Olympian Nights

the

th through rifts in clouds that had not ventured so high, and were drenching the glorious green below with refreshing rains, and have stood awed in the presence of one of the simplest moods of nature. But the sight that greeted my eyes as I passed along that exterior road of Olympus, under the genial auspices of those wonderful gods, appealed to something in my soul which had never before been awakened, and which I shall never be able adequately to describe. The mere act of seeing seemed to be uplifting, and, from the moment I looked downward upon the bel

But the Morgue at the back of Notre Dame-in the shadow of its sunlit towers-that was not visible to the eye of the casual god who drove his blackamoors along that entrancing roadway. There was London and the inspiring pile of Westminster showing up its majestic top, lit by the wondrous light of

ng maudlin, and I pu

t view, Sam

ully. "Dass what dey all says. I 'ain't neb

and look," said I. "I

es stopped

t I doan' care fo' views," he

arved, a work of art, in fact, but he was essen

cried, with some impatience

g down on his haunches at the end

unlike those the Japanese erect before p

s greeted by an attendant who dem

imals,"

how you what I've got, but truly mos

n Horse here?

is door rusted and broke last week. His interior needs painting, and his left hind-leg ha

ummer hotels of New Jersey and the Statue of Liberty, at that time dominated the minor natural glories of the American coast in the eyes of passengers on in-coming steamships. I

best I could. "Still, you have other attractions. H

about his food. Said Prometheus was a very interesting man, but as a diet he was monotonous and demanded a more diversified

turian vult

by wringing his neck, and served him up in a c

as reasonable

will satisfy me," I added. "Just let me see

ied the attendant

ed with many a beautiful tree and adorned

history. That laurel over there, for instance, used to be a Daphne. She and J

I. "Have you many

e Dryope, and when Adonis isn't busy valeting at the hotel, he comes down here and blooms as an anemone, into which, as you are probably aware, he was

rned that, so exp

," I ventured, pointing to a perfect

e found at these dinners either as a guest or playing a zither or a banjo behind a screen. Wherever he is, the sunflower turns and it affords considerable amusement among Jupiter's guests to watch it. Jupiter has christened Clytie

ie, and if half the attendant told me that day at the Zoo is true, this excessively fickle Olymp

pleasure of seeing the most beautiful bruin my eyes had ever rested upon. She was as glossy as a new silk hat; he

, Callisto,"

the bear returned, in a sweet f

u to-day?" asked Cephal

le who come here that while I undoubtedly am a bear, I have not yet lost my womanly taste, and I don't want to be fed all the time on buns. If anybody as

ifestation of delight which moved me greatly, and I bethought myself of the magic properties of my coat, and plunging my hand into its capacious pockets, I

it me," said I, wit

eet voice, and dancing with joy. "You are a dear, good man, and i

e that!" he said. "You'd have thought Juno would let u

us woman, my

to it by this time with a husband like Jupiter. She's overstocked this Zoo a dozen times

I asked. "Doesn't Callisto ever

ther wild beasts-the real ones. She's just as afraid of bears as she ever was, and if she

said I. "And Act?

once in a while, and then everybody has to look out for himself, and frankly," Cephalus

o," said I. "He rea

their own fault if chance wayfarers stumble upon them. To turn a man into a stag and t

fere in this business," said I. "He coul

explained. "Juno has threatened to sue him for divorc

w building that looked like a stable,

that looks like a mastodon lizard is the dragon that your friend St. George, of London, got the bes

as that which followed the dragon's awakening I never heard before, and every time

dark. I'll prod him again and just you note the prismatic coloring of his flames. Get up there, Fido," he

e that the various hues his fiery breathings took on were gorgeous beyond description. A bonfire built of red

rly overcome by the g

ephalus, enthusiastically. "Fido is very popular

t see why. Fireworks as grand as tha

takes the combined efforts of six stokers, under the supervision of an expert engineer, to keep his appetite within boun

a wink at the dragon, I saw no reason

and altogether he's an expen

arked th

. The bulls give us a lot of trouble. You can't feed 'em on coal, because their teeth are not strong enough to chew it; and you can't feed 'em on hay, because they'd set fire to it the minute they breathed on it; and you can't put 'em out to pasture because they'd wither up a

thing. What does Jason

us. "Dr. ?sculapius did it. It's a solution of hay

d. "Why, that's ext

reathed fire. Their nostrils suggested the flames that are emitted from the huge naphtha jets that are used to light modern circuses in country towns, and as for their mouths

Cephalus, impatient to be through with me,

is the

apparently the attractive physique of a broiler deliberately sitting on

I. "He's not h

kind of emberesque fire that induces a man in a library to think mournfully about the

he's all right in a Zoo. He's queer. Lo

to me to be a unique thing in poultry. If he were a chicken he wou

too ecstatic

heir own nests, and a well-built nest lasts them a whole season. This infernal bird has to have a furnace-man to make his bed for him night and morning, and if, by some mischance, the fire goes out, as fires will do in

suggested. "Make a nest out of a mus

t way," said Cephalus. "He's a confou

used it. There a dazzling spectacle met my gaze. A regiment of Amazons was drawn up on the green of the parade and a superb gilded coach, drawn b

's own carriage an

e?" s

he. "I fancy they

ere an emperor, and, through his golden trumpet, informed me that eleven o'clock was approaching; t

rass band of a hundred and twenty pieces struck up an inspiring march, and, preceded and

te of this thought with the fact that Jupiter knew how to do a thing up in style. I was indeed so awed with it a