BELLEROPHON 



680 



BELLINGHAM 



capacity of four and a half billion cubic feet. 

 Drinking water is supplied the city by artesian 

 wells drilled into limestone to a depth of about 

 200 feet. The leading manufactures are iron 

 and steel bridges, automobiles, mattresses and 

 comforts. The large shops of the Big Four 

 railroad are located here. Bellefontaine has a 

 Carnegie Library and three parks. c. OFC. 



BELLEROPHON, be ler' o fon, a mythological 

 Greek hero, the son of Glucus, king of Corinth, 

 and the slayer of the dreadful, three-headed 

 Chimaera. He was sent by the king of Argos 

 to the Lycian king with a sealed message asking 

 his death, and to accomplish this he was sent 

 to kill the fire-breathing monster. He was 

 assisted by the goddess Minerva, who gave him 

 the golden bridle with which he secured the 

 winged horse Pegasus (which see). Mounted 

 upon this steed, he was able to attack the mon- 

 ster from above and slay him. 



Seeing that Bellerophon was a favorite of 

 the gods, the king gave him his daughter in 

 marriage and made him heir to his throne. 

 Legend says that in his later years Bellerophon, 

 made proud by his good fortune, attempted to 

 mount upon Pegasus to the home of the gods, 

 and that Jupiter, angered by his boldness, 

 caused him to be dashed to the earth. Lame 

 and blind, he dragged out his few remaining 

 years in misery. Hawthorne has told the story 

 of Bellerophon's great victory delightfully in 

 The Chimaera, omitting the later mournful 

 part of the tale : 



He whose blind thought futurity denies, 

 Unconscious bears, Bellerophon, like thee 

 His own indictment ; he condemns himself. 



BELLES-LETTRES, belief r, an expression 

 applied in a somewhat indefinite way to those 

 forms of literature that appeal to the emotions 

 and the imagination. Belles and lettres are two 

 French words meaning beautiful and letters, 

 which, taken together, mean fine literature or 

 polite literature. Poetry, fiction, literary criti- 

 cism, dramatic writings and certain forms of 

 history would be included in the term, as dis- 

 tinguished from the more practical or prosaic 

 forms of literature, such as scientific treatises. 

 There is, however, no hard and fast rule gov- 

 erning the use of the term. The first English 

 writer to employ this expression was Jonathan 

 Swift, who in 1710, made use of it in the peri- 

 odical called The Taller. 



BELLEVILLE, bel' vtt, the county town of 

 Hastings County, Ontario, on the Bay of 

 Quinte, an arm of Lake Ontario, and at the 

 mouth of the Moira River. It has a fine harbor 



which accommodates the largest steamers which 

 ply on the Great Lakes. The city is on the 

 Grand Trunk, Canadian Northern and Cana- 

 dian Pacific railways, 112 miles northeast of 

 Toronto and fifty-one miles west of Kingston. 

 It is a noted dairying center, and manufactures 

 butter in large quantities. There are also 

 cement works, "hardware factories, foundries and 

 boiler works, flour and paper mills, potteries, 

 shirt, furniture and soda-water factories. Belle- 

 ville has excellent public schools, and is the 

 seat of the provincial institute for the deaf 

 and dumb ; of Saint Agnes College, for women ; 

 and Albert College, with separate departments 

 for men and women. The latter is one of the 

 oldest educational institutions in the province. 

 It was founded by the Methodists in 1757, and 

 was for many years a university, but now pro- 

 vides only secondary instruction. Belleville is 

 also known for its beautiful churches and as 

 the home of Sir Mackenzie Bowell. Popula- 

 tion in 1911, 9,876; in 1916, estimated, 12,000. 



BELLEVILLE, ILL., an important manufac- 

 turing city with a population, chiefly of Ger- 

 man descent, of 21,139 in 1914. It is the county 

 seat of Saint Clair County, situated in the 

 southwestern part of the state, about fourteen 

 miles southeast of Saint Louis. Excellent rail- 

 way accommodations are provided by the Illi- 

 nois Central Railway, constructed to the city in 

 1860, and the Louisville & Nashville Railway, 

 built in 1870. Electric lines connect with Saint 

 Louis and adjacent towns. The city was 

 founded in 1814, and was incorporated as a 

 city in 1850. The name "Belleville" is of 

 French origin and means beautiful city. The 

 area of the city is about nine square miles. 



Belleville is situated in the midst of an 

 agricultural and coal-mining region, and has 

 a large trade in flour and general produce. Its 

 industries include foundries, machine works, 

 nail mills, stencil works and carbon work. Here 

 is located one of the largest rolling mills in the 

 West. Besides the public school system, a con- 

 vent, two business colleges and a Carnegie 

 Library serve the educational needs. There are 

 three banks, two hospitals, a Roman Catholic 

 cathedral, an Elk's hall and a post office, the 

 latter erected in 1913 at a cost of $60,000. 



Falling Springs, in the vicinity, is a favorite 

 resort for excursionists; it has a waterfall and 

 presents a delightful view of high bluffs. F.S.B. 



BELLINGHAM, bel' ing am, WASH., the 

 county seat of Whatcom County and the near- 

 est United States shipping point to Alaska. It 

 is on the east shore of Bellingham Bay, which 



