200 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



NATURE STUDY AND THE NEED OF AGRICULTURE IN 

 A SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. 



BYO. F. HODGE, ni.T)., CLARK UNIVERSITY, WORCESTER. 



Antaeus was a giant, the son of the sea and the earth. 

 Hercules was a hero, the son of the heavens. Hercules and 

 Antaeus met in the plains of Lybia, and such a wrestling 

 match as they had the world has not witnessed before nor 

 since. But even Hercules could gain no advantage over 

 his antagonist, until he discovered that whenever Antaeus 

 touched his mother earth he renewed his strength. Then 

 Hercules lifted Antaeus bodily, and strangled him in mid 

 air. 



I never see the tenement houses of our cities built in solid 

 rows, wall against wall and house against house, — and not 

 only that, but one above the other, two, three, four, five, 

 six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen deep, 

 — that I do not think of that old-time wrestling match, back 

 in the dim light of mythology, on the plains of Lybia. 



Why did Hercules kill Antaeus? Why might it not have 

 been a match for sport? "Why might it not have been a 

 comedy, rather than tragedy? Yes, why not? Simply be- 

 cause a myth must tell the truth. A myth must tell the 

 bottom truth, must express the very quintessence of life 

 and human wisdom, or it could not live in the hearts of men 

 and be a myth. Furthermore, Antaeus was uncivilized. 

 He compelled every man that came to Lybia to wrestle 

 with him, on pain of death if he were thrown. So it was 

 back in the dawn of mythology, and so it is now. Man's 

 struggle has been fiercest and most tragic with the savagery 

 of his own species. The struggle of mankind with wild 

 beasts is nothing compared to it, and is now little more than 

 sport. 



