flowers i'll the meadows. She put her arms about his neck and playfully mounted his back
 The gods of Olympus were bad set when it came to unlawful loves. Many of you know yoAr Ovid, or if not have found it all out in your Bulfinch, how Araehne filled her web with subjects designedly chosen to exhibit the failings and errors of the deities. Jupiter was the chief sinner. One scene represents Leda caressing the swan, under which form love had disguised himself It was favorite theme among the old painters. saw many rictures of it in the galleries of Europe She gave another of Danae, in brazen tower in which her father had imprisoned her, but where the sen suous loving Jupiter effected his en- trance in the form of golden shower Alas, it's sad that shower of gold even in modern days has been the undoing of some too trusting maidens.
 But the masterpiece of Arachne was the canvas telling of the rape of Europa, who no sooner found herself seated astride of the beautiful white bull, was and head across the waves to Crete. You would have thought it was real bull, so naturally did she weave it, and so natural the water in which Jupiter swan. She seemed to look with longing eyes back upon the shore of her homeland, which she was leaving. She appeared to shudder with terror at the sight of the 1 restless waves which rolled over her, and sine cried despairingly to her companions to save her.
 Now. if you don't know the sequel and are interested, get the story of Cadmus,
 her brother, who was sent by Agenor, her
 father, to go in search of his sister, and
 not to return without her. Of how, in
 despair, he consulted Apollo, to be in l formed that he should find COW in the
 neld, and should follow her wherever she might wander, and where she stopped, should build city and call it Thebes. The adventure is well worth
 reading, and more so from the fact that out of his search he is credited with in- troducing into Greece the letters of the
 alphabet, which were invented by the
 Phoenecians.
 I It's curious how things overlap and run into one another I got on the lone
 some trail of COW, in company with a hero of old, in search of his sister Euro pa, and recall that Byron alluded to the incident, where, addressing the modern
 Greeks, who were fighting for their free dom, he said;
 l"You have the letters Cadmus gave, Think you he meant them for a slave?'' History is repeating itself. A twentieth
 cer tury Caesar is trying to do the love act and capture the fair Europa. But, like Cadmus in his fight with the ser pent, he has sown dragons teeth. And because Germany has troubled the peace
 of the world, and while waiting for the
 Teutons to reach the day when inter- nal dissension will rend Germania to tpieces, let us take the Byronic couplet T t, heart, and resolve that because we \ are acquainted with the art of letters, land have a constitution which guaran-
 tees freedom we will fight the Kali
 ser--the serpent whose slimy trail is be- ling drawn over the fair fields of Europe.
 I had no idea when I sat down to write about the Red Cross bull parade
 that I was going to dive into myths so T deep. and yet the water was fine and lin plunged Somehow I think I have made out a pretty good case showing that the stunt we pulled off was both l old and new. With the money we get from the sale we can bind up the wounds of our boys gored by that mad bull of ] Pashan. the Kaiser; and with the bulls distributed throughout the state we can help to feed them while they are fight ing to save Europe from being led hu-