50 PEPACTON 



different parts of the world, and they are perhaps 

 all to be explained on the principle of the siphon. 



In the Idyls of Theocritus there are frequent 

 allusions to springs. It was at a spring — and a 

 mountain spring at that — that Castor and Pollux 

 encountered the plug-ugly Amycus : — 



"And spying on a mountain a wild wood of vast 

 size, they found under a smooth cliff an ever-flow- 

 ing spring, filled with pure water, and the pebbles 

 beneath seemed like crystal or silver from the 

 depths; and near there had grown tall pines, and 

 poplars, and plane-trees, and cypresses with leafy 

 tops, and fragrant flowers, pleasant work for hairy 

 bees," etc. 



Or the story of Hylas, the auburn-haired boy, 

 who went to the spring to fetch water for supper 

 for Hercules and stanch Telamon, and was seized 

 by the enamored nymphs and drawn in. The spring 

 was evidently a marsh or meadow spring: it was in 

 a "low-lying spot, and around it grew many rushes, 

 and the pale blue swallow-wort, and green maiden- 

 hair, and blooming parsley, and couch grass stretch- 

 ing through the marshes. " As Hercules was tramp- 

 ing through the bog, club in hand, and shouting 

 " Hylas ! " to the full depth of his throat, he heard 

 a thin voice come from the water, — it was Hylas 

 responding, and Hylas, in the shape of the little 

 frog, has been calling from our marsh springs ever 

 since. 



The characteristic flavor and suggestion of these 

 Idyls is like pure spring- water. This is, perhaps, 



