The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-14
EURIPIDES, THE MANLY Frank Willis Barnett

A friend who read my story. in which I began "Euripides in Birmingham, meeting me on the street said: Doe.
 who is the guy whose arrival in our city you noted?"
 Either he was kidding or he had for
 gotten all the Greek his father paid for for him when he was at the university; but let no one turn up his nose be- cause the old Grecian boys brad faded out of his memory, for its mighty hard to make them stick when college days are over.
 And yet, Euripid es, the date of whose birth is even in doubt, some claiming that he was born on the day of the pat tie of Salamia. 4S0 E. C., where his Greek parents had taken refuge; WhHe others give credence to the date on the Arundel marbles 4S5 B. c. But I'll not stop to try and settle the dispute which has been going over 1000 years
 to try and settle the dispute which has been going ovver 2oo0 years. ss
 As for the purpose of this story, which hopes to be interesting without any thought of being informinf, it's enough to know that In the course Of time he made his appearance on the stage and began to play his part In the
 Grecian world centuries before the birth of Christ. and yet lives centuries after that great event. and all of sud- den here in Birmingham in the twen- tieth century gets himself talked about.
 I'll confess that when it was adver- tised that the Greek play of "Alcestts' would be read before the Drama league Euripides had almost passed out of my memory. and had to rush to my library to get a line on him and the play which some put down as tragedy pure and simple. while others catalogue it as being more of a tragi-comedy, the beauty about such an author and such work arising from the fact that both raise up brood of critics to fight for their views.
 
 Just for the present am not so much interested in the waiter as am in the man, and therefore will try and bring out some of the meager details which have filtered down to us through le- gend. myth and fact. It's passing strange that we know so little that Is trustworthy about some of the worlds greatest men. Without going outside of the Greeks. take Homer. for instance What wouldn't yoa give to have his life accorded some of our third-rate nonen- titles who fill the public eye for brief spell and then pass into oblivion, save for the assiduity of some relative or some tireiess but tirescme bioigraphsr? biographer.
 In the few things I record here about Euripides am aware that the au- thorities are at variance. and that Is why I take such pleasure in arranging the items to suit myself. but well know that any one calling them in question may get a knock -out blow by having some great name in the classi- cal world hurled at them to overthrow any opinion they may be welded to. admit I prefer to pick the choicest moYsels which have been preserved to US down the ages by the historians rather than to try and digest the tougher problems which the scholars sharpen their teeth on.
 A word about his parents. The name of his father was Mnesarchus. and that of his mother Ciito. It vas . favorite taunt of tho comic poets who made his life miserable that his mother was . seller of herbs; but So far as I care. 1t matters not what her business was. just so she save birth to sue ha distinguished son. In any event we know that Euri-