ou would gain the love of
your fellow men, you must love them and suffer for them; if you would
enjoy the favor of Heaven, you must make yourself worthy of that favor;
if you would have eternal fame, you must not scorn the hard road that
leads to it."

Then Hercules saw that this lady, although she was as beautiful as the
other, had a countenance pure and gentle, like the sky on a balmy
morning in May.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Some call me Labor," she answered, "but others know me as Virtue."

Then he turned to the first lady. "And what is your name?" he asked.

"Some call me Pleasure," she said, with a bewitching smile, "but I
choose to be known as the Joyous and Happy One."

"Virtue," said Hercules, "I will take thee as my guide! The road of
labor and honest effort shall be mine, and my heart shall no longer
cherish bitterness or discontent."

And he put his hand into that of Virtue, and entered with her upon the
straight and forbidding road which leads to the fair blue mountains on
the pale and distant horizon.

ALPHEUS AND ARETHUSA

In Arcadia there is a little mountain stream called Alpheus. It flows
through woods and meadows and among the hills for many miles, and then
it sinks beneath the rocks. Farther down the valley it rises again,
and dancing and sparkling, as if in happy chase of something, it
hurries onward towards the plain; but soon it hides itself a second
time in underground caverns, making its way through rocky tunnels where
the light of day has never been. Then at last it gushes once more from
its prison chambers; and, flowing thence with many windings through the
fields of Elis, it empties its waters into the sea.

Years ago there was no river Alpheus; the channel through which it
flows had not then been hollowed out, and rank grass and tall bending
reeds grew thick where now its waters sparkle brightest. It was then
that a huntsman, bearing the name of Alpheus, ranged through the woods,
and chased the wild deer among the glades and glens of sweet Arcadia.
Far away by the lonely sea dwelt his fair young wife, and his lovely
babe Orsilochus; but dearer than home or wife or babe to Alpheus, was
the free life of the huntsman among the mountain solitudes. For he
loved the woods and the blue sky and the singing birds, and the frail
flowers upon the hillside; and he longed to live among them always,
where his ears could listen to their music, and his eyes look upon
their